Robbie joined IPA in 2000. He currently serves as the Cost Engineering Manager. In this capacity, he coordinates IPA’s cost engineering services, including the meeting of the annual downstream Cost Engineering Committee (CEC) and conducts evaluations for major clients. He develops an annual set of industry cost and schedule metrics for use in cost validation and estimate review, and works on research programs for the Industry Benchmarking Consortium (IBC). Robbie previously served as a Senior Implementation Analyst at IPA. In this capacity, he evaluated and benchmarked capital projects in the oil and gas, petrochemicals, steel, pharmaceutical, and forest products industries. He helped clients improve the capital effectiveness of their projects and project systems, implement Best Practices, and manage project risks.
Robbie has extensive experience in global oil and gas industry projects. His areas of expertise are benchmarking and estimating methods for downstream process plants and new ventures. Robbie specializes in environmentally driven capital projects, and has conducted research on Best Practices and key risks for environmental compliance projects. He developed models to determine benchmarks for cost, schedule, and early operational performance.
Before he joined IPA, Robbie was a Senior Research Scientist at Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Environmental Health and Science Division, Washington, D.C. Robbie served as team leader for a long-term Department of Energy-funded research program on energy policy and global change. He assisted in developing a modeling framework to consider climate change mitigation policies and potential impacts to regional economies, energy systems, and natural resources. At Battelle, Robbie conducted studies on numerous topics, including a biomass energy feedstock analysis for the U.S. Department of Energy; a climate variability study for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; an integrated assessment of global climate change for the U.S. Department of Energy and the Electric Power Institute; and an analysis of climate change effects on national agricultural production and water resources.
Robbie holds the Master of Forestry degree from Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, Durham, NC, and the BA degree in Political Science from Davidson College, Davidson, NC. He is a member of AACE International and the Society of American Foresters. He received the IPA award for Excellence in Process Analysis (2001) and the Director's Award for Excellence as a member of PNNL's top research group (1993). He is a recipient of the Duke University Gilman Paper Company Fellowship (1990-1992). Robbie served as President of FOREM, the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies student organization (1991).