Meet the Advisory Board: Ron Peterson

If you're a TLI student or alumni you've met some of our amazing faculty and staff, but there is another important group of people working behind the scenes to ensure our programs offer the most relevant and high-caliber leadership and industry education possible. The Technological Leadership Institute Advisory Board does this by reviewing curricula, suggesting new programming opportunities, supporting TLI’s public engagement activities and sharing their technology industry expertise.

We wanted to introduce you to some of our esteemed members through our Meet the Advisory Board series.

This week, meet Ron Peterson, owner of PTB Books and former VP of Technology for Honeywell.

Ron’s young life as a nerd/adventurer led him to Caltech, where he roomed with a Nobel Prize winner.  After earning his PhD from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, he got a job at Honeywell, working on solar energy, satellite protection from lasers, and paint coatings. Eight promotions later he found himself responsible for multiple research labs on three continents that turned over $200 million per year and were the future technology of the corporation.

Since his retirement, he has been a lobbyist, community organizer, teacher, traveler, and writer. His first book was a memoir called An Introvert Learns to Fly. Then, in a ten-year project, he completed his second book, Gardeners of the Universe. It is a sci-fi adventure about his predictions for the next seventy years, replete with aliens, cyber/biowarfare, and the rapid evolution of what it means to be a human.

When asked why he chose to serve on the TLI advisory board Peterson said "I respect its goal to develop strong technical leaders both for Minnesota and the country."

"I am probably the longest-serving member the TLI Advisory Board," he adds. "I have known many TLI graduates who have gone on to dynamic careers. TLI can be a key milestone in the lives of its students." 

Visit the Advisory Board page to see the full list of members and learn more about each of them.