Ralph was born and raised in northern Utah. His interest in geology is rooted in family trips in the Wasatch Mountains, visits to national parks and historic mining districts, and a geology class in high school. 

As an undergraduate, he aided Hellmut Doelling (Utah Survey) on mapping projects. Ralph’s industry experience started as a geologist underground in Park City, then on porphyry Mo and Ag-rich manto exploration in Colorado. Following was a thesis examining the origin of Aspen deposits under the direction of Tommy Thompson. 

Ralph started at Morenci in 1991 on district exploration and modeling projects. He transferred to Tyrone and returned to Morenci as chief geologist. In 2001, he became Vice President of Exploration for Phelps Dodge and Freeport-McMoRan with responsibility for exploration and modeling activities at their properties in North and South America. He retired from Freeport in 2020 and now works part-time as a consultant