Prof. Ronald C. Gunnell

President
The Garibay Institute

Prof. Ronald C. Gunnell is President of the Garibay Institute for Soft Power and Public Diplomacy, an international Los Angeles based think tank advancing dialogue, policy, and transnational projects at the nexus of culture, innovation, and governance. He also serves on its board; the Institute, founded by musical icon Fernando Garibay, engages a network spanning 192 State, Royal, and Governmental countries with strong interfaith support and collaborates with leading universities including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Tsinghua, Tel Aviv University, Arizona State University, and others.

A globally engaged scholar and cultural envoy, Gunnell holds joint professorial appointments with the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. His academic interests include cross-cultural leadership, creative diplomacy, design thinking in governance, and the arts–international development nexus; he has lectured across continents, contributed to policy forums, and participated in artistic and educational programs.

Gunnell is the Founder and Global Chairman of Truth Alone Triumphs - Global Enterprises, an organization devoted to bridge-building and global cooperation, with active relationships across the United States, China, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, and Argentina.

Since 2000 he has served the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square as Executive Producer for Global Talent and Assistant to the President, securing leading artists and cultural figures, and, since 2021, as Global Envoy promoting music as a universal language of peace and love. He has worked with luminaries across music and media (e.g., The King’s Singers, Andrea Bocelli, Renée Fleming, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor; Roma Downey, Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Sir David Suchet, Hugh Bonneville, among many others) and serves as Global Artistic Advisor to The King’s Singers (board member of their charitable efforts) and Global Advisor to GENTRI.

Earlier in his career, he co-founded Health Benefits America, which served 50+ Fortune 100 companies (e.g., GM, Bank of America, AT&T, PepsiCo, FedEx, Citibank, Chevron, Xerox, Marriott, Coca-Cola) before its 1996 acquisition by ADP, where he remained an executive until 1998. His civic service includes boards such as Hale Center Theatre; Utah State University’s Caine College (Dean’s Advancement Council); BYU Marriott School; UVU Presidential Advisory Board; University of Utah School of Music; Legacy Film Foundation; and National Advisor to Best of State. He is active in philanthropy (Mentors International across Latin America and the Philippines; Operation Kids; Rising Star Outreach in India), serves as an Ambassador Board-Level member of World Trade Center Utah, was Chief Speaker at the 2019 5th World Parliament of Science, Religion, and Philosophy (MIT World Peace University, Pune).

He is married to Kaye Lynne Gunnell; they have three daughters, one son, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren.