Bob has worked for more than 30 years as a forecaster, exploring the human side of new technologies. He has a deep interest in the future of religion and its impact on business, society, and individuals. Bob works mainly with senior corporate executives across a wide range of industries. He has rich experience in presenting IFTF's foresight and then drawing out insights-inputs to strategy-and-action steps.

Bob served as IFTF's president and CEO from 1996 to 2004. Still on IFTF's Board and the IFTF Leadership Team, Bob now spends most of his time with IFTF sponsors, writing, public speaking, and facilitating content.

Before his role as president, Bob created and led IFTF's program on emerging information technologies-now called the Technology Horizons Program. Since joining the IFTF staff in 1973, he has explored the social and organizational impact of new technologies. One of the first social scientists to study the human and organizational impacts of communications and computing technologies, his focus is primarily three to five years out, going as far as ten years when possible, and occasionally as far as 20 years.

Bob is a frequent keynote speaker. He has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses. He is the author of six books, including Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization with novelist Rob Swigart, a guide for organizations undergoing technological change and reengineering, and GlobalWork with Mary O'Hara-Devereaux, a guide to managing global, cross-cultural teams.

A social scientist with an interdisciplinary background, Bob holds a BS degree from the University of Illinois, where he also played varsity basketball, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Bob also has a divinity school degree from what is now called Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where he studied comparative religions.