Ricardo was born in Santiago, Chile in 1959, and lived there until the family moved to Uruguay in 1967, Argentina in 1971, and then Mexico City in 1972 as his father pursued a successful career with IBM. Ricardo's interest in engineering can be traced back to the day when as a seventh grader he confronted his physics teacher by saying something like "Newtonian physics doesn't make any sense", to which the enlightened teacher responded with, "it is not the truth……but it works, use it".

Upon graduating from the American High School in Mexico City, Ricardo enrolled in the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico, where he earned a degree in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering. It was here that Ricardo was first exposed to advances in solar energy, off-grid buildings, and alternative energy sources.

In 1983 Ricardo enrolled in Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin and in 1984 received a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics. As a graduate student he conducted research on heat conduction, developed software to map the thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbons, and taught undergraduate thermodynamics courses.

Ricardo joined ACR Engineering in October of 1984, seeking a firm that would allow him to put his passion for energy efficiency to work, and he has not been disappointed. In his 26 years with ACR, Ricardo's duties with the company have included conducting energy audits of institutional facilities; developing complex energy models; design of electrical-mechanical-plumbing systems for commercial buildings; design of central plants, thermal energy storage and cogeneration systems; commissioning of commercial and institutional facilities; and managing a team of engineers to assist in conducting tasks associated with the above activities.

After so many years in this field, Ricardo's view of the engineering discipline has not changed much from his thoughts as a seventh grader, and is best summarized by the following words written by Aristotle over 2000 years ago:

It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest assured with the degree of accuracy that the subject admits, and not to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible.

When not at work, Ricardo enjoys running and traveling with his wife Carmen.