Rob leads STV’s new multidisciplinary smart cities practice, which includes a fully integrated suite of thinkers, planners, finance experts, designers, procurement and grant consultants, digital technologists and program managers, bolstering our advisory services offerings. Under Rob’s direction, the smart cities practice advises public and private clients on urban strategies, including long-range budget development and cost/revenue options, as they consider different approaches in mobility, social infrastructure, urban solutions, decarbonization and public resources management.

Prior to working at STV, Rob was the founding Director of the Austin Transportation Department (ATD), formed in 2008. ATD has grown from a single employee to approximately 450 FTE today and is responsible for Transportation Program Development, Right-of-way Permitting, Traffic Engineering, Special Event Management, Traffic Signals and Arterial Management, Signing and Street Markings, Parking Management, Transit Facilitation, Active Transportation, Vision Zero, Smart Mobility, and right of way and development permitting.

Major accomplishments include establishment of the parking management program and full modernization of the City's on-street parking meter system; $1 Billion+ in successfully approved mobility bonds; adoption of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan; full modernization of the municipal signal system and development of a state-of-the-art mobility management center (MMC). Robert has also been responsible for multi-modal planning, the City's bike program, micro-mobility program, mobility as a service program, and Smart City initiatives.

In 2016, he led Austin's bid for the USDOT Smart City Beyond Traffic competition. Austin was named as one of the 7 finalists by the USDOT. Although Austin was not selected for the final award, Austin continues on its path to be America's first smart city for mobility. Austin is the first city in Texas to obtain national recognition for implementation of a connected smart signal corridor, and was also the host for the first automated vehicle trip provided as a service and in 2019 was chosen by Ford Motor Company for deployment demonstration of automated vehicle services.