About Ron

I grew up in West Virginia, the younger of two sons. Both my parents were committed community service volunteers: Dad at a veteran’s hospital and in local service clubs and Mom at the county hospital. Both were active in the PTAs where my brother and I went to elementary, junior high and high schools. I learned early and well the importance and value of contributing back to the community and helping others. Those values became the pillars on which my work and life have been built. It has unfolded in 4 phases.

The first phase after completing graduate school was finding ways of helping higher educational institutions be more effective in the uses of their existing human and financial resources and in expanding the availability of funding, all with the purpose of increasing the value of the overall student experience.

The next phase, influenced by a transformative international experience I had between undergraduate and graduate school, was applying a similar approach with a nonprofit whose mission was two-fold: to foster greater intercultural understanding through international student exchanges and to facilitate the work of applied agricultural research centers and scientists working primarily in developing countries focused on reducing hunger (the so-called Green Revolution Centers).

Having acquired an interest in and appreciation of performing and visual arts, my third phase was to help a major classical music conservatory and performing arts program retain and build on its historical strengths in a rapidly changing and challenging environment.

After working for 40 years, my wife Marian and I retired in and relocated to the Monterey Peninsula in California. Since retiring, in this fourth phase, I’ve continued my involvement with higher education through assisting with regional accreditation work and working as a consultant, executive coach and board member primarily with arts and community-based human services organizations on the Peninsula and in the Central Valley in and around Salinas, CA.