Ron Ketcham has been involved in the automotive appearance industry throughout his entire professional career and has always shared his extensive knowledge of automotive paint systems with the worldwide detailing community.  He has written hundreds of technical articles for detailing, car wash, and auto body trade journals, has served on several industry advisory boards, as well as being an encyclopedia of detailing knowledge on industry forums.  For those that remember the popular detailing forums, Ron Ketcham is also known as "Grumpy".  He has been a member and contributor to several professional detailing associations including the Professional Detailing Association (PDA), International Car Wash Association (ICA), the National Association of Professional Detailing and Reconditioning (NAPDR), and the International Detailing Association (IDA).

In 1986, Ron began working at Finish Kare Products out of California where he started learning about professional grade compounds, polishes, and sealants.  Base Coat / Clear Coat paint systems were just becoming popular with all the automobile manufacturers, and he knew things were going to change dramatically in how we care for these new finishes.  Over the next 10 years, he helped the company transition many of their aftercare products to meet the demands of these new clear coat paint systems.

In 1995, Ron took a position at Automotive International Inc., as Director of International Sales and Technical Services.  At AI, Ron worked globally with automobile manufacturers' paint and finishing plants, addressing and solving their problems with various paint finishes, exterior trim, and interior issues.  Using this scientific knowledge, Ron was instrumental in developing aftercare systems and procedures for car care professionals to maintain their customers' vehicles’ appearance properly.  One of the most popular procedures he developed that is still widely used today is the A-B-C decontamination wash to remove iron particles and other contaminants from modern paint finishes.

Ron was also an instructor of the very popular detailing courses at Automotive International Inc. called Prep Excellence.  It is a broad-based training program that instructs detail technicians to diagnose problems with the vehicle finish, trim, and interior surfaces and then to use the appropriate process and products in order to affect a permanent repair.  He personally instructed and graduated hundreds of detailing professionals through this program.

Ron Ketcham has greatly improved the detailing industry by sharing his 35+ years of experience and knowledge of automotive paints, exterior trim, and interior surfaces.  He has improved the way we clean, correct, repair, and protect all the surfaces on the vehicles we work on every day.  He is what the IDA Founder's Club Hall Of Fame is about – people helping others succeed in the detailing industry.