Rob was a member of the freshman / sophomore newspaper and became an editor his sophomore year.  Rob was also active in the development of the school's webpage creating its first index page.

High School: Other Activities

Rob played on the freshman boys Volleyball team; but found that his geeky side was stronger than his athletic side as a member that year of the varsity chess team that placed 3rd at state.  Rob was also a member and captain (senior year) of the math team and academic bowl team.  He was also active in the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization as a leader in his chapter, the region, and as a steering committee member for the Social Action program at the 1997 International Convention. 

College: Democratic Activism and Politics

Rob proudly showing-off a recent holiday gift

Rob became active on student government as a freshman and served as chair of the Student Elections Commission in spring 1998 and oversaw a move to online voting.  Rob stood successfully as a candidate the next year to chair the school's activity fee allocation board where he attempted to ensure an equitable distribution of funds to support diverse student activities on campus. 

Rob also joined the University of Illinois College Democrats serving as social chair between the 1998 and 2000 cycles throwing events to keep students engaged and also organizing a direct mail campaign as fundraising chair.  Rob attended the 1999 College Democrats Convention and accepted a request to serve as webmaster in spring 2000.  He registered a new domain for the group and redesigned the website for the 2000 cycle. 

In the senior party, Rob was elected a Precinct Captain for an area that consisted mostly of college students.  He helped to organize voter registration drives in Dem-friendly residence halls and fraternities for the 2000 elections.  As a Precinct Captain, Rob was also a member of the Champaign County Democratic Central Committee.

College: Communications and Technology

Rob created the first webpage for the University of Illinois Interfraternity Council in the summer of 1998.  In the spring of 1999, Rob took a job as a software tester for a local start-up.  That summer, he decided to pursue a minor in computer science.  In fall of 1999, Rob was hired as as Online Editor for the Daily Illini.  In the summer of 2000, he interned at Microsoft working on the Publisher team.   

College: Other Activities

Rob joined Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and served as chapter Secretary and VP.  He was also active in the Interfraternity Council as a VP, Greek Olympics Co-Chair, and Greek Week Co-Chair.  Rob was a member of the fraternity's Intramural Champion Volleyball team.  Senior year, Rob learned to DJ and spun for a few fraternity parties. 

Post-College: Democratic Activism and Politics

Upon re-locating to Seattle, Rob immediately contacted the local (36th District) Democratic organization.  He was appointed (and later elected) as a Precinct Captain and organized two events as Fundraising Chair. 

Rob also connected with the local Young Democrats serving two terms as Chair of the King County Young Democrats (KCYD) and four terms as an officer for the Young Democrats of Washington (YDWA.)  Among Rob's accomplishments, he created the first KCYD listserv, drove organization of highly attended KCYD candidate forums, put the YDWA membership list online in a way that appropriate officers had access, and sent detailed reports on meetings attended as YDWA rep. to YDA and the WA Dems Central Committee.

During the 2004 cycle, Rob built-out an online GOTV tracking application for the Washington state coordinated campaign and a website for WA Women 4 Kerry.  Rob also hosted a fundraiser for Young Democratic candidates Derek Kilmer and Kevin Van De Wege.

In December 2004, Rob was elected 1st Vice-Chair for Communications for the King County Democrats.  Here, he has built-out a web presence that includes a calendar, blog, activist sign-up, and letter-to-the-editor functionality.

Post-College: Communications and Technology

Rob spends his days as a Program Manager for Microsoft working on the Microsoft Publisher product (you've probably used it to make a newsletter.)  His areas of responsibility include: templates, web, internationalization, accessibility, programmability, file format, and sustained engineering.  Rob also volunteers as a facilitator at diversity recruiting events.    

Rob served as Communications Director for the Young Democrats of Washington re-designing their website, producing an e-newsletter, organizing and distributing a calendar of political events, and moderating the group's listserv.  He also created the YDWA-Jobs listserv for posting of paid political and non-profit positions. 

Post-College: Other Activities

Rob DJ'ing a party at Seattle's Pier 57

Rob is a chapter co-advisor for the local Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and serves on the University of Washington Alumni Interfraternity Council Board.  He is also a youth board member for social service fundraising organization, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.  Rob has also been involved in SeattleWorks, a group that encourages 20- and 30-somethings to get involved in non-profits. 

Rob continues to play sports including playing on a primarily YD basketball team, "Kiss My Ashcroft" and on a co-ed volleyball team.  Rob also plays in the Microsoft Office softball league where you can catch games between Excel and Word. 

Rob started DJ'ing when he moved to Seattle and eventually, his DJ company, Wuxx Events, has been doing pretty well.  He's not quitting his day job, but it's a fun hobby and he seems to be better at DJ'ing than Volleyball.  :)