He attended Cuyahoga Community College and Kent State University, where he majored in education and later, business development. He also attended the New York Times business development training at the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth and the Duke Corporate Education program.

Bob has led several corporate training initiatives, including Leadership Management Development and most recently, a multi-media training initiative helping prepare hundreds of community newspaper employees to conduct business in an ever-changing media landscape.

Bob is a member of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Wilmington Rotary Club and a past board member of Partners for Economic Inclusion (PEI). Bob is also a member of the North Carolina Press Association.