Rob grew-up in the Chicagoland area attended public schools. He holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Illinois where he was active in the College Democrats and served as a precinct captain and member of the county Democratic executive committee. He moved to Seattle in 2001 to work in the technology industry and currently works on interoperability, open source, and open standards for Microsoft.

Upon arrival in Seattle, Rob immediately applied to be a PCO, joined the 36th District Democrats, and joined the King County Young Democrats. Within local Democratic organizations he has served in officer roles responsible for communications, elections, endorsements, finance, fundraising, membership, political action, recruitment, retention, social media, technology, treasury, and web presence; including caucus coordinator for the 43rd District Democrats in 2008 where over 20,000 people attended precinct caucuses. Prior to his election as state party Secretary, Rob served as First Vice-Chair for Communications for the King County Democrats and as national Secretary for the Young Democrats of America.

Rob volunteers as an instructor of computer science in the Seattle Public Schools through the TEALS program and has previously served on the boards of the Northwest Progressive Institute, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and the Pacific Northwest Anti-Defamation League. Rob and his wife, Hillary, live in the Montlake neighborhood of Seattle with their newborn son and rescued black lab mix.