Ron Kemnitzer is Professor of Industrial Design at Virginia Tech. Mr. Kemnitzer holds over 15 USA and International patents for his work, which has also been recognized in many design competitions. He received the Gold ‘Good Design Award’ from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in 2001 and 1997. He also received a Gold Award in the 1993 ‘Plant Engineering’ magazine ‘Product of the Yea’ competition and a Bronze Award in the 1992 Industrial Design Excellence Awards sponsored by ‘Business Week’ magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America. In 1988 he designed the best selling ‘Bola’ chair for Fixtures Furniture Company for which he was awarded an IBD Gold Award.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Arts degree from Northern Illinois University. He currently serves as President of the Industrial Designers Society of America He has served six terms on the Board of Directors, three terms on the Executive Committee and two terms on the Planning Committee, which is comprised of the top five officers of the society. He was elected to the IDSA Academy of Fellows in August 2003.