About Fiona Ratzlaff

Fiona Ratzlaff’s eclectic experience owning and managing businesses in fields as diverse as the arts and non-profits, marketing, healthcare, retail, IT, and tourism has developed a keen understanding of the challenges involved in managing and operating ventures.  As principal of Framework, Contractual COO and Referral Center, she applies her expertise, curiosity, and entrepreneurial drive to help service and retail for-profit companies and mission-driven nonprofits grow and realize their visions.

In her more than 30 years managing and owning businesses, Fiona has overseen the operations of several retail stores, lead marketing and sales for a medical software company, and created a department of operations for employee claims at a large, national healthcare concern.

Highly creative as a child, Fiona started studying art and music at the age of 5.  By high school, she had learned 17 instruments.  When she moved with her family from Canada to the USA, she continued nourishing her love of both art and the water by forming her first entrepreneurial venture, a boat detailing company.  Later, she navigated the complicated process of forming the non-profit Florida Fine Art Museum Corporation to educate the public on European, Canadian and US artisans and furniture makers. During college at the University of South Florida, Fiona interned and became a certified docent for the Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg.

Fiona then used her leadership and business skills as a project director for the Florida division of a multiple location market research firm.  There, she coordinated research teams on behalf of multi-national clients like Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Proctor and Gamble and GlaxoSmithKline.  Under her leadership, the Florida division turned a profit in nine months, and many of her innovative research and marketing processes were adopted by other locations.

After moving to New Mexico, she took on the operations and co-ownership of an optometric practice, where she revamped the billing department to recoup millions in un- and mis-filed claims.  Fiona also oversaw employee training and education and restructured the company’s staffing to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Taking this experience, she and a former partner owned and operated a private optometric practice, growing it seven-fold in five years. Fiona created the business operations model and staff training program, allowing the company to be self-sustaining.  For three years she was also the New Mexico Optometric Association Paraoptometric Committee Chair, creating the regulations and guidelines for the association’s continuing education program for paraoptometrics.  She also was liaison with the American Optometric Association to facilitate continuing education offerings.

Most recently, Fiona coordinated business development and customer support for an information technology company headquartered in New Mexico that serves local, regional, and national customers.

Both Fiona and her younger daughter suffer from food allergies.  To help them both eat well, she developed 133 recipes and a cookbook addressing the top food allergies, plus beef and gluten, testing and teaching them at her daughter’s school.

Fiona lives in New Mexico with her husband and daughter.  She loves to be outdoors on the water kayaking or boating.

Associations & Memberships

• Better Business Bureau of New Mexico & Southwest Colorado – one of the Board of Directors
• Hispano Chamber of Commerce – Ambassador & Chair for the Ambassador Funding Committee
• New Mexico Angels – Mentor for start-up businesses
• Santa Fe Business Incubator – Business Liaison
• Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce – Member
• American Optometric Association – CPO Member

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art, University of South Florida
• Certified Paraoptometric, American Optometric Association
• Certified Professional Interviewer, Marketing Research Association