Ron Bronson

Ron Bronson speaking at a standing lectern during Portland Design Month

I lead the deliveryof complex technologyproducts andprograms.

My work covers product direction, service design, cross-functional teams, budgets, and the decisions that turn an idea into a working service.

I also design and build software, teach, and research how technology changes the way people and organizations operate.

Currently building Vloora, which works on how people keep authority over AI agents acting on their behalf.

About me

I’ve spent more than two decades building digital products and, for much of that time, leading the organizations that deliver them.

At 18F and the U.S. General Services Administration I was head of design and head of strategic communications at the same time. I directed staffing and operating budgets and advised senior agency leaders on delivery and organizational change, on work with the U.S. Air Force, the Federal Trade Commission and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Before that I led statewide digital strategy and software delivery for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and managed a citywide website modernization in Bloomington, Indiana.

Now I lead Vloora, which makes software for how people direct and evaluate AI agents, and teach Urban Technology at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College. I founded Portland Digital Corps, and as president of AIGA Portland helped launch Portland Design Month.

More about me
Some advice on managing your design career upwardsPiccalilli, January 2026 Design as repair: what Emergency Medicine can learn (and why it is so hard)Stevan Bruijns, St Emlyn’s

Product design

Products, direction, teams, delivery

Service design

Journeys, operations, service systems

Design for AI

Language, information, content systems

Forward deployed design

A practice that connects the three disciplines

I work where the service actually happens: in the room with the people it affects, then alongside the engineers, policy staff and operators who have to carry it out. I stay through implementation, because that’s where most good designs quietly come apart.

His writing doesn’t promise easy answers, but it names something important about how complex systems actually function.

Stevan BruijnsSt Emlyn’s, October 2025, on Design as Repair

When someone who ran it at that scale lands in the same place, that’s the signal worth trusting.

Tim MalbonMade by Many, 2026, on forward deployed design

Talks and writing

Talk · Donut.js, Feb. 2019Defense Against Dark Patterns: Let’s Talk about Anti-UX
Talk · IxDA Oslo, Sep. 2025Design as Repair
Writing · May 2026Better Technology for Cruelty (Or Administrative Burden As a Service)
All talksThe blog
Ron Bronson leading a session at Years Ahead 26, pointing toward the window as the room looks on

Workshops and training

I speak regularly at conferences around the world on design, product and delivery practice. I also run workshops for teams and teach studio courses at the University of Michigan.

Conference organizers and teams can bring me in for a keynote, a hands-on workshop or a longer training program.

Ask about a workshop or talk

Phone A Friend

As the CEO of an AI company and previously a fellow at an AI research institute, this has been a dizzying time. If you’re interested in what I’ve been building or just want to talk, visit .dev or get in touch.