Ronald Gray

Ronald W. Gray (born c. 1959) is a retired engineer, founder of Gray Research, co-founder of the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, and a member of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, representing the 5th District.

Gray earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama in 1981 and began his career in Birmingham at Combustion Engineering. He conducted research in pollution control equipment and was granted a patent in 1985 for a tubular electrode. That same year he moved to Huntsville and took a research position with a defense contractor working on missile systems as part of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative.

In 1998 Gray and his wife Cindy founded Gray Research in Huntsville, providing consultant services to the defense industry. They sold the company to MacAulay Brown of Dayton, Ohio in 2008, but Gray remained in place as chief executive of the Huntsville office. He retired in 2011.

Gray is currently president of Thompson Gray, a Huntsville-based firm founded in 2008 by Sheila Thompson which provides financial and business management consulting services to U.S. Department of Defense clients.

Gray participated in efforts to establish the non-profit Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation to facilitate research partnerships between the defense industry and university and private researchers.

Gray was appointed to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees in 2009. He chairs the finances committee and also serves on the board's athletic committee. Gray was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2010. The Grays have two children, Jennifer and Charlie.

External links

• Ronald W. Gray at aehof.eng.ua.edu