Bob will provide consulting and advisory services to communities, governments, institutions and organizations seeking to enhance their competitive position and build innovation economies. In addition he also provides consultation to private sector companies and consortiums in the positioning and strategies associated with the planning, development and approval of large-scale, complex development projects.
“Bob allows us to take our incentives and infrastructure work to a new level by helping communities plan and develop innovation centers to attract and retain the employers of tomorrow,” noted Chris Lloyd, Senior Vice President at McGuireWoods Consulting. “Given his successful efforts to build the Virginia Biotechnology Park as well as years of experience as a planner and leader in economic development, Bob’s work will allow us to better integrate our public affairs work with practical knowledge about how to create new technology hubs.”
An architect and urban planner by profession, Bob worked for some of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the United States prior to his public service and leadership of the VBRP.
In his 20-year association with the VBRP, he led it from the earliest stages of planning and development to become one of the largest and most successful urban research and technology parks in the United States. It transformed 34 acres of the Richmond central business district into a vibrant innovation community consisting of more than 1.3 million square feet of new laboratory and office space representing over $575 million in real property investment. With more than 60 private sector companies, non-profits, research institutes and government laboratories, today the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park employs over 2,700 scientists, engineers, researchers and support personnel. He also formed the Park’s technology accelerator which helped to start 70 new technology companies and recruited foreign companies from the U.K., Israel, Germany, China, France and Scandinavia to locate there.
In his four years as Virginia’s Secretary of Commerce & Trade, the commonwealth achieved a record $12 billion in new private sector investment and created 300,000 net new jobs. He directed the state’s first economic development strategic plan, “Opportunity Virginia,” and led the restructuring of economic development from a line agency into a public-private partnership. He oversaw the recruitment of a number of high profile companies to the state and negotiated ground-breaking incentive packages with Motorola, IBM, Toshiba, Siemens, the Walt Disney Company, Frito Lay and Volvo Trucks among many others, and successfully directed the legislative approval of the packages before the Virginia General Assembly.
Founded in 1998, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC is a full-service public affairs firm offering government relations, strategic communications & grassroots, and infrastructure and economic development services. McGuireWoods Consulting is a subsidiary of McGuireWoods LLP and is ranked in the Top 15 of The National Law Journal’s “The Influence 50,” an annual report of the top public affairs firms in Washington, D.C. McGuireWoods Consulting has offices in Washington, D.C., Richmond, Virginia, McLean, Virginia, Atlanta, Chicago, Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Springfield, Illinois, Austin, Texas and Bucharest, Romania. For more information, visit McGuireWoods Consulting’s website at McGuire-Woods-Consulting
