Ronald K. Linde

Linde is Vice Chair, Emeritus of the California Institute of Technology Board of Trustees. He is a private investor and chair of The Ronald and Maxine Linde Foundation. He founded Envirodyne Industries, Inc, in 1969 and was its chief executive officer from 1969 until its sale in 1989. By the time of its sale, Envirodyne had become a Fortune 500 international conglomerate whose products were being used in nearly every country of the world. In 1994 Linde co-founded Titan Financial Group. He was Titan's co-chair from 1994 to 1998. He was the first person to earn a Caltech PhD in materials science. From 1961 to 1963 he also was an inertial navigation systems engineer and consultant for Litton Industries. From 1964 to 1969 he held various research and executive positions at Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International), including director of physical sciences and chief executive of SRI's Poulter Laboratories. Linde has authored or coauthored more than 50 publications in condensed matter physics, applied mechanics, metallurgy, inorganic chemistry, geophysics, instrumentation engineering, and other fields. He has been a member of several nonprofit boards and advisory groups, including the board of trustees of Harvey Mudd College, where he is vice chair emeritus. With his wife Maxine, Linde has established a private museum specializing in ancient and ethnographic art and artifacts.