Ron Acker is the owner, director, and CEO for Design Sydney-East Asheville, a boutique art & design consultancy in Asheville, NC specializing in corporate and private client sales representing the work of established and newly emerging Australian Aboriginal artists. He is also the United States sales representative for works by Asian-Australian artist, Hiromi Ashlin. In addition to art representation, Mr. Acker is the founder and owner of Personal Rousseau, a one-on-one client based web portfolio company.

 

Mr. Acker previously served as a diplomat with the US Department of State. He received the State Department's highest award for technological innovation for conceptualizing and managing the implementation of the United States' original electronic visa-issuance protocol during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

 

Mr. Acker is an accomplished artist with expert skills in Web design, Internet communication, database development and large scale event planning. He possesses superb marketing skills, is highly organized, and is dedicated to mentoring young entrepreneurs. Mr. Acker's event planning competencies include organizing and managing large scale conferences, meetings and seminars and he is an internationally respected guest speaker and lecturer.

 

Above all, Mr. Acker is a core believer in valuing people as creators and inspiring them to use their unique talents and abilities to achieve beautiful, enduring, and compelling work products.

 

In his capacity as Director and CEO for Design Sydney-East Asheville, Mr. Acker is committed to promoting the work of Australian Aboriginal artists, their culture, and their communities to audiences in the United States, and in assisting private-clients seeking to diversify their investment portfolios through strategic art acquisition.