Rebecca Ailes-Fine and Peter Fine have mastered work-life balance with their particular brand of his-and-her roles T his is the story of a farm girl from Indiana who met a Brooklyn boy who traveled the road from cab driver to CEO. Rebecca Ailes-Fine and Peter Fine met during their senior year at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. “It was pretty instant for me, but it took him longer,” Rebecca said of their early attraction. After graduation, Rebecca moved to New York for a job, while Peter went to Aspen to learn how to ski. “He had a gap year before anybody knew about gap years,” Rebecca laughed. “He drove a taxicab in New York to help pay for college and for his gas to go be a ski bum.” After his so-called “bum year,” Peter went to grad school at George Washington University in D.C. to launch his career in healthcare. “I liked the idea of being able to use management skills in a feel-good kind of business,” he said. Following that, Peter and Rebecca got married and had three children, Drew, Jillian and Cameron. Over the years, they lived in New York City, then back to Indiana and on to Illinois and Wisconsin. They loved their life — Rebecca’s extended family pitched in, and the kids excelled in sports. “I loved the Midwest,” Peter said. “Especially the people.” Still, when Peter was recruited to become the president & CEO of Banner Health — one of the largest nonprofit, secular healthcare organizations in the country — it was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse. So he packed up and headed to Arizona in November 2000. Rebecca and their youngest son followed in January 2001, right in the midst of Wisconsin basketball season. BY KAREN WERNER A Fine Family 40 | FRONTDOORS MAGAZINE

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