Bob Anderson is a retired vice president of marketing for UOP LLC, the world's largest source of licensed technology to the global oil refining and petrochemicals industry. Prior to that, he was vice president of quality and productivity. During 37 years at UOP, he received 28 U.S. patents, earned a master's degree in Management at Northwestern University, and served as managing director of subsidiaries in Belgium and the Netherlands. He is president of Robert F. Anderson and Associates Inc.

Bob joined his alma mater, Illinois Institute of Technology, nine years ago to start a technology transfer and intellectual property office. He works with faculty and students as an entrepreneurship mentor while serving as investor, officer, director, or consultant to startups in areas including thermal management of large lithium-ion batteries, hybrid and plug-in hybrid conversion of vehicles from SUVs to school buses and city buses, solar energy, and digital motor drives.

Bob teaches classes at IIT in creativity, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property, as well as a globally distributed course entitled "Energy, Environment, and Economics," aimed at graduate students in disciplines from architecture to engineering, science, and business. As a senior faculty member at Keller Graduate School of Management, he teaches a course in management of organizational change.

A regular speaker to groups interested in energy alternatives, Bob has presented short courses in energy and the environment around the world. He is a member of IIT's President's Council, the board of advisors of IIT's Armour College of Engineering, and the board of advisors of IIT's Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.