Robert A. Rosenberg ’88, who served as class president all four years of his time on the Hill, has “bled Red” since his very first days as an undergraduate student. He attended his first Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) midwinter meeting, now the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference (CALC), as a first-year student.

It was there he first met with Cornell alumni volunteer “lifers” who were completely committed to service back to the university.

“These people were so generous with their time, and with their advice, and their guidance,” Rob said. “I found there was never a time throughout my career that I couldn’t reach out into the Cornell network and find somebody willing to talk to me and help me. I said, when I get to the point where people are actually interested in talking to me, I’m going to do the same thing.”

Rob has served as a class officer or as a class council member since graduation, with CACO as a board member and director at large, and as CACO Board president from 2009–2012. He is currently on the Class of 1988 Class Council, a member of the CALS Communication Department Alumni Advisory Board, the CALS Dean’s Advisory Council, and a Cornell University Council Life Member.

Among his many associations, Rob was a 2015 nominee and candidate for alumni-elected trustee to the Cornell University Board of Trustees. He has served as an ex officio member of the Cornell University Council Administrative Board, and a member of the Cornell Club of New York, and mentored students through Cornell Career Services, CUeLINKS, and externship programs.

Rob’s many Cornell roles span beyond his involvement as an active alumni volunteer. He is also spouse to Patricia Cook ’89, and proud parent to two more Cornellians, Reed Rosenberg ’20, and Grayson Rosenberg ’23. He served on the Cornell Parents Committee from 2017–2023.

Though they overlapped at Cornell, Rob did not meet his future wife Pat until he volunteered his time with the Cornell career center post-graduation. He reviewed three students’ resumes and recommended the best candidate to his advertising firm, a Saatchi & Saatchi subsidiary. They interviewed Pat and hired her.

“I had already gotten another guy from Class of ’88 a job at the same agency. So, we had this little Cornell club going on, and we’d have lunch together every day. I always joked it was inevitable. I was either going to marry him or her,” Rob laughed.

“I really do believe I could not have done everything I’ve done for Cornell without the support of my wife. Half of this award is hers.”

Rob went on to become an account supervisor at Ogilvy & Mather for five years, where he nurtured his interest in the media. He pivoted to earn his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, and joined the law firm Wilkie Farr & Gallagher as an intellectual property attorney within their corporate department, working on trademark and copyright law in the new area of internet media.

He transitioned to work with Showtime Networks, where he held multiple business and legal roles over a period of 22 years, including, most recently, as executive vice president, general counsel, and assistant secretary. He helped the company chart a course from traditional media company to an internet streaming service. After leaving Showtime 18 months ago, Rob founded Telluride Legal Strategies, where he serves as an expert witness and consults with companies of all sizes on legal and business strategies at the intersection of law, media and technology, with a strong interest in solving issues introduced by artificial intelligence in business.

Rob’s experience in media made him an integral member of the Cornell Alumni Magazine Board from 2007–2020, and he helped lead the effort to sunset the print publication of Cornell Alumni Magazine and Ezra magazine, and launch the new online platform, Cornellians.

Key to his strategy was creating a hub of content for free, without a subscription.

“Could we create an online platform that all alumni can access?” Rob said. “And could we use the tools of modern storytelling to make these things more in-depth, more interactive, or more playful? We should have an alumni platform that is as cutting edge as the university.”

Rob chaired the Cornellians Alumni Advisory Council from the publications’ inception through 2024.

He said that, for him, volunteering was a way to explore many varied interests. Citing his own 36 years of continuous service to Cornell, Rob stressed that there are opportunities to offer value back to the university and its students regardless of what life stage you’re in.

“Many of us discovered things about ourselves at Cornell that we never knew before,” Rob said. “I think it showed us how to think critically; it showed us how to be self-starters. Cornell is such a catalyst in our lives. It’s important for us to recognize that and to pay it forward.”