19 Facts About Ron Ponder

Ron J Ponder was born on February 21,1943 and is a senior information technology executive.

Ron Ponder was raised by his mother and grandparents who owned a sizeable farm, general store, feed business and service station.

When Ron Ponder was in high school, his mother remarried and the family moved to Magnolia, Arkansas, where he completed high school and college.

Ron Ponder majored in operations research and computer science, the latter a fairly new and embryonic field of study.

Ron Ponder left Georgia State to join the College of Business and Industry at the University of Memphis, where he taught quantitative management, statistical decision theory and applied programming languages.

Ron Ponder was a professor at the University of Memphis for five years.

In 1975 Ron Ponder and accepted a full-time position with Helena Chemical Company, a multi-billion-dollar agricultural chemical distributor headquartered in Memphis.

Ron Ponder eventually assembled a team of 22 operations research staff.

In 1979, Ron Ponder was promoted to the position of vice president, operations planning.

In 1982, Ron Ponder was promoted to the position of senior vice president and chief information officer, a position he held for the next decade.

Ron Ponder was part of the senior team instrumental in initiating and implementing the company's quality programs.

From 1991 to 1993 Ron Ponder worked at Sprint Communications Company as executive vice president and CIO and led the team that created the first network based on optical technology.

Ron Ponder was responsible for information technology and reengineering for Sprint's local and long-distance business, leading several company-wide efforts that improved Sprint's technology and network infrastructure, cost position, and time to market.

Ron Ponder brought together what many regard as the finest team of CIOs available to manage the various business units' systems.

Ron Ponder acquired a position as president and CEO of BDSI, a full-service consulting and systems development firm in New Jersey Under Ponder and his new team, the company thrived and grew at an astounding rate of 30 percent per annum.

In 1999 the ownership, including Ron Ponder, agreed to a very generous acquisition by The Cap Gemini Group.

Ron Ponder stayed on with the Cap Gemini Group to manage its US-based telecommunications, media and networks consulting businesses as president and CEO.

Ron Ponder received the Smithsonian Award for Technology Excellence, the Carnegie Mellon Award for Innovative Technology and the Stevie Award for Technology Innovation.

Ron Ponder was part of the leadership team at Federal Express to be awarded the first Baldridge Award to a services company.