Ron Kitchens is the senior partner and chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First, which has been named by Outside Magazine and the Wall Street Journal as one of the best places to work. One of America's leading thinkers on business, leadership, and entrepreneurism, Ron is the founder of the leadership conference Catalyst University and the cofounder of NEXT, an invitation-only leadership symposium for global economic development leaders. Ron and his teams have been extensively featured in more than 100 national and international media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, CBS, NBC, Fox, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist, and NPR. Ron is author or coauthor of three books, including Community Capitalism. He blogs and podcasts at www.ronkitchens.com and can be found on Twitter @ronkitchens.
