4 minute read
Ron Howard
from VEFF Magazine 1 2021
by Veff
Product Line Director, Electric Grid
Ron has always enjoyed discovering new paths and envisioning new ways and doing things. “My career is stamped with the creation of new things,” he says matter-of-factly from his home office in Oregon. “I’ve always have been interested in driving change for the better.”
Ron Howard has done everything from operating an IBM mainframe computer, writing software code to travelling the world as global product manager of mobile computing solutions for utilities.
But his interest in computers and programming hasn’t kept him permanently locked to his desk. His lifelong passion has always been keeping active and experiencing nature. Athletics have constantly played a part in his life, whether this has meant playing American football, basketball or simply running. “I’m into the outdoors,” he says. “It’s a passion of mine. I love to fly fish. Brown trout, steelhead...” His home state of Oregon, on the US west coast, offers plenty of opportunities for getting out and about, including fishing and hiking. Howard grew up in the university town of Eugene, Oregon. “I live in the greatest place on earth, it’s so beautiful. Oregon is a magical place,” he says.
He and his wife love to travel, and even have a marlin fishing trip scheduled for Hawaii for this July. Upon inquiry on whether his wife likes marlin fishing, the answer is swift: “No, but she likes going to Hawaii.” They also regularly travel (in normal times) to New York to visit their son, who works in Manhattan.
FROM SOFTWARE TO UTILITIES AND BACK
Ron attended Portland State University, where he studied information systems and quantitative analysis. For his graduate studies, he headed off to University of Oregon, where he earned a Master’s of Science in information management. The first years of his career were spent in Portland at NW Natural, a large natural gas distribution utility, where he started as a computer operator and ended as chief enterprise application architect. There he designed and deployed an enterprise mobile mapping solution for the utility, among many other things. The system reduced the cost of distributing map products to employees while providing better information for improving processes. The solution gained national attention with the utilities industry.
In 2006, Ron joined MapFrame Corporation as director of product management. “We were rock stars,” he says. “We were one of first companies to deploy mobile GIS systems to investor-owned utilities at scale.” The company was subsequently purchased by General Electric, when Ron became the global product manager for mobile computing. “That’s when I started traveling the world,” he says.
In 2014, he finally joined DNV’s Electric Grid team in the Digital Solutions business area, working with the Cascade market-leading software solutions for asset performance management and analytics as principal product manager.
SEEING THINGS FROM MANY ANGLES
“I’ve been in utilities and computing since 1984. I’ve seen so much,” he says. “I was a utilities employee, interacting with executive staff on a regular basis, and then was working for a software company, producing software for the utility industry. Those two areas of experience combined are really helpful in understanding the use of technology in the utilities space. There’s a lot of wisdom there – I can see things from many angles, from a unique perspective.”
As the Electric Grid Product Line Director, where does he see Electric Grid going?
“I’m looking at growth,” he says, noting how important it is to make sure that the customers are aligned with our roadmap. “I’m really excited about the focus on customers and the commercial side of product management. There’s a lot of opportunity for our products and a new energy to grow this business. My thoughts are ‘What can I do with all of this energy to make this happen?’”
His strengths are his experience and the wisdom that comes from it. “Wisdom allows you to envision the implementation of a solution in detail, from the strategic level all the way down into the weeds,” he says, “and understand what it takes to get it done.”
“There’s been a lot of progress in the journey to modernize our Electric Grid software, and now we can ratchet it up,” he says. “We have this great opportunity to grow faster and do more than we’ve ever done. It’s going to be a really fun ride – for me, our customers and our employees.” •
Athletics have constantly played a part in Ron’s life, whether this has meant playing American football, basketball or simply running.
