Ron Stone – ICOMIA Honorary Life Member

Ron Stone was unanimously elected an ICOMIA Honorary Life Member at the organisation’s 43rd AGM in Lisbon, Portugal. Stone was recognised for his contribution to the development of the ICOMIA Marinas Committee since its inception, as well as his wider contribution to the US boating industry when he was at the National Marine Manufacturers` Association (NMMA). He is one of only three recipients to be awarded this honour in the lifetime of ICOMIA. He joins Bjorn Lagerkvist, MD of Swedish marine industry association Sweboat, as well as Tom Webb, who served as ICOMIA`s first secretary general for 17 years and as chief executive of the Ship and Boat Builders` Federation.
Ron Stone (Northwestern University BS 1953, JD 1956) is literally a man of the world. His career as chief regulatory counsel to the American recreational marine manufacturing industry took him to Washington, DC as well as virtually every State Capitol, where he was in the thick of legislative and administrative law advocacy for more than 45 years.
Stone helped form the States Organization for Boating Access (SOBA), a national non-profit organization of state government officials responsible for acquiring waterfront lands, building, operating and maintaining public boat access throughout the United States, and served as that body’s secretariat and newsletter editor through its formative years. He also was a guiding light in the founding of the National Boating Federation, a national non-profit educational organization for national, state and regional associations of yacht clubs, and became its president and newsletter editor. Ron Stone has authored many papers, some of which have been published in several languages.
Stone served as IMC secretary from 1991 to 1996, before becoming its chairman from 1996 to 2008, when he retired for health reasons. Under his leadership, the IMC membership grew to represent over 30 countries. Its triennial conference, now called the ICOMIA World Marina Conference, has become the marina industry’s leading conference with a worldwide following. The IMC benefited from Stone’s vast contact network enabling it to forge alliances with many interests groups, including PIANC (the world association for waterborne transport infrastructure), SOBA (States Organization for Boating Access), AEMA (European Congress of Municipalities with Yacht Harbours and Marinas), EBA (European Boating Association, and the NBF (National Boating Federation in the United States).
15-July 2009