Ron Weiser is an American businessman, philanthropist, and former U.S. ambassador to Slovakia who served as chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from February 2009 through January 2011 and from February 2017 through February 2019. Weiser is a 1966 BBA graduate of the University of Michigan. He was born in South Bend, Indiana on July 7, 1945 and graduated with honors in 1966 from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He also did post-graduate work at the University's Business and Law Schools. He and Eileen were married in 1983 and live in Ann Arbor with their son, Daniel, born October 1, 2000. The Weisers also have two married children, Elizabeth and Marc, and five grandchildren.
Career
In 1968 Ambassador Weiser founded McKinley Associates Inc., a national real estate investment company and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 2001, and again upon his return from Slovakia to the present. Weiser served on the Boards of Directors of numerous non-profit organizations. Among them he has chaired or co-chaired the National Board of the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning at the University of Michigan, the Detroit Institute of Arts, United Negro College Fund of Washtenaw County, the Michigan Theater, Artrain USA, and was Treasurer and Finance Chair of The Henry Ford Museum. Together with his wife, Eileen, Ambassador Weiser in 1984 created the McKinley Foundation, a public community foundation. He currently serves as a Trustee or Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, The Henry Ford, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. He is also a member of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business Zell/Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies Advisory Board and the University's Food Allergy Center Advisory Board, The Ambassador and Mrs. Weiser currently serve as Campaign Deputy Chairs of the University's $4 billion Victors for Michigan Campaign, and the Ambassador is also a member of the $1 billion Campaign for the University's Health System. Weiser also sits on the Board of Directors. He previously served as Ambassador to Slovakia under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. In 2015, Ambassador Weiser announced that his family would donate over $50,000,000 to the University of Michigan.
Political influence
Ambassador Weiser has chaired numerous political and judicial campaigns including four Michigan Supreme Court races and was Chairman of Team Michigan from 1997-2000. He served as the Michigan Finance Chair of Bush for President in 1999 and 2000 and as a member of the National Executive Committee of Victory 2000. He served during 2005-06 as the Michigan Republican State Finance Chair and was a National Co-Chair for Senator John McCain in 2007-2008. In February, 2009, he was elected as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. In February, 2011 he was appointed as Co-Chair of the RNC's National Finance Transition Committee, and from April, 2011 to February, 2013 served as the RNC's National Finance Chair. Weiser, along with philanthropist and former Amway president Dick DeVos, was one of the primary architects of the "Right-to-work law" legislation enacted by the Michigan legislature in December 2012. In 2014, Weiser unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. He was elected to the Board of Regents in 2016. His term expires on January 1, 2025. Weiser was selected in 2016 to lead the Republican National Committee's fundraising efforts for Donald Trump. Weiser donated $50,000 to The MRP Legal Expense Trust Fund, which is covering Vice President Mike Pence's legal bills generated during the Mueller investigation.
Awards
In 2004, for his work in furthering the Slovak economic and political relationship with the United States, he received The White Double Cross from Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, the highest award given to non-Slovaks. Also in 2004 he received the Cultural Pluralism Award from the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad for his work in the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Zakopane, Poland, and one of Slovakia's most cherished historical sites, the medieval Trenčín Castle. The University of Michigan Business School honored him in 2005 as the Outstanding Alumni with the David D. Alger Award, and in 2007 named him the Zell-Lurie Institute Entrepreneur of the Year. In April 2005 he delivered the commencement address to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Ambassador Weiser was honored with the "Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service". The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, part of the Smithsonian, created this award to recognize individuals who "have served with distinction in public life". He was also named the Chelsea, Michigan "Citizen of the Year" for 2007, and received the 2008 "Distinguished Citizen of the Year" award from the Great Sauk Trail Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
