In 2025, in partnership with the Chicago Quantum Exchange, he led a team of attorneys and industry experts to create the Quantum Law Navigator — a first-of-its-kind resource that maps the U.S. policy, legal, and regulatory landscape shaping the quantum industry. The report provides clear, practical analysis of four cross-cutting challenges — national security, funding, workforce, and supply chain—to help organizations translate complex rules into actionable strategies.
In addition to his work in the quantum technology industry, Bob has deep experience representing manufacturers across sectors and through mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, financing, and strategic alliances. He regularly advises on matters involving real estate, construction, intellectual property, compliance and risk management, human resources, and government relations, bringing a practical, business-oriented approach to complex commercial objectives.
Bob also has over 30 years of experience working with Japanese companies on building and scaling their businesses across the U.S. and around the world. Prior to rejoining Barnes & Thornburg, he served as chief legal officer, senior vice president of administration, and member of the executive committee at Blommer Chocolate Company, the largest industrial chocolate supplier in North America. In the that role, he led the company's international expansion, including establishing a manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China, and played a key role in Blommer’s sale to Fuji Oil Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded Japanese food company.
Following the acquisition, Bob helped lead the post-merger integration and spearheaded key business transformation initiatives, including the closure of the original Chicago plant and manufacturing expansion projects in the U.S. and Canada. He also supported other Fuji Oil Group companies in North America, among them Fuji Vegetable Oil, Inc. (FVO) and Oilseeds International, LLC., and, in 2023, led the sale of FVO’s New Orleans plant.
Earlier in his career, Bob studied and worked extensively in Japan, where he earned the highest-level Japanese language proficiency exam administered by the Ministry of Education. He was seconded to one of Japan's largest chemical companies in Tokyo, supporting projects across more than ten countries on five continents. His work included acquisitions in England and Australia, a series of IP-focused strategic alliances in Europe, and manufacturing expansion in Africa, along with related work with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
For more than three decades, Bob has devoted his civic leadership preserving and advancing the Garden of the Phoenix in Chicago. From 2013 to 2019, he partnered with Yoko Ono to realize SKYLANDING—her first and only permanent commissioned artwork in the Americas—installed in the Garden of the Phoenix. He also collaborated with Ono to produce an album of her songs, performed by Tatsu Aoki and the Miyumi Project.