Rob Gordon
Robert “Rob” L. Gordon III is the Chief Global Officer of Connected Living, a services and technology company that forges family, community and employee connections and well being with a unique technology platform. He is the former President and executive board member of Be the Change, Inc. Rob has extensive senior management and cross sector experience in the military, government, high tech, and nonprofit sectors. Previously, he was a senior executive at APX Labs (now UpSkill), a high tech smart glasses software company, where he was responsible for overall business development, strategic planning, corporate partnerships and joint ventures, and the management of strategic corporate communications.
In 2010 Rob was appointed in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, where he was responsible for defense-wide policy, program execution and oversight of more than $20 billion of the Defense Department’s worldwide community and family programs and initiatives affecting over four million military active duty service and family members, and two million retirees. During his tenure at the Department of Defense (DoD), Rob spearheaded the creation of DoD’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership, an online and digital employment initiative currently boasting more than 200 “Fortune 500+” employment partners who provided jobs to more than 100,000 military spouses since the program’s inception in 2011. Additionally, he led the effort to revitalize 160 public schools on military installations – a $900 million initiative. He also oversaw active duty service member education, and DoD’s two retirement homes that provided independent, assisted, and full care living to military retirees. For his Pentagon service Rob was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
Before joining the Obama administration, Rob was the Senior Vice President and Chief People and Program Officer at City Year. He was responsible for the organization’s people programs including recruitment, human resources, program and service, research and evaluation, and the development of City Year’s corps of 1,600 young leaders.
Rob has completed a 26 year career in the U.S. Army, retiring at the rank of Colonel after serving in command and staff positions as an artillery officer, aide-de-camp to General Colin Powell, National War College instructor and graduate, and head of American Politics at the U.S. Military Academy at WestPoint.
As a White House Fellow from 1992 – 1993, Mr. Gordon served as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and was the Director of Special Operations, Office of National Service, The White House.
Rob earned his BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MPA from Princeton. He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations; is an advisor to technology startups, and is on the advisory council of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs. He is the recipient of the Bernard Gill Urban Service-Learning Leadership Award from the National Youth Leadership Council; Princeton University's Edward P. Bullard Distinguished Alumnus Award; two awards of the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara; and the 2017 recipient of the Franklin Award by the National Conference on Citizenship.
