Bob began his career with Howard County in 1989 with the Bureau of Inspections, Licenses, & Permits in the Department of Public Works as a staff engineer reviewing and inspecting fire protection and life safety systems. In 2000 he was promoted to the Division Chief of Plan Review in the now Department of Inspections, Licenses, & Permits (DILP). In September 2007 he was appointed by then County Executive Ken Ulman as the Director of DILP and was most recently reappointed by Calvin Ball in December 2018.
Throughout his career and especially as Director, Bob's focus has always been to assure our built environment is safe and healthy for all who live work and visit Howard County, delivered in a people-centered manner. DILP's motto is "A Quality Product, Fast, and Friendly".
Bob is active with the International Code Council (ICC), the governing body that develops the model building codes, serving as the Chairman of the Administrative Code Hearing Committee, and was Co-Chair of the ICC Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in 2022-23. He is also a member of the ICC Region VII Executive Committee, the Maryland Building Officials Association (MBOA), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).
In addition, Bob has been an active firefighter/emergency medical responder in various career and volunteer fire departments for over 40 years. He also serves as a Structures Specialist with the FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (USaR) Maryland Task Force 1 (MD TF1) out of Montgomery County, having responded with the team on many activations including to the Pentagon on 9/11 and to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Bob has an Associate of Arts Degree in Fire Protection Technology from Catonsville Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland. He is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) in Maryland and Delaware. He is a graduate of the Academy for Excellence in Local Government and of Leadership Howard County Class of 2006.
However, Bob's greatest accomplishment and joy is his family. He and his wife Marcia have been married for 35 years and have five grown children, one granddaughter, and two sons-in-law.
