About Rob
A career spent navigating the space between organizations, people, and public issues.
I’ve spent most of my career working in and around organizations that have to make complicated things understandable.
Sometimes this means communicating a policy or strategic priority. Sometimes it means helping a board navigate a governance issue, bringing members together around a common objective, managing relationships with partners, or figuring out how an organization should respond when its environment changes, or when media call.
My career has taken me through some fairly different organizations and sectors: municipal government, provincial crown agencies, telecommunications, transportation, and professional associations with a focus on planning and social services. On paper, these might look like unrelated stops. However, to me, they’ve provided different perspectives on a common question:
How do organizations make decisions, bring people along, and deliver on their responsibilities in complex environments?
I started my career primarily in communications and public affairs. Over time, my work expanded beyond communications itself into the issues surrounding it: governance, partner relationships, organizational priorities, member engagement, executive decision-making, and institutional change.
Today, my work spans governance and member relations, strategic communications, partner engagement, and organizational strategy. I’m interested in the places where formal structures meet the reality of how organizations operate.
Who makes the decision? Who needs to be involved? Who has influence but no formal authority? What does an organization owe its members, partners, or the public? And how do you communicate a direction when the answer isn’t obvious?
These questions have shaped much of my career, and, increasingly, shape what I think about.
What I’m Interested In
I’m interested in institutions and the systems around them: how they are designed, how they evolve, how they communicate and how they maintain public and professional trust.
I also have a longstanding interest in how cities work, public policy, history, politics, and the people who try to make things work better.
Outside of Work
Most of my time is spent with my family and two young kids. They keep me busy.
I live in Ontario and remain particularly interested in how the placed we live, work, and raise our families are shaped by the institutions around us.
robkirsic.ca 