Carpenter Marty Transportation is filled with both joy and a touch of nostalgia as we share the news of Robert Campbell’s official retirement. After a remarkable career, Bob is now embarking on a well-deserved retirement journey, once and for all! Bob spent over 35 years in the industry. With those years comes many stories and knowledge.

“Bob mentored me long before forming CM. His guidance allowed me success that ultimately led to pursuing ownership. It is Bob’s nature to help others, which is why so many in our industry know and respect him. I am blessed to have heard the stories, talked many strategies, and to have shared personal and professional time with such a great person” – Bill Marty

“I first met Bob in the early 2000’s when he was Chief of Staff at ODOT, and I was trying to market design services while with a previous firm. Bob was very intimidating, as he was, and has always been, very straightforward and direct. And for those of you who know him, you know he can fill up a room. But he was also very open and friendly in his engagement. After he left ODOT and went into the consulting community, I had the opportunity to help Bob with a major project for ODOT along I-71 in Cincinnati. This was a very challenging and fast-paced project and I got to see first-hand how Bob managed people and projects. After that interaction, I sought out Bob more as a resource and mentor to help guide my career. He provided very candid advice when Bill and I were thinking of striking out on our own. When we had the opportunity to bring Bob on board at CM, we were overjoyed by his acceptance and willingness to share his significant wealth of contacts and knowledge with us. From his professional history to his personal stories, Bob has been an extraordinarily beneficial resource for our company over the past five years. He was always willing to engage in any pursuit and was very passionate about developing our staff, from the first-day employee to our most senior engineers. I will sorely miss “story-time” with Bob and the opportunities to discuss the industry and life in general. I am, as I am certain most others are, very happy Bob will now get the opportunity to pursue his non-professional interests, especially music, travel, and his family. We wish him the happiest of retirements!” – Kevin Carpenter

Before we say adios, we had to ask Bob about his favorite parts of life and his career.

Bob is the Director of Business Development at CM. Of course, we had to ask what inspired him to make the move to a career in business development. Bob’s answer, “Business development chose me.” Bob started his career negotiating right-of-way at ODOT and worked his way up to Chief of Staff, which required a lot of interaction with people. Business development requires a large amount of the same characteristics. Bob loved seeing and being involved in the major changes and growth that was happening all around Columbus. Therefore, the transition seemed to make the most sense to him.

Why CM? Bob answered with, “The ‘Carpenter’ and the ‘Marty’ are great.” When Bob first decided to come work for CM, he reached out to many of his former colleagues and asked what they thought about Kevin Carpenter and Bill Marty. Each person he spoke with never had any negative comments and there was always high praise. That was imperative in his decision and helped solidify that CM was the next best move for him in his career. Since Bob started with us a little over 5 years ago, we wanted to reminisce and hear about some of his favorite memories here. Bob praised, “The holiday parties, summer parties, I like it all! Any outing where the whole company is involved is always a great time. Everyone always has fun together.”

We asked Bob some fun questions too! One being, If Bob could do another job for just one day, what would it be? “I would be the janitor so I could clean the office, that way Kevin doesn’t have to.😉” Bob has had some interesting jobs throughout his life. A fun fact about him is that he used to live in a tree house in Oregon! While living in Oregon Bob would mine gold in the creeks and harvest hops in the fields. Another interesting fact about Bob is he plays both the guitar and mandolin, which he has played his whole life.

We all know just how fast things can change in a one-year span and Bob has been in the AEC industry for over 35 years. So, we asked him over the course of his career, what have been some notable changes in the industry? He started off by saying there has been a difference in the expectations of new employees as opposed to what the expectation was when Bob first started within the industry. Bob said, “Qualifications to get a job nowadays are exponential, and entry level jobs are no longer ‘entry level’.” The introduction of technology has also been a huge change. When Bob first started at ODOT there were no desktop computers and plan sets would be drawn out by hand.

While discussing with Bob he mentioned, “One of my favorite aspects of my career was it afforded me the ability to help good folks advance in their careers. There are many people in our industry that I felt I had a small part in helping them along their careers. Also, I always held the belief that a good leader led by the service and assistance he provided his staff. I always viewed it as though I worked for them and tried to give them the support and respect they deserved. I really loved my job and watching folks blossom in their careers. I will truly miss that.”

As Bob enters the home stretch before retirement, he has started to make some exciting plans. These mainly include traveling the world! Some of his next stops are Europe, Scotland, Columbia, and he also plans to take a trip to see his daughter in California. He’ll be spending several months throughout the year at his homes in Florida and Mexico.

Bob ended our conversation with words of encouragement that are applicable to all of us, “Just be kind and work hard. It is all you need to do in life and good things will come!”

We wish Bob a very well-deserved and happy retirement. His contributions to our firm, ODOT, and the industry will live on as he enjoys his golden years.

How can you wish Bob well?  Stop by Carpenter Marty Transportation’s booth at the Ohio Transportation Engineering Conference. You’ll find Mr. Campbell and the Carpenter Marty Transportation team in Booth 534 on October 17-18, 2023.