My Statement

Today, Religion News Service

released an article, “Is Dave Ramsey’s empire the ‘best place to work in America’? Say no and you’re out,” that included comments from a statement I submitted to them in response to their request for comment.

Below is my entire statement. I am incredibly grateful for the support of dear friends and family as I walked through these difficult events, prior and since.

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STATEMENT OF MELISSA J. HOGAN IN RESPONSE TO MEDIA REQUESTS

To respect the privacy of my children and my extended family, at this time I will not comment on the painful personal events surrounding my 21-year marriage to Chris Hogan, a personality employed by Ramsey Solutions, or our 2019 divorce. I will, however, comment on my personal interactions with Ramsey Solutions and also correct untruths that were communicated by its leadership.

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Read updates:

Gossip, Slander, and Privacy // Where are the Shepherds? // Update on My Statement Re: Ramsey Solutions

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In 2005, I won a silent auction item for my then husband, Chris Hogan, to sit in on Dave Ramsey’s radio show. I was not familiar with Dave Ramsey at the time, but because my husband and I each had radio shows in college, I thought it would be a fun gift. As a result of that introduction, my understanding was that my husband was invited to apply for a job there. As part of the interview process, together we prepared a business plan for a new division focused on wealth management. I was also requested to and did attend at least one dinner and spousal interview. I prepared and submitted our personal family budget, my understanding being that it was required as part of the hiring process.

After my husband was offered a job with Ramsey Solutions, for over 13 years, I was then part of the Ramsey Solutions “family,” participating in company-wide family and holiday events, special events for the personalities and their families, and live events at which my husband was a speaker. I also socialized and attended church with a number of other employee families. On several occasions, I was requested by Ramsey Solutions to provide videos of encouragement for my spouse, and I attended private events at the Ramsey family homes in Franklin, Tennessee and on Tims Ford Lake. In 2016, I supported my husband in the launch of his first book including but not limited to, by attending particular book tour events arranged by Ramsey Solutions.

I witnessed generosity to employees and met some of my closest friends in families of Ramsey Solutions’ employees. I acknowledge the help they provide to many families struggling to get out of debt and the hard work and dedication of hundreds of employees there. They also supported us in many ways as we struggled with our youngest son’s diagnosis with Hunter syndrome.

Unfortunately, however, the actions of Ramsey Solutions’ leadership surrounding challenges in my marriage to Chris Hogan were inconsistent with the values they communicate publicly. I found their approach and many actions to be controlling, manipulative and deceptive. In light of more recent actions of Ramsey Solutions made public in court filings and news articles, I also find their actions to be hypocritical. This would matter little to me if they were a company that didn’t profess to be Christ-centered. However, as they purport to be led by Biblical values, and wield a large influence in my and my children’s own community of middle Tennessee, these matters are significant and troubling to me.

For example, after learning of specific painful issues in our marriage, Ramsey Solutions’ leadership, and Dave Ramsey specifically, prepared a “restoration plan” for our marriage, a process to which I initially agreed. After that process began, it was communicated that they intended for our marriage counselor, personal therapists, and our church elders to report to the leadership of Ramsey Solutions. For example, it was dictated that members of the board of Ramsey Solutions would have “full access to updates from all counselors involved, in real time.” In essence, as part of that process, we were to waive confidentiality with our therapists in order for them to report to Ramsey Solutions’ leaders. I now recognize that to be unhealthy, controlling, spiritually manipulative, and deeply wounding.

During a process that was supposed to help restore our marriage, Ramsey Solutions’ board members attempted to manipulate and control me through emails and phone calls. They characterized their plan as aligning with the Holy Spirit, and suggested that things would not “end well” if I made choices to support healing in my marriage and family that either were not directed by them or decisions that they did not approve. One board member stated on a phone call, “We have to have oversight” over the steps we were taking. They also attempted to dictate how I was feeling while also suggesting that I distance myself from other support.  At one point, they even uninvited me from my husband’s second book tour.

Finally, they focused on my husband’s role at Ramsey Solutions as a “calling on his life” in a “ministry and a mission,” not a normal employer-employee situation. They also emphasized that their compensation was funding our family. I responded, “The calling on his life is to be a servant of the Lord in whatever capacity. And the calling on his life is to be a God-honoring husband that reflects the relationship of Christ and the church. The calling on his life is to be seeking the Lord and to be serving his children and to be serving his neighbors. This career specifically isn’t the calling on his life.” When I sought to maintain healthy boundaries against the control from Ramsey Solutions’ leadership, they shifted to suggesting that I was the problem, that I lacked “hope for my marriage’s future,” and did not trust them.

Several months later, at a company-wide meeting in May 2019, Dave Ramsey personally discussed my marriage from the stage and falsely described specific actions of mine. He told the audience that I had come to Ramsey Solutions and “demanded very angrily” to see him.  The truth is that on December 20, 2018, I came to the Ramsey Solutions office for what I believed was a previously arranged meeting about issues in my marriage that I thought were going to be made public. I arrived at the reception desk of Ramsey Solutions and quietly requested to see Dave Ramsey. I then sat down in a chair and waited for approximately twenty minutes while texting a friend. Many employees, including members of Ramsey Solutions’ leadership, saw me quietly waiting in the lobby. Instead of speaking with Dave, I was surprised to be greeted by Dave and two other male board members in a conference room who then proceeded to accuse me of making false accusations. The very fact that I was alone in this confrontation with three men who largely had the power over our family’s income and who were making such accusations against me was extremely intimidating and caused me a great deal of anxiety. During his remarks at the May 2019 staff meeting, Dave Ramsey also publicly mischaracterized my actions during the ensuing process as involving anger, hyperbole, and drama. The fact is that I repeatedly expressed to them my support and concern for my husband, my marriage, our testimony as believers, and the truth.

The trauma I experienced from my interactions with Ramsey Solutions’ leadership was significant, given their public image and their conflicting and controlling communications with me. Reported experiences from other former employees and spouses of Ramsey Solutions suggest to me that how they treated me was not a unique or isolated occurrence.

Were I still married to an employee at Ramsey Solutions, I would harbor a well-founded fear that my spouse would be fired for me sharing this statement despite its truth and the evidence supporting it. My statement reflects actions they have been aware of for approximately two years, as well as my own feelings about such. I speak publicly at great risk that Ramsey Solutions could very well take steps to terminate my ex-husband and thus profoundly impact the financial well-being of my family and my medically fragile son’s health insurance, which is maintained through Ramsey Solutions and which he desperately needs.

However, I am compelled by faith in Jesus Christ to speak the truth and not fear the actions of men. I want God to be glorified in this, which is the same statement I made to Dave Ramsey in December 2018 when he directly asked me if I wanted my husband to be fired or his book tour cancelled. God’s glory is still my intention in this statement. God has rescued, comforted, and sustained me throughout this process. As Ephesians 5:11-13 suggests, God expects harmful actions to be brought out of the darkness into the light.

In particular, I am responding now due to media requests, the conclusion of a gag order I was under for much of 2019, publicly reported actions that are inconsistent with positions Ramsey Solutions’ leadership took in my situation, and after allowing an extended period of time for them to take responsibility for their actions. That time also allowed me to reflect, pray, and seek the Lord’s guidance for when or if I should ever share this experience publicly. I do so now without malice towards those who have hurt me and my family, but with sincere hope that they will reflect, repent, and move closer toward who they claim to be as an organization.

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