... Educational Management (M.Ed) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with majors in Accounting and Commercial Law and aHigher Diploma in Higher Education (HDE) (a teaching certification) from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Prior to working with the UPC, Rob was working on his Ph.D. in Education, with the major question that was explored being: “how does school management drive the change process and implementation of a more comprehensive and explicit inclusivity policy regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or intersex students in the Australian school system?”

Prior to that, he worked as an Education Consultant at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission where he was engaged in helping schools and specifically physical education departments within schools be more inclusive of same-sex attracted and gender diverse students.

Rob has always considered teaching his first love and has worked as an Economics and Accounting teacher for 13 years in South Africa, before moving to Australia in 2010. His experiences as a teacher, head of department and assistant housemaster, have greatly impacted his career and perspectives on care, learning, and education.

The majority of Robs LGBTQ work has been in schools. His first formal foray into LGBTQ work was when he was working on the 'Fair go, sport!" program for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. This enabled Rob to work with schools, universities and sporting spaces across the State of Victoria, Australia on a program helping those individuals in sporting spaces consider how they might become more inclusive and develop senses of belonging.

Rob has also worked at the University of Melbourne on the Education Departments Inclusivity and Diversity Committee and lectured to prospective teachers on ways in which their classroom spaces might become safe and brave spaces for themselves and their LGBTQ students.

Upon arriving in Utah, he was quickly drawn to the exciting opportunities offered by the Utah Pride Center and the 'grassroots' work that gets done with communities. Rob was a member of the Board of Directors for a year and a half before becoming the Executive Director.

When Rob was asked “Why you work at UPC?” -- He answered that there has never been a space where he has felt more challenged, excited, happy and anxious - all at the same time. He further explains that this is one of the most incredible spaces to work due to the people he gets to work with and the people he gets to serve. Rob says the opportunity to be engaged in a space like the UPC has been humbling and frightening.

The sheer scale of the work that still needs to be done, and the enormity of the work that has already been done by our Queer Elders both sit together in this space. We owe so much to so many - in both of those cases.

Rob says he is a firm believer in the Xhosa concept of "Ubuntu" - which roughly translated means that "I am, because We are" or "I can only be fully me, if I allow you to be fully you". Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a role model and hero for many years, and this is a theory of community care and inclusion that he espouses constantly.