Ginevra Ralph received her bachelor's degree in history Honors College and her master's degree in special education from the University of Oregon. She taught students with severe cognitive and physical disabilities and later served on the UO College of Education faculty from 1992 to 2001. She was a trustee of the UO Foundation from 2006 to 2013. She was a founding board member of the Eugene Ballet and Eugene Opera companies and past board president of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Ginevra co-founded Eugene’s John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts in 1991 with her husband Jim. The Ralphs received the Governor Arts Award in 2005. She has served on many civic committees and is currently a trustee of Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, a director of the Reed Family Foundation, and is Vice Chair of the Governing Board of the University of Oregon. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum and was named Eugene’s First Citizen for 2015. In 2020 the Hearing Loss Association of America gave her the national “Get in the Hearing Loop” award for her advocacy.