Regent Ron Weiser, from Ann Arbor, received his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Michigan in 1966 and did graduate work in business and law.
Regent Weiser founded McKinley Associates Inc., a national real estate investment company, in 1968 and was its chairman and chief executive officer until 2001. From 2001-05 under President George W. Bush, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, arriving there just after 9/11/2001.
Regent Weiser has served or chaired the board of directors of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the national board of the Ginsberg Center at U-M, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the UNCF of Washtenaw County, the Michigan Theater, Artrain USA and The Henry Ford Museum. He founded four educational institutes at U-M: the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, and the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Weiser Center for Real Estate at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, as well as the Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute, the Mary H. Weiser Food & Allergy Center, and the Ronald N. Weiser Prostate Cancer Center at the Medical School and Medical Center. He also served as deputy chair of the University’s Victors for Michigan Campaign.
He currently is a trustee or director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and the US Holocaust Museum and is the chair of an effort to raise resources for a pediatric brain cancer research initiative at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in honor of the late Chad Carr.
Regent Weiser was elected to the Board of Regents in 2016. His term expires January 1, 2025.