Ron May
Executive in Residence, Center for Positive Organizations
Retired Executive Vice President, DTE Energy
After 44 years in the utility industry, Ron A. May retired as the Executive Vice President of Major Enterprise Projects of DTE Energy, a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide.
May is founder and CEO of May Technology Group, LLC, which invests in technology and related businesses; advises and consults on business matters; and supports educational endeavors. In his post-DTE life, he is also teaching a leadership course at Oakland University.
May earned a BS in civil engineering from the University of Michigan in 1973 and completed Harvard’s Advanced Management Program in 2003. In 2016 he was bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Oakland University. Additionally, he completed graduate course work at Eastern Michigan University, Youngstown State University, and Pennsylvania State University. May attended the Center for Creative Leadership, is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Project Management Professional, and holds a Michigan real estate license.
He has continued to be a committed contributor to his profession as evidenced by his recent service as chairman of Oakland University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science Advisory Council and the Michigan Round Table of Diversity and Inclusion. May has served numerous educational and civic organizations, including the Construction Industry Institute, the University of Michigan’s Engineering Advisory Council, and the Detroit Police Athletic League.
May received the Diversity Champion Award from the DTE Energy African American Action Association, the Birmingham-Bloomfield Diversity Task Force, and the Detroit Chapter of Asian Pacific Americans; the Distinguished Leader Award from Leadership Oakland; the Honorary Alumni Award from Oakland University; and the Distinguished Leader Award from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
He contributed to the forward The Human Side of Enterprise, Annotated Edition by Joel Cuter-Gershenfeld (2006, MacGraw-Hill Education) and wrote a chapter in Lenses of Leadership: A Call to Action by B.A. Nick (2014, Catto Creations, LLC). He co-authored, with Victor Allen, Project Management for Experienced Project Managers (2016, Dog Ear Publishing).
May wants to share his experience in business and life with others who may want insight and encouragement. He is grateful the Center for Positive Organizations offers the environment for him, as an Executive in Residence, to interact with world leaders in both practice and scholarship. This opportunity for continued personal growth and learning—while assisting others in their pursuit of understanding why organizations and leaders perform and behave the way they do—is a higher plane focus for May.
Why is Ron a CPO Executive in Residence?
The Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) provides a connection between the methods and practices being used in business today and the scholarly pursuit of why these methods work or why they could be made better. The human organizational activity and its ability to effectively accomplish the goals of the business while most importantly helping achieve the goals of the individual.
CPO is the confluence of developing new knowledge and distributing the knowledge to those leaders who can deploy it for the betterment of society. Knowing a better way of leading the human side of business, and performing that better practice, is the work that needs to be done.
My need is to learn more and contribute to the development of that learning. I want to support others who are in the pathway for developing new knowledge or deploying the knowledge for the betterment of their business.