Robert’s second-floor offices are crowded with papers, files, memos, phone messages, charts, and project plans. On his belt hangs a smart phone. A secretary in a front office handles the business telephone, which rang a dozen times in the few minutes I sat with him.

He is a busy, busy man, and not without reason. Robert is singularly responsible for the redevelopment of downtown districts in two small cities; for creating an arts district in a neighborhood of blight, crime, and decay; he sits on the boards of a half-dozen more companies and foundations; and has taken his organization from nothing to something significant in just a few years. He has done so for two central reasons:

First, he is a very capable person. Robert’s natural gifts, post-graduate degrees, personable manner, and skills honed through considerable experience equip him to accomplish much.

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