Ron is currently the organization’s Chief Education and Science Officer. He started
growing orchids in Northern California about 60 years ago at the age of eight with a
cattleya purchased from a local grower. This single plant quickly became a collection
occupying every window facing east or south and his fascination with orchids has never
waned. Over the years his private collection has numbered in excess of 2,500 plants; a
direct result of no willpower or common sense.
Ron’s growing experience spans lights while a graduate student in Iowa, out-of-doors in
Southern California as a postdoc at Cal Tech, a northern greenhouse in upstate New York,
a temperate greenhouse in Atlanta and a shade house in Central Florida. He even has
experience on the mass-market side of the orchid work (he calls it the dark side of the
Force).
Ron is a PhD Chemist by training, receiving his degree from Iowa State University and
spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech in Pasadena, California. He is
responsible for the editorial content and layout of the Society’s monthly magazine,
Orchids and holds a monthly orchid Q&A webinar (Greenhouse Chat). Don’t let that
name scare you off. If you haven’t registered for one, you should. In addition to the
magazine, Ron represents the Society on the Orchid Hybrid Registration Advisory
Group, an international group that advises the Royal Horticultural Society on matters of
hybrid registration and nomenclature. In addition to his professional position, Ron is an
accredited American Orchid Society judge with 35 years under his belt. Prior to joining
the AOS staff in 2007, he volunteered for over 25 years; chairing several national
committees, twice holding a seat on the Society’s Board of Trustees and briefly serving
as a vice-president. If this weren’t enough, Ron has also been a long-time supporter of
the Orchid Digest. In this role, he has served (and currently serves again) on its Board of
Directors and its Executive Committee for many years and as its President for three
consecutive terms.