In May the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce invited Ralf Bronnenmeier as a guest breakfast speaker.

Our experience inviting speakers falls in one of three categories:
1  the invitee needs to think about it and get back to us later,
2  the invitee needs to check his calendar and get back to us later,
  (Categories 1 and 2 require a second phone call to the invitee for a definite yes or no)
3 the invitee asks, “Why do you want me as your speaker?”

We invited Ralf and his response was none of the above. It was immediate.

“Yes. I’m glad to speak. I’ll see you Friday morning.”  Our invitation was to hear about Grob’s internship program, but we didn’t have to give Ralf a suggested topic. He simply said, “Yes.”

Ralf arrived in his predictable, short haircut, white shirt, tie, suspenders and grin. (No suit coat.) That was one-half of Ralf’s brand. His physique, always the envy of everyone in the room, was the other half.

To our recollection, the only other professional in Bluffton who ever wore suspenders was the late Dr. Howard Raid, Bluffton College emeritus business professor.

To our recollection, no other professional in Bluffton ever had a physique like Ralf. Not even close.

Once you got beyond Ralf’s brand, his crisp, distinct German accent caught your attention. It almost made you sorry you couldn’t speak Bluffton’s mother tongue. 

And his mastery of the English language left this impression: Here’s a mechanical engineer who can explain even the most difficult machine concept to anyone.

We had little idea of that state-of-the-art prize on the other side of Interstate 75 – until Ralf explained it to us.

Ralf Bronnenmeier was an electrical engineer at heart, and a CEO by profession. But his high school wrestler’s boyish grin made him one of us.

Ralf fit in well with Bluffton. He’s the kind of guy Bluffton will miss – for a very long time.