Over the course of our professional relationship, I observed the intellectual curiosity and rigor with which Bob approached a number of complex accounting and reporting matters in areas including business combinations, financial instruments, liabilities versus equity, and equity-based compensation, to name a few. Thoroughness of research, including a complete understanding of the basis for conclusions and historical context, and attention to detail characterized his methodology. Bob’s technical analyses were, in my opinion, of equivalent quality to those expected from a Big 4 national office. Just as important from my perspective, however, is that Bob’s decision-making philosophy emphasized first what was most useful to the Company’s investors and creditors.

            Senior Audit Partner, Big 4 Firm

Bob was a pleasure to work with and was always ready to go the extra mile to achieve the best interests of Targa’s stakeholders and fellow employees. He was a very valuable contributor from the beginning of Targa as a private equity company to its becoming a significant public midstream company. Bob’s knowledge and expertise in accounting puts him at the top of his profession. His skillset in all facets of accounting and particularly energy related accounting was a huge advantage to Targa as we grew from a startup with no assets to a $14+ billion entity.  He was always a team player at Targa who worked well with others. Bob did an excellent job of managing Targa’s accounting staff and developed a talented organization as the company grew.

            Jim Whalen, Targa Board member and former Targa Executive

As President of a large Houston, Texas nonprofit which receives significant local, state, and national funding, I have had the pleasure of working with Bob as he has serves as Audit Committee Chair of the Board of Directors.  Bob has provided incomparable foresight and advice on internal controls, processes and regulatory compliance necessary to maintain a highly-rated and solvent service agency for our community.  He is a consummate, intuitive and insightful professional who is keenly aware of optimal governance practices for the agency’s regulatory and legal compliance without interfering with management perogatives.  

Bob has invested his personal time to find and share best practice research and evidence-based resources to support management in our efforts to monitor progress comparable to credible industry benchmarks.  Bob has such a wide array of financial accounting, internal control, process, systems, and audit requirement expertise and knowledge that our only related challenge will be finding a reasonably-similar successor when he rolls off the Board after the two term limit.

        Melanie Johnson, Ed.D., President and CEO, Collaborative for Children

Bob is the best accounting person I have ever dealt with. He is always available and responds immediately whenever I call. His approach is to understand the commercial or operational issues, then find a solution that met the commercial or operational need and also conformed with the company’s accounting and internal control requirements.

          Executive Vice President, Commercial – Fortune 500 Company