From his base in Beijing, Rob advises companies and investment funds on market strategies and investment transactions in Asia.  He is especially experienced with developing creative solutions to help simplify complex deals or break into difficult-to-crack markets such as China and Japan.  He also is available to advise and execute on strategies and transaction structures in geographies outside of East Asia. 

In previous corporate assignments, Rob served as Managing Director of Beijing-based CITIC Rising Star, an entertainment and leisure real estate development joint venture and subsidiary of China’s largest financial conglomerate, the CITIC Group.  Earlier management duties include serving as Operations Manager for Japan in the then Fortune Global 200 energy firm, Dresser Industries.  At Dresser’s Wayne Division, Rob pioneered entry into the Japanese retail petroleum market (the largest overseas market of its kind) for US and European capital equipment and technology groups. His  responsibilities included structuring technology transfer and localization efforts through corporate partnerships with such companies as Sharp Electronics.

Rob is a member of a-connect, a McKinsey & Company spinoff that is regarded as a premier source of independent professional consultants worldwide.  Rob’s consulting work in Asia has entailed advising such clients as FedEx, Hong Kong Telecom (now PCCW), Siemens, and the government of Singapore.  Rob also served as a Research Fellow at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, California.  The Milken Institute is a non-profit think tank founded by financier Michael Milken and sponsor of the highly regarded annual Milken Institute Global Conference.

Rob holds a BA in Asian Studies from Pomona College and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.  Awarded a Truman Scholarship as an undergraduate, Rob then earned a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship post-graduate fieldwork in China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia on the history and evolution of Chinese-based calligraphies.  He is fluent in English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Japanese.  He possesses a working knowledge of German and has also studied basic Korean and Thai.