Ritchken is the coordinator of the Mining Phakisa, a collaborative initiative between government, industry and civil society to address key challenges facing the mining cluster.   Previously, Ritchken was Strategy Advisor to the Minister and Director General of the Department of Public Enterprises.  In this post, he has been responsible for the development of overarching shareholder strategy and the shareholder management model, directing the development of the Competitive Supplier Development policy and strategy for state-owned enterprises and for the development of the defence-related industry strategy.  Prior to assuming this position, Ritchken was a transport industry specialist in the department responsible for assessing the strategies and structure of Transnet.  He has many years of strategy experience and has written extensively on industrial policy, rural development and political economy.

Ritchken has a Bachelor of Economic Science (Computer Science), a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and a PhD in political studies from the University of the Witwatersrand.