RON HARWOOD:
 
RON HARWOOD




 
 
 
 
 
President and Founder, Illuminating Concepts in Farmington Hills. Harwood took a background in engineering and moved his career into lighting design in 1981. His company remains at the forefront of architectural and multimedia lighting, audio, and video. Illuminating Concepts is responsible for numerous lighting design projects in the Detroit area, including Comerica Park and the McNamara Terminal at Metro Airport, and the company is also active nationwide and internationally. Harwood has won dozens of international awards and recently earned the Guth Memorial Award of Excellence for the NBC Experience and the Paul Waterbury Special Citation for the Las Rozas, Madrid-Heron City Leisure Center. Harwood is also a musician, recording artist, and publisher, and has traveled the world performing.


WHERE BORN: "Detroit."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: "My lighting and multimedia career was prompted by Jerry Beznos, a developer I was working for as a contractor. He recognized a lighting design talent in me and said I should be a lighting designer and not an electrician. It was a way to expand on my creativity. My wife, Shelley, has supported me through it all. I met Ken Nisch of JGA a year after I started, and he saw something that complemented his store design talent. We have worked together and shared ideas for the past 25 years. And many other important people along the way."

LAST BOOK READ: "The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown."

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: "Contemplative, fun-loving, mentoring, rhythmic, inventive."

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: "The lighting design community has finally grown up. The largest projects across America and around the world could not do without lighting designers now. It has become a full-fledged artistic and engineering profession. It’s expanding dramatically to the betterment of architecture and the human experience."

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: "My BlackBerry."

FAVORITE PLACE: "Machu Picchu and 60 feet below the ocean surface."

FAVORITE HOBBIES: "All forms of music, both listening and playing."

FAVORITE FOOD: "Northern Indian."

MY HIDDEN TALENT: "My ability to dance. I just produced a PBS TV show last weekend and it was all about the swing era. We had some professional dancers, and one came and got me and I danced my feet off."

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: "As a good guy. Someone who has given back more than he took."

Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2009, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.