Ron Bronson is an assistant professor of practice in urban technology at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He specializes in the design, deployment, and scaling of digital services. His work spans governments and the organizations that deliver alongside them across jurisdictions and often across borders.
His research examines the latency between policy and on-the-ground deployment, and how delegating discretion to machines impacts urban life. He speaks regularly at conferences and institutions on three continents on human-centered service design, digital delivery, and the politics of public technology.
Ron has spent over two decades advancing digital transformation in diverse contexts, from rural counties to federal agencies. He spent nearly a decade at 18F, the U.S. federal government’s digital services agency, scaling the design and strategy practice and serving as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across three administrations and the pandemic. Following 18F, he founded the Portland Digital Corps, an all-volunteer digital response unit working with local nonprofits on critical projects.
Currently, he leads research for a strategy concern based in Tallinn and Seattle.
