Ron Kitchens, CEcD
Chief Executive Officer
Email: rkitchens@swmfirst.com

Ron Kitchens is the Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Michigan First, as well as the General Partner of the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund. He is the author of Community Capitalism: Lessons from Kalamazoo and Beyond, writes a monthly business column in Business Review and speaks to business and professional groups throughout the nation.

Throughout his nearly 25-year career in economic development in Michigan, Texas and Missouri, Ron has worked with more than 200 Fortune 500, international or regional corporations as diverse as GE Capital, Aker, Celanese, Scholastic, Kiewit Offshore Services, Boeing, Exxon Mobil and Ryan Sanders Baseball.

In addition to his broad-based experience, Ron has successfully started and operated multiple privately held companies. He was elected as a city councilman at the age of 21 in his hometown of Ozark, Missouri and served as a staff member to United States Senator John Danforth.

Ron is a graduate of Missouri State University, the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute and holds the designation of Certified Economic Developer.

Ron has been extensively featured in over 100 national and international media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, CBS News, NBC News, FOX Business News, USA TODAY, Foreign Direct Investment, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, The Economist and National Public Radio. His work also has been recognized with dozens of awards, including the prestigious National Marketing for Results Award, the Leadership and Innovation Award from CoreNet Global and the General Purpose Promotion Award from the International Economic Development Council.