About Ron
A lifetime in music and business, one steady rhythm.
Music was the headline, but Ron’s working life has spanned non-profit leadership, environmental protection, business administration, data analytics and business systems. These days he writes, mentors and explores, and he’s selective about the projects he takes on.
01
Music Industry
Since the late 1980s, when he started at Owen Bradley’s legendary Bradley’s Barn in Nashville, Ron has been woven into the fabric of the U.S. and Canadian music scenes. He didn’t just witness the industry’s great upheavals, from the arrival of digital distribution to the rise of social media; he helped drive them, guiding artists and their teams through each new landscape.
That hard-won perspective lives on in his widely acclaimed career guidance manuals, which have become trusted companions for aspiring music artists around the world.
Why a flight manual?
Ron is a licensed pilot, and flying shaped how he thinks about the music business. In the cockpit, nothing happens on hope. You run the checklist before you start the engine, you file a plan before you leave the ground, you watch your instruments instead of your nerves, and you debrief every flight so the next one goes better. Over the years he watched too many talented artists launch releases with no plan and no checklist, then wonder why they never gained altitude. The Artist’s Flight Manual (opens Amazon in a new tab) is his answer: a release treated like a flight, with pre-flight, takeoff, cruise and landing, written for musicians who want a career that lasts, not a single lucky trip.
02
Non Profits
As a founding Director and Chief Administrative Officer of a Tennessee botanical garden, Ron helped bring a public garden to life and continues to provide its leadership and strategic direction.
Ron recently built a full visitor guide for Hope Botanical Garden, with online ticketing plus member and guest pass management. Tickets and passes live on visitors’ phones, so guests skip the line and walk in with a quick QR scan. Inside the garden, an interactive map shows visitors where they are and lets them search for any plant to see exactly where it grows. It brings together everything Ron does best: non-profit leadership, data and systems design, and an eye for the people on the other side of the screen.
Service has been a constant thread in his life. He is a four-time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award and gives hundreds of hours each year to charitable causes.
03
Environmental Protection
In the thirty years following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, Ron worked alongside state, federal and private partners to pre-plan and rehearse protection strategies for the most sensitive environmental and economic resources in the United States and its territories.
He has served as a U.S. Federal On-Scene Coordinator representative for EPA Regions IV and VI, the kind of work where careful preparation makes all the difference when it matters most. His EPA Regions IV and VI experience spans pre-planning, rehearsal and response coordination.
04
Business Administration
Across decades of running multiple businesses, Ron has mastered every facet of business administration. His gift is a rare blend of critical thinking, technical fluency and genuine people skills.
Time and again, he has turned bold ideas into practical, cost-effective realities.
05
Data Analytics & Business Systems Development
Ron’s fascination with data began more than 35 years ago with Lotus 1-2-3 and has never let up. Today he works fluently in Microsoft Excel, Power Query and Power BI, drawing clear, actionable insight out of complex datasets.
He has put that skill to work in strikingly different arenas, from ensuring fair distribution of music royalties to strengthening emergency management planning and response.
Ron has been building data-driven business solutions since the earliest days of business software. His specialty is designing deeply customized, comprehensive data schemas shaped around the distinct missions of non-profits, government agencies and the music industry.
He continues to design and build applications that automate complex business processes, turning tangled workflows into systems that simply work. See his work on GitHub.
Off the clock
Travel, music, photography, yachting and aviation keep Ron curious and on the move.
- Travel
- Music
- Photography
- Yachting
- Aviation
Yacht Selection Guide for America’s Great Loop · Loopers Guide Infographic
Get in touch
Ron is selective about the projects he takes on, but he’s always glad to hear from readers, old friends and fellow music people.