Stryker is the largest individual shareholder in Stryker Corp, a medical equipment manufacturer with revenue of $18.4 billion in 2022. She owns about 5% of the company and her siblings also have stakes. Her husband's asset management company, Greenleaf Trust, manages additional Stryker shares for its clients.
The majority of Stryker's fortune is derived from her inheritance of one-third of a family trust that held shares of Stryker Corp, a publicly traded medical device manufacturer founded by her grandfather.
Her two siblings, Jon and Patricia, also inherited one-third each of the trust, established by their grandfather, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from 1998. They have since sold more shares than Ronda leaving her, with a stake of about 5%, as the largest individual shareholder in the company. She has sold more than $1.9 billion of Stryker stock since 1993, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The value of her cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, taxes, charitable donations and market performance.
Stryker is married to William Johnston, chairman of Greenleaf Trust, an investment management company which is also a shareholder in Stryker Corp. Shares owned in Johnston's name are included in her net worth calculation. Shares held on behalf of non-family Greenleaf clients aren't included in the analysis.
Jo Hawk, a Stryker Corp. spokesperson, didn't respond to requests for comment on the net worth calculation.
Ronda Stryker is the granddaughter of Dr. Homer Stryker, an orthopedic surgeon and founder of medical technology company Stryker Corporation. Dr. Stryker was born in Michigan in 1894 and received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1925. He started his practice in Kalamazoo, Michigan and used a room in his basement for research and development of his first turning frame for the repositioning of incapacitated hospital patients.
He began selling his inventions in January 1941, as WWII lifted demand for medical products. He incorporated his manufacturing business, the Orthopedic Frame Company, five years later. His inventions included a turning frame, cast cutter, surgical traction device and cast walking heel. The cast cutter was unique because its oscillating saw cut hard materials, such as casts, but not soft ones, like human tissues.
His son Lee, Ronda's father, took over the company in the early 1950s. Lee died when a plane he was piloting crashed in Wyoming in 1976. His wife, Mary Jane, and two other people died in the crash. Ronda and her siblings, Patricia and Jon, were not on the plane. Homer died in 1980, at age 85.
Ronda Stryker has served on the Stryker board for almost 30 years. She has a master's degree from Western Michigan University and was a trustee at Kalamazoo College. She lives in Michigan with her husband of 30 years and together they are involved in philanthropic activities with the Ronda E. Stryker and William D. Johnston Foundation.