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Ray Almgren, vice president of marketing for core platforms, leads the marketing activities for National Instruments software and data acquisition products along with the worldwide academic relations program. During his 24-year career at NI, Almgren has held positions in applications engineering, marketing, and R&D. Much of his career has concentrated on growing the use and adoption of NI LabVIEW, the company’s industry-leading software. Almgren has also pioneered the company’s efforts in engineering education with a goal of inspiring students to pursue education and careers in technical fields. He has built a worldwide team focused on academic and university relations and initiatives, including the adoption of LabVIEW as the software that powers the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robotics system and the adoption of the NI CompactRIO platform by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics. Almgren is chairman of the FIRST in Texas and a member of the National FIRST Executive Advisory Board. He also serves on numerous advisory boards for schools of engineering, including those at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, Southern Methodist University, Purdue University, and Tufts University. In 2004, Almgren was named an Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate of UT Austin and, in 2005, received the Outstanding Young Texas Exes Award, presented by the UT Austin alumni association. Almgren graduated from UT Austin in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He and his wife, Lisa, reside in Austin, Texas, with their daughters, Sarah, Melissa, and Rebecca.