Proof You Can Start Over Without Walking Away From Everything ft. Michele Trongaard
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Release Date: 09/29/2026
The Truth About Equity With Celeste Warren | The Ripple Effect Podcast
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Diversity and equity at work are topics most of us care about and feel nervous to talk about. The words get tossed around in headlines and company memos until nobody is sure what they mean for the person at the next desk, or for their own career. Meanwhile, the real questions stay the same. Does everyone here get a fair shot? Do the people on my team feel like they belong? And what can I do about any of it if I’m not the boss? My guest this episode, Celeste Warren, has spent her career in the middle of those questions. If the word equity has ever made you a little nervous, or you’ve...
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Step Into a Nonprofit Role Prepared | The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Janelle Miller Moravek
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
How many times this month have you smiled through a day that was quietly wearing you down? Mission-driven work has a way of doing that to you. You care so much that you say yes to one more thing, then another, and then you realize you’ve been running on fumes. You hold it together for your team, your board, your donors, and your family, and the one person nobody seems to check in on is you. Now picture doing all of that in a brand new role. A new board, a new team, a new list of expectations, and a quiet worry that somebody left out a few important details before you said yes. I talk with...
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If Everyone’s Nodding, Something’s Wrong | The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Hacia Atherton
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
You can have a room full of people nodding along and think everything is fine. That’s actually the problem. When everyone agrees, when nobody pushes back, when the room goes quiet the moment a decision is made, that silence isn’t peace. It’s a warning sign. And most leaders miss it entirely because they’re chasing the next win, the next KPI, the next quarter, and they’ve stopped looking at the people doing the actual work. Hacia Atherton works with leaders to figure out why good teams fall apart, why great people leave, and what most organizations are quietly getting wrong about the...
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What You're Willing to Risk Shapes the Life You Get (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Jason Boulette)
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
You can do everything right in your career and still find yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 am, wondering what exactly you’re building. The title sounds impressive, and the salary looks good, but somewhere along the way the thing that was supposed to give you a life started quietly taking it. The years go faster than the days, and it’s easy to look up one morning and realize the schedule you built isn’t the life you meant to have. This episode is about what you’re willing to risk to change that, and how much of your time you’re okay trading for comfort. Work-life balance sounds...
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Proof You Can Start Over Without Walking Away From Everything ft. Michele Trongaard
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Twenty-three years is a long time to spend earning a reputation. Michele Trongaard has one that precedes her everywhere she goes in this industry, and after sitting across from her for this conversation, I understand exactly why. Michele is stepping away from her role as a district CFO after more than two decades in public school finance, and she's doing it on her own terms, heading into a new chapter rather than just closing the book on the old one. I wanted to talk with her about what actually built that reputation, because it wasn't the budgets or the balance sheets. It was something much...
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What the Best Leaders Can't See About Themselves (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Brian Vogel)
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Picture your ideal Tuesday. You come in with a clear head, a short list of things that actually matter, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted time to think strategically about where you're taking this thing. Now picture your actual Tuesday. Six fires before noon. Three decisions that landed on your desk that someone else should have made. A calendar that left no room for anything except reacting. And somewhere around four in the afternoon, the quiet feeling that you've been incredibly busy and somehow accomplished nothing. If that second picture is more familiar, this episode is for you. My...
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You Were Creative Once. Find Your Way Back. (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Maria Gatling)
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
When was the last time you made something? A drawing, a photo, a collage, a doodle in the margin of a notebook. Something you made with your hands because something in you wanted to. Most of us have to think about it. And the longer we think, the further back the answer goes. Somewhere along the way, we handed our creative lives back. Not all at once, and not on purpose. Just gradually, between the jobs and the responsibilities and the screens and the schedules, the things we used to make got quietly set aside. And we told ourselves we’d get back to them. And then we didn’t. And eventually...
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The One Thing Your Competition Can Never Buy or Copy (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Joe Fusco)
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really...
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Hurricane Katrina at 21: The Story the Media Never Fully Told featuring Sandy Rosenthal
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really means...
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Pressure-Proof Leadership with Claire Hayek (The Ripple Effect Podcast)
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Be honest. When’s the last time you actually felt calm, not just looked calm? Because those are two very different things, and most of us have gotten so good at faking the second one that we forget what the first one even feels like. You handle the hard conversation. You keep your voice steady in the meeting that’s falling apart. You hold it together for everyone else in the room. And then later, alone in your car or lying awake at night, it all comes flooding back. That gap between performing calm and actually being calm is something my guest today has spent her entire life studying,...
info_outlineTwenty-three years is a long time to spend earning a reputation. Michele Trongaard has one that precedes her everywhere she goes in this industry, and after sitting across from her for this conversation, I understand exactly why.
Michele is stepping away from her role as a district CFO after more than two decades in public school finance, and she's doing it on her own terms, heading into a new chapter rather than just closing the book on the old one. I wanted to talk with her about what actually built that reputation, because it wasn't the budgets or the balance sheets. It was something much harder to teach.
She told me about her early career, trying to become a carbon copy of a boss she admired, right down to the tone he used in a room, and how much pressure that put on her before she finally gave herself permission to lead in her own voice instead. We got into the real financial pressures facing public education today too: inflation, unfunded mandates, and the balancing act of meeting rising costs without raising taxes on the communities these districts serve.
What stuck with me most was hearing her talk about staying visible as a leader. She made a habit of getting out from behind her desk to walk the halls and talk directly with principals, teachers, and staff, and that one habit shaped her entire leadership style, and her legacy. She also shared what pulled her into education in the first place, advice for young CPAs weighing private practice against public service, and what finally told her it was time for something new, without losing the parts of this world she still loves.
This one's an honest look at what it means to build a career around service, and what it actually looks like to walk away from something you love while still holding onto the parts that made it meaningful.
More About the Guest
Michele Trongaard, CPA, RTSBA, SFO, has spent 23 years in school finance, most recently serving as Associate Superintendent of Business and Finance for Mansfield ISD, a role she's retiring from this year. She holds a BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas and an MBA in School Finance and Operations from Concordia University. Michele is a Past President of TASBO and has been recognized with the ASBO Pinnacle Achievement Award in 2019 and the ASBO Eagle International Award in 2024. She currently serves on the ASBO SFO Committee and the TEA/TASBO Accounting and Auditing Advisory Committee, sits on the TASBO RISE Award Committee as a reviewer, and reviews for the TASBO Scholarship Award as well.
Ripple with Michele Trongaard:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-trongaard-cpa-rtsba-sfo-bb801472
More About the Host
Steve Harper is the founder of Ripple Central and host of The Ripple Effect Podcast, where he explores what it really takes to build authentic, meaningful relationships. He also owns Owner Insite, a construction project management software company. Steve runs The Pond, a community built around intentional connection and 8-Minute Ripple events.
Ripple with Steve Harper:
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