Rob has been in product development for over 25 years. He spent over 20 years at Lathrop Engineering developing life science and diagnostic instruments for a wide range of companies from startups to fortune 500. He now owns his own product development company, Lathrop Product Development, continuing to develop instrumentation for cutting edge technologies. Including his experience as a hands-on mechanical and systems engineer, he has extensive project management experience covering a wide range of disciplines and leads design and engineering teams on a variety of complex and challenging development projects. Rob also has decades of experience with ISO quality systems; developing, implementing, and managing in-house quality systems in a product development environment
Finding it important to give back and guide young engineers, Rob has been an active member at his alma mater, Santa Clara University, for more than 20 years. He contributes time, mentoring, and training as part of his activities on the Mechanical Engineering Industry Advisory Board at SCU. Rob has a B.S.M.E and M.S.M.E from Santa Clara University.
Outside of work, Rob has been an officer in the San Jose Classic Chevy Club for over 25 years. The club holds an annual benefit that provides toys and food for 100’s of local families during the Christmas season. Rob enjoys restoring classic cars, auto racing, and camping. He is also on the Board of Trustees at a local private school.