Robert leads the Global Science Practice at the consulting firm Growth River. With a start in environmental chemistry, he researched groundwater pollution in the desert Southwest. A trip to the Amazon River Basin with fellow board members George and Donna led to a role on the front lines of tropical forest conservation. This work resulted in the founding of US and international organizations, global forums in tropical forest management, a book, and a key role in creating the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the largest protected area in Central America. After years of bearing witness to the conflict endemic to the agricultural frontier in the forest tropics, and the disturbingly ineffective intrigues of Washington, DC, Robert committed to an intellectually rigorous spiritual path to figure out what real solutions to global problems are. On this path, he became the publisher of the "gold standard" for rational spiritual inquiry, EnlightenNext magazine. He holds a degree in Geochemistry from the University of Colorado, and a Master’s from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.