About

Dr. Ronald O. Brown, Professional Engineer

  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
  • M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA
  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering (with distinction), University of Maine, Orono, ME

Dr. Ronald O. Brown is a highly versatile consultant with over 40 years of networking and telecommunications experience and over 20 years experience as an independent consultant.  He has a thorough understanding of technology, its benefits in profitable business processes, and a proven ability to bring change to an organization.  He has demonstrated his ability to develop innovative and successful business and technical solutions, including several world firsts.

Dr. Brown has a broad range of business and technical skills he brings to his clients.  His demonstrated expertise includes:

  • Executive leadership
  • Intellectual property expert
  • Superior oral and written communications skills
  • Process and operations management for carriers, vendors, and end users
  • Project development and management for carriers, vendors, and end users
  • Strategic business planning and development for carriers, vendors, and end users
  • Voice, data, and video technology planning, operations, and implementation for carriers, vendors and end users

His world firsts clearly demonstrate his innovative strategic technical and management skills.  These include:

  • Conceived, designed, and directed the implementation of the first competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) for Westinghouse. The WESDIN network was the first all digital fully synchronized network in the world, the first to switch 56 kbps between workstations and first structured cabling system. It offered copper, microwave, fiber, and satellite transmission, and had a centralized network management system. He also directed the preparation of the operational practices and procedures for the WESDIN system, the plan by which WESDIN became a profitable national carrier.
  • Conceived, designed, and implemented for the Massachusetts Port Authority the first multi-location distributed corporate information system. The system networked all Massport information workers’ desktop systems and mainframe applications.
  • Conceived, developed the curriculum, recruited staff, and directed Northeastern University’s telecommunications and networking continuing education program. This was the largest of its kind in the world. He also was the first to teach network management, network planning, and office information systems at an American university.

He was Chief Operating Officer of LOCATUM , a public safety startup that provides public safety first-responders with building floor plans and other critical information before they arrive on a crisis scene.  His accomplishments at LOCATUM include developing the business plan, preparing a patent application, designing the system, and directing its implementation.

Aside from his active consulting practice, he is currently IEEE Maine Section Vice Chair, IEEE Maine Communications and Computer Society Chapter Vice Chair, Publication Chair for the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Maine Telecommunications Users Group.  These activities also demonstrate the breadth and depth of experience he brings to his clients.

Some of the positions he held are:

  • National Director of Network Consulting at Coopers & Lybrand
  • Senior Telecommunications Systems Engineer and Technical Director at GTE
  • Member of the Scientific Staff of Bell-Northern Research
  • Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories.
  • Member of the Board of Directors of Cooperative Communications
  • Member of the Board of Directors of the Maine Telecommunications Users Group
  • Life Senior Member of the IEEE
  • 2012 IEEE Maine Section Chair
  • 2011 and 2015 IEEE Maine Section Vice Chair
  • 2011-12 IEEE Maine Communications and Computer Society Chapter Chair
  • 2012 IEEE Region 1 Board of Governors member

He has successfully completed over 125 projects for more than 75 clients.  These clients have been IXC, LEC, and CLEC carriers and cable television companies; end users; and manufacturers; as well as law firms where he has worked as a technical and business expert.

Dr. Brown has been deposed and given testimony as an expert.  He is widely published and quoted in the press having over 150 citations. He wrote the book, The Wireless Office. His biography is in Who’s Who and elsewhere.  He was elected to the Francis Crowe Society as a distinguished engineering alumnus of the University of Maine.

Dr. Brown is an experienced systems engineer who specializes in:

  • Business Planning, Development, and Operations
  • Economic analysis and impact
  • Technology Planning
  • Program Management
  • System Reliability
  • Networking and IT Systems Engineering
  • Radio and Wireless Systems
  • Network Systems Design and Implementation