OIG Senior Staff Bios
Ruth Ritzema
Deputy Assistant Inspector General for OMAP
Office of Management and Policy
Ruth Ritzema was appointed as Deputy Assistant Inspector General for the office of Management and Policy in August 2011. In this position, Ms Ritzema works with the Assistant Inspector General to manage a $125 million budget, has acquisition management responsibility for procurement and contracting, and oversight of facilities administration and security for dozens of offices in 13 regional offices. She also has responsibility for human capital functions; employee relation; information technology; strategic planning and performance management; policy development; internal management reviews of OIG field operations; program integrity and hotline operations; and training. She will also oversee the external affairs operations to include OIG media, congressional relations, and outreach efforts.
Ms. Ritzema was formerly the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations (DAIGI). In this position, Ms. Ritzema had direct oversight for the investigative functions of the thirteen regional and 32 field offices around the country. These investigations focus on fraud in HUD programs encompassing areas such as mortgage fraud, public corruption, rental subsidy voucher and multifamily project equity skimming fraud as well as all disaster assistance related fraud. Prior to this position, MS. Ritzema was the DAIGI in charge of the newly formed Inspection and Evaluations Division.
Ms. Ritzema started her law enforcement career in the military in 1984 as a Counter-intelligence Agent in the US Army and was a qualified Russian, Spanish and Italian Linguist. She became a Criminal Investigator with the IRS, Inspection Division and worked as a Special Agent for 10 years in Detroit, MI, Miami, FL, and Salt Lake City, UT. In 1997, she became the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the NY/NJ Region for HUD's Inspector General, and in 1998 was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of that office for 9 years until she became the DAIGI. She has a BA from the University of Michigan, and a Masters of Public Administration in May 2012 from John Jay College. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and completed a fellowship in Public Policy at the Harvard, JFK School of Government. Ms. Ritzema has received numerous awards including the Secretary's award for Valor, HUD OIG Manager of The Year Award, and numerous other awards from HUD, HUD OIG, and the Presidential Counsel of Integrity and Efficiency. She is married and has four children.