Bob Hill was born and raised in San Mateo, California. He was fortunate to be introduced to hiking, camping, and skiing at a very young age - his folks had him camping out at Calaveras Big Trees State Park before he was even one year old. For Bob, it was this early exposure to the outdoors that continues to help inform many of life's important decisions.
While in high school, Bob was active with playing the saxophone in the jazz band, running on the cross country and track teams, and working part-time shelving books at the library. By senior year, Bob had also discovered backpacking and rock climbing.
Bob attended UC Santa Cruz, where he graduated with a degree in Politics. While still a college student, a summer was spent living and learning in the High Sierras through the Sierra Institute field school. This once-in-a-lifetime experience solidified a passion for the mountains, as well as a growing feeling that a professional career dedicated to conservation of our natural landscapes would be both possible and necessary.
After college, Bob went to work full time at Coast Commercial Bank in their construction and commercial loan department. This opportunity provided important professional experience in finance, real estate, and land use planning. After three years of banking, the need to return to the idealism of college years became overwhelming, and Bob decided to return to the academic world.
Bob moved to San Luis Obispo in order to attend graduate school at Cal Poly, where he earned a Master's in City and Regional Planning. As a graduate student, Bob started out working for the Land Conservancy as a volunteer intern. This quickly led to an interest in regionalism and conservation planning, as well as a part-time job. Bob's graduate project entailed a study of conservation priorities for the City of San Luis Obispo's Greenbelt Protection Program.
Bob considers himself extraordinarily fortunate to be working for the Land Conservancy he started as an Intern, became the Conservation Director in 2005 and with all his experience now enjoys the position of Executive Director for the organization. He lives on Terrace Hill in San Luis Obispo with his beautiful wife, Jaime.