Ray AlmgrenVice President of Product Marketing and Academic Relations
During his 21 years at NI, Almgren has held positions in marketing, R&D, and applications engineering. His most recent roles include vice president of product strategy, director of R&D for the measurement products group, and director of software marketing. As director of software marketing, Almgren helped guide the NI LabVIEW product family to its industry-leading position in measurement and automation. In 1994, he also helped establish NIWeek, the company’s worldwide conference on graphical system design. Throughout his career at NI, Almgren has devoted significant effort to enhancing science and engineering education and inspiring students to pursue technical careers. He pioneered many of the company’s academic and university relations programs, including the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Classroom Mentor program. Using LEGO MINDSTORMS and programming software based on LabVIEW, more than 200 NI engineers work with local educators to help integrate robotics, control, and design into K-12 curriculum. Almgren is currently chair of the National EPICS Program Advisory Council at Purdue University. He serves on The University of Texas (UT) College of Natural Sciences External Advisory Board, the Southern Methodist University School of Engineering Executive Board, the Advisory Committee for the Tufts University Center for Engineering Educational Outreach, the External Advisory Committee for the Electrical and Computing Engineering Department at UT-Austin, the UTeach Advisory Board, and the FIRST Executive Advisory Board. He has also delivered numerous academic keynotes and conference presentations and has authored nearly a dozen published articles. In addition, Almgren serves as vice president and sits on the board of directors for the National Instruments Foundation, a private foundation focused on science and engineering education and research. Almgren was named an Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate of UT, an honor presented to individuals age 40 and under for distinguished contributions in professional accomplishment, community service, and service to the UT College of Engineering. In 2005, he was a recipient of the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award presented by the Texas Exes, the UT alumni association. Almgren graduated from UT-Austin in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He and his wife, Lisa, reside in Austin, Texas, with their three daughters, Sarah, Melissa, and Rebecca. |
Ray Almgren, vice president of product marketing and academic relations, leads the worldwide academic relations program for National Instruments.