Rob has an undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla and an MBA in Finance from Middle Tennessee State University.

He began his career in 1972 with the Missouri Public Service Commission as a manager in the Engineering Division. He came to Fail Engineering from Verizon, originally with Contel prior to the Contel/GTE merger and GTE prior to the GTE/Bell Atlantic merger. With Verizon/GTE/Contel, he held executive level positions responsible for the areas of Engineering, Planning, Finance and Regulatory. Also, prior to joining Contel in 1981, he was Vice President of Cottrell & House, Inc., of Nashville Tennessee.

He is a registered professional engineer and has presented testimony, covering the aforementioned areas, in over 100 rate proceedings in over 25 states. He is a current member of the Association of Communication Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.