Ronald Petty, MSc, MBA
Ronald Petty, MSc, MBA is the Principal Consultant at RX-M, a global cloud native and AI advisory and training firm, and Chairman of the Board of both the Internet Society San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Ambassador, Co-Lead of the CNCF Artificial Intelligence Technical Community Group, a Kuberstronaut, and a Senior Member of the ACM.
Ron is a published author, conference speaker, and community leader dedicated to advancing cloud native computing, internet governance, and technology education.
As Principal Consultant at RX-M, a charter member of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and part of the founding class of both Kubernetes Certified Service Providers (KCSP) and authorized Kubernetes Training Providers (KTP), Ron provides engineering and advisory services around cloud native and artificial intelligence technologies to Fortune 100 companies and startups alike. He has consulted, developed, and trained across many domains including academic research, government, high-tech, finance, and energy.
Ron participated in the creation of the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) certification exams and holds all major Kubernetes certifications, including the CKA, CKAD, and Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS).
As Co-Lead of the CNCF AI Technical Community Group, Ron works to add clarity around AI and cloud native technology integration. He contributed to the Cloud Native Artificial Intelligence Whitepaper, a foundational publication by the CNCF that examines the intersection of cloud native technologies with AI and machine learning workloads.
He has presented at major industry events including KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2021, where he delivered a talk titled First Principles of Cloud Native Technology, and served as a panelist at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2024 in Salt Lake City, discussing the intersection of AI policy and Kubernetes governance. He was a featured speaker at the inaugural Kubernetes Community Day (KCD) SF Bay Area 2025 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, presenting on Cloud Native AI. He also delivered a Cloud Native AI workshop at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View through the Silicon Valley Engineering Council.
Ron is the coauthor of Network Programming with Go Language: Essential Skills for Programming, Using and Securing Networks with Open Source Google Golang, published in 2022. Cowritten with Jan Newmarch, the book covers key topics in network architecture implemented with the Go programming language, including data serialization, application-level protocols, security, and the construction of complete web servers. The source code for the book is available on GitHub under a Creative Commons open source license.
Ron has served as Chairman of the Board of the Internet Society San Francisco Bay Area Chapter since December 2023. The SF Bay Area ISOC Chapter serves the San Francisco Bay Area including Silicon Valley by promoting the core values of the Internet Society, a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in internet-related standards, education, and policy.
He is also Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the ACM since June 2024, where he had been a Volunteer Staff member since December 2023. The SF Bay ACM Chapter was founded in 1957 and is organized as a 501(c)(3) to promote increased knowledge and communication in the science, design, development, and applications of modern computing.
Ron is the Owner of Minimum Distance, a technology consulting firm based in San Francisco, which he founded in 2015. Previously, Ron served as Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at Griddy between July 2018 and January 2020, where he shaped the organization’s technological direction in the energy sector. Before that, he was Vice President at RX-M from June 2016 to September 2018, providing cloud native consulting, value chain analysis, audits, and architecture recommendations to Fortune 100 companies and startups.
He was also an Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension from 2012 to June 2017 and at AcademyX from 2012 to June 2016, teaching business and technology courses. At Message Bus, Ron served as Chief Technology Officer from April to August 2015 and Director of Operations from March 2012 to March 2015. Earlier in his career, he was Director of Engineering at TuneWiki from May to November 2011, Director of Operations at Saforian from November 2010 to April 2011, and Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Glacial Energy from August 2009 to October 2010 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
He was a Financial Technology Consultant at Milliman from March 2004 to August 2009 in the Greater Chicago Area, working as a senior software engineer in the Financial Risk Management practice, and a Consulting Engineer at Tallan from January 2003 to March 2004.
Ron earned his Master’s Degree of Science in Computer Science from DePaul University. He earned his MBA in Finance from the DePaul Driehaus College of Business. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky, where he was active in the ACM.
Ron is a member of the IEEE, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the San Francisco Radio Club, and the FISTS CW Club, reflecting his interest in amateur radio and Morse code. He has been a member of the ACM since 1997 and was elevated to Senior Member of ACM in February 2026. Ron is based in San Francisco, California.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, Amazon Author page, Sessionize speaker profile, and GitHub page. Follow him on Facebook and X.