Rob joined The Stewardship Network in 2017 after several years of working with Lisa unofficially as a mentee and external TSN supporter. Before that, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science with a concentration in Environmental Psychology from the University of Michigan’s Program in the Environment, where he was awarded outstanding student in his major in 2016. Before working for The Stewardship Network, Rob was a fellow with the OptiMize Social Innovation Challenge in 2016, worked as a research assistant in U of M’s Organizational Studies Department, built hoop houses for the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative in parts of Detroit, and worked as a floriculturist with the City of Detroit’s General Services Division.
As the Community Coordinator at TSN, Rob is the primary point of contact for our member community coordinators. He is in charge of coordinator support, which includes providing technical and strategic guidance, facilitating peer-learning opportunities, and maintaining relationships with member community coordinators and partners, among many other things. He is responsible for overseeing the growth and development strategy of the program, and works closely with Executive Director Lisa Brush to identify and pursue new partnership opportunities. On a day to day basis, you can find Rob doing things like attending member community planning meetings, assisting with tech support for Zoom webinars or email newsletters, providing strategic input on member community programming, and lending a listening ear to coordinators that just need someone to talk to who understands the unique challenges of being a coordinator.
In his free time, Rob is a musician, arts organizer, and journalist in Detroit. He enjoys gardening, skateboarding, and playing hockey, and likes to get up to his family’s place on Torch Lake whenever he can. He loves meeting new people and experiencing new things, and if you’re looking for him at your local watering hole, he is likely at the pool table or in line for karaoke!