Ron grew up in West Virginia where both parents regularly volunteered in community service organizations, his father primarily at a Veteran’s Hospital and his mother at the county hospital, influences which have shaped Ron’s life ever since.

Having also experienced the transformative impact of higher education at a state school, Ron went on to earn a Master’s degree in the administration and, in l967 began his career working at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in general administration and student financial aid. Within a few years he had assumed executive roles as Associate Dean for finance, administration and fundraising.

He continued in a similar position with the State University of New York’s College at New Paltz, a position he held for three years until 1976, while also staffing the College’s Council (advisory board).

Having benefited from a summer-long international experience between college and graduate school and after being on a college campus continuously from l961 to l976, Ron wanted to further his work in higher education but from a different perspective, and became Vice President of the Institute of International Education, headquartered in New York City with branch offices in the US and abroad.

At various times during his 13 years with IIE he was responsible for finance, administration, fundraising, regional and overseas services, including backstopping a network of international agricultural research centers based mostly in developing countries and staff support for the Institute’s Board of Trustees and its committees.

Meanwhile an enjoyment of and interest in the performing arts led Ron to seek an opportunity to combine his educational and arts interests, and in 1989 became Vice President of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Curtis is a small conservatory with an international student body whose mission is to “educate and train exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists at the highest professional level”. It confers both bachelor’s and masters’ degrees. His responsibilities included finance, administration, fundraising and board support for both the Institute and its associated Foundation.

Throughout his career, Ron was actively involved in the accreditation process of colleges and universities, both from an institution’s perspective and as a volunteer with different regional accreditation agencies serving on visiting teams to other institutions.

Ron and his wife Marian retired in 2007 and relocated to the Monterey Peninsula in California. Since retiring, he has continued his accreditation work and has been volunteering his time and sharing his expertise as a consultant, executive coach and board member mostly with community-based human services organizations on the Peninsula and in the Central Valley in and around Salinas, CA.   He works both independently and in programs provided by the Community Foundation of Monterey County, Leadership of Monterey Peninsula and the Peninsula Chapter of the Stanford Graduate Business School’s Alumni Consulting Team.