FOUNDATION NEWS
An Interview with Ron May, PHSC Foundation Honorary Board Member
Gold is trending at May Wealth Advisors. For Managing Partner Ron May, 2026 marks a golden anniversary-- 50 years of affiliation with Pasco-Hernando State College( PHSC), beginning in 1976, when Founding President Milton O. Jones, Ph. D., hired Ron as an Admissions Specialist, and has since then accumulated 23 years of service to the PHSC Foundation. Ron chaired the Foundation Board from 2020 to 2022 and spent many years chairing the Finance Committee, contributing directly to the Foundation, quadrupling its assets from $ 20 million to $ 80 + million. Ron reflects on the golden anniversary of his relationship with the College and its Foundation.
by Carmine Bell, PHSC Professor Emerita
Q. Please tell us a little bit about your personal history, education and employment as an Admissions Specialist at PHSC, then Pasco- Hernando Community College( PHCC).
I was born in Cumberland, Maryland, grew up in Orlando, and went to the University of Florida( UF), where I earned a B. A. in History and Political Science. I was thinking about law school when I chose my major. After graduating from UF, my first job was Admissions Specialist at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro. I attended a conference in Atlanta, where I learned that PHCC was looking to hire an Admissions Specialist. Wanting to get back to Florida, I applied and was hired by Dr. Jones. It was my second job out of college.
I liked the job so much that I began to envision a career in college administration, maybe coaching baseball, too, since I knew that PHCC was planning an intercollegiate sports program. To turn this vision into reality, I earned an M. A. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Florida, where I gained experience as Assistant Director of Student Orientation. In that role, I developed a multimedia presentation for prospective students and their parents, which Dr. Jones heard about and promptly decided that PHCC needed a similar presentation.
Ron and Vicki May
The multimedia project was ambitious in scope and labor-intensive because of the limited technology available at the time. Eventually, with some help from a photographer-colleague, I got it done, used it successfully and even presented it to the Board of Trustees. Someone told Dr. Jones about all the photos that had been taken for the slideshow, so he concluded that the photographer was also the producer. At the board meeting, the camera guy got the recognition, and I got a valuable lesson in teamwork. That project is an indelible memory of my time as an Admissions Specialist at PHCC. Equally unforgettable is getting married in August of 1976 and hearing from Dr. Jones that I could have only four days for a honeymoon because my wedding was too close to the start of the fall term. Dr. Jones was always clear on his priorities and told employees directly what he expected of them.
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