Robert was born and raised in North Bay Ontario and moved to Kelowna in 2016. He graduated from the BPHE program at Nipissing University in 2013 and completed his PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at The University of British Columbia in 2021 where he investigated the impact that peer support can have for people with spinal cord injury. His research skills have allowed him to work as a consultant for both non-profit and private sector organizations where he has conducted qualitative studies, environmental scans, and literature reviews.
Robert is also a major advocate of sports for people with disabilities. He volunteers as an athlete representative at introductory community tennis events and has been competing internationally in wheelchair tennis as a member of Team Canada for 10 years. His professional tennis career has seen him win 6 consecutive Canadian National Singles and Doubles titles to go along with 45 ITF Tour Titles. He secured gold at the 2019 Parapan-Am games, competed at the Tokyo Paralympics, and achieved a career high ranking of #6 in the world in 2023. In addition to being a professional player, Robert was appointed the position as Athlete Representative for Wheelchair Tennis Canada where he provides recommendations to ensure the sport of wheelchair tennis evolves in a fair and equitable manner for all participating athletes.
In his role as the National Peer Support Program Development lead Robert hopes to create more cohesion and consistency with how provincial SCI organizations across Canada deliver peer support services.
