About Bob

Personal

We are a family of 4:

•  We have lived in Lexington since 1991

•  My wife, Jolanda, grew up in The Netherlands and is a naturalized U.S. citizen

• Upon returning from my work assignment in France in 1991 our two children attended the French-American elementary School in Arlington/Cambridge, the Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School

•  I/we spent 8 years on  a work assignment in Europe between 1982 and 1984 and again between 1986 and 1991 – the Netherlands and France. Living in foreign cultural and foreign language environments was a valuable life experience

• Depending on who you speak with, language skills in the family are English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Swedish

• I grew up in a multi-generational family in the Quincy Point section of Quincy. We lived on the second floor of a traditional over/under 2 family house, as did many of my friends

• My Summer jobs were almost all in blue collar work environments, performing blue collar tasks. Observing how many people earn their blue collar living was a valuable life experience

Professional

I spent my career working in Information Systems and Business Process Design. This was in a time when there were no enterprise software packages available.  As a result, companies had no choice but to build their own custom systems. I designed these systems and either developed the systems myself or managed the development of the systems. Business Process design became understood and became the most important part of what I did. In fact, I had always been redesigning Business Processes. The term "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" never made any sense. Change is good and it is necessary.

Other Volunteer work

• I was part of the neighborhood team that built the case for a Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) in the Turning Mill neighborhood. The Turning Mill NCD was overwhelmingly approved by Town Meeting in 2018. Others helped us with the process: Specifically, Sally Zimmerman and Richard Canale

• Resident participant with the Residential Policy Committee 

• Town Manager Search Screening Committee (2018 and again in 2024), voting member

• Community Preservation Committee (2022-present), voting member

• Planning Board liaison assignments: 

  • Tree Committee, Transportation Advisory Committee, Design Advisory Committee, Economic Development Advisory Committee, Greenways Corridor Committee, Historical Commission, Lexington Center Committee, Pierce-Lockwood NCD, Sustainable Lexington Committee

Education

BA Mathematics from Boston College, with honors