Ronald McGuire

Ronald McGuire initially set his sights on the University of Minnesota — sheet metal work was just something his father did. Once he realized that college wasn’t for him, he took a summer job at a sheet metal shop, enrolled in the sheet metal program at St. Paul Technical College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and changed his life’s trajectory. 

After graduating from the 15-month program, McGuire entered the union apprenticeship and graduated in 1997. Three years later, he took a computer-assisted drawing class and jumped into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) design as part of a five-member team at United Sheet Metal. When he became an instructor at Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, his two careers merged, and he began instructing computer-aided building information modeling (BIM). 

McGuire worked as a full-time instructor at St. Paul’s Technical College for two years before accepting a position with the International Training Institute (ITI), the education arm of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation (SMART) workers, as its BIM specialist in 2009. In 2020, he was brought on as the ITI’s Director of Research, Development, and Technology. This position allowed him to educate thousands of apprentices and members on current and new industry technology. Two years later, he accepted the position of Program Administrator, assisting the ITI Administrator with day-to-day operations and programs in the United States and Canada. He recently started a new role with ITI as Director of VDC and Technology training.