UA photo by Zachery Riggins
Tuscaloosa, AL….Huntsville business and civic leader Ronald Gray was unanimously elected President pro tempore of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System at the annual meeting in Tuscaloosa Friday, Sept. 15.
Gray, who was originally elected to the governing board in 2009, will preside at Board
meetings in the absence of the Governor and will chair the Board’s Executive Committee.
According to the Board’s bylaws, Trustees elected to the office of President pro tem are eligible
to serve three successive one-year terms. Gray succeeds Trustee Karen Brooks, who held the
senior leadership role from 2014-2017.
Representing the Fifth Congressional District of Alabama, Ron Gray has served on major
committees of the Board, also chairing the Finance and Investment Committees. He and Trustee
Britt Sexton of Decatur co-chair the UAH Committee.
A native of Mobile and longtime resident of Huntsville, Ron Gray is chief executive
officer of Thompson Gray, Inc., a Huntsville-based company that specializes in financial and
business management services for the U.S. Army and other customers worldwide. Earlier in his
career in the research and development and aerospace industries, Gray served in a variety of
management and executive positions which led to his founding of Gray Research, Inc. in 1998.
He was president until 2011.
Ron Gray earned his degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama.
He has been active in numerous civic and professional organizations and is a 2017 graduate of
Leadership Alabama. In 2011 he was named executive director of the statewide Tornado
Recovery Action Council, charged with recommending strategies for preparedness in the
aftermath of deadly storms. Ron and his wife Cindy Cason Gray have two children and three
grandchildren.
