Rob draws on his experience in starting and growing businesses across multiple science-based industries -- biotech, cleantech, and information technology -- in teaching courses in entrepreneurship and the management of innovation in the health care industry. His research interests are in the area of health care policy, global health, and science-based start-ups. Rob's teaching focus is on exposing students to the complex, real-world issues and trade-offs they will face in starting, growing, and operating companies in science and technology-based industries. He has been a lecturer at the GSB since 2004.

Rob is Chairman of Nektar Therapeutics, a public biotechnology company (NASDAQ:NKTR), Chairman of OPX Biotechnologies, a private company in the renewable fuels and chemicals field, and Chairman of Germitec, a private French company pioneering new systems for high level disinfection of medical instruments based on UV-C light. Rob joined Nektar as its first non-founder employee in 1991 and led the company as CEO through 1999 and as Chairman since then. In addition to Nektar, Rob served as the first CEO for OPX and for NanOasis, a company in the desalination separation technology field. Rob co-founded and was President of Penederm, a dermatology company that went public and was sold to Mylan Laboratories. He started his career in the technology field and held management positions at Intel and Metaphor Computer Systems (later acquired by IBM). Rob served on the White House Staff in the first Bush Administration as a White House Fellow and Associate Director of the White House Office of Economic and Domestic Policy.

In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors and actitivies at the GSB, Rob is a trustee of Caltech and Chairman of Caltech’s Biology Advisory Committee, former Chairman and current Board member of Bio Ventures for Global Health, and a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development where he was co-chairman of their Health Care task force. He was a long-time Board member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization where he was chairman of the Emerging Companies Section and co-chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee. Rob received a BS in engineering with honors from Caltech and an MBA from Harvard.

Rob is an out-of-practice but avid golfer, a persistent but slow jogger, a reformed political junkie, and father of 14 year old triplets.