Officer, US Army, Corps of Engineers Officer, United States Army, 1956-57; Architect, Bolt Beranek Newman, Incorporated, (later known as BBN Technologies), Cambridge, MA, c. 1960-1990; Senior Partner, McKay Conant Brook (MCB), Incorporated, Westlake Village, CA, 1987-2007; Senior Partner, McKay Conant Hoover (MCH), Incorporated, Westlake Village, CA, 2007-2011; McKay and his firm specialized in architectural acoustics for arts buildings across the US. McKay began the retirement process from McKay Conant Brook Acoustics Consultants, Incorporated, in 1999.

Technical Committee on Architectural Acoustics, Three-Term Secretary;

Fellow, Acoustical Society of America (FASA); National Honor Award for Collaborative Achievement, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1999; according to his obituary, published on the McKay Conant Hoover, Incorporated, web site: "Various Merit and Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology and Preservation Foundations." (See "Ronald L. McKay: [1932-2011],"Accessed 03-12-2014.)

B. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 1954; Fulbright Scholar in Architectural Acoustics, Göttingen University, Göttingen, Germany, 1955; M. Arch., MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1958.

His company-composed obituary stated: "Mr. McKay provided nearly fifty years of consulting experience covering the entire field of architectural acoustics and noise control and was responsible for 1,000 acoustics projects, from Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center to the highly-regarded Ambassador and Royce Hall auditoria in Los Angeles. He was renowned for his work in performance, rehearsal, recording, and teaching facilities for music and drama, and was awarded the AIA’s coveted Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement. He taught architectural acoustics at several universities, and created a television series and textbook on advanced architectural acoustics and was a popular lecturer at scientific and engineering societies and institutions." (See "Ronald L. McKay: [1932-2011],"Accessed 03-12-2014.)