About Rob
Rob the Athlete
Rob has made it his personal quest to continually grow as a creative technology entrepreneur, in addition to leveraging his passion for ultra-endurance sports to raise awareness and build community around important issues. In 2017, Rob completed a 146-mile run across Death Valley to the top of Mt. Whitney known as “the World’s Toughest Foot Race”, raising $700,000 for End Polio Now, Rotary’s global campaign to eradicate polio. The prior year, Rob completed the solo Race Across America, known as “the World’s Toughest Bicycle Race”, a 3,000-mile journey from coast to coast raising over $20,000 to fund brain cancer research. In 2019, Rob swam over 31 miles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the U.S. to Canada, raising over $10,000 for trafficking prevention efforts. In June 2020, Rob completed an “Everesting” climb, cycling uphill 29,029 feet over 230 miles in just under 27 hours, raising over $3,500 for HOPE61. Most recently, Rob cycled over 625 miles in the Race Across Oregon, an unforgiving course with nearly 50,000 feet of unending climbing, raising over $8,000 for IN OUR BACKYARD and bringing awareness to human trafficking.
Rob the Professional
Rob is the Executive Producer and Co-Founder at Lux Virtual, a creative studio that creates Hollywood-grade video, animation, virtual reality, augmented reality, and branding to simplify and illuminate brilliant ideas.
Rob started his career as an entrepreneur and Business Instructor teaching Business and GED courses at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, WA. In 2013, Rob started his own venture and co-founded Lux Virtual, a platform for early stage start-up’s, universities, and companies to share their ideas with the world. As Executive Producer, Rob has led business development for the past 6 years, with clients from Metro, IMAX, the Metropolitan Water District, Hyperloop One, and California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. Rob has received national recognition from the Today Show for the “Safetyville” videos. As an entrepreneur and world record holder in endurance sports, Rob has learned the value in combining dedication, determination, and courage with a worthy cause.
Rob the Rotarian
Rob started his journey with Rotary in 1997 when he spent a year in Surat, India as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. At 16, Rob became a world record holder after completing a 50 hour non-stop aerobics event with a dozen other participants. This experience and his time in India changed the trajectory of his life. When he started his company Lux Virtual in 2014 after moving to Los Angeles, becoming a Rotarian was one of the first steps he took. The ability to build quality relationships, live the “Service Above Self” principle and plug himself into the business, philanthropic, and social growth of the community was a huge driver in staying connected and invested in Rotary all these years. In District 5280, Rob is likely best known for his ultra endurance feats, especially the Badwater 146 that under District 5280 Governor Cozette Vergari raised just over $700,000 for polio eradication efforts.
Rob began is time in Rotary with the Playa Venice Rotary Club and now is a member of the Nor’Wester Rotary Club in Port Angeles, Washington. His two kids Hudson and Kalea are staples in many of his Rotary activities and like his wife Kristin are well on their way to being Rotarians at heart.
