He spent 13 years with Arthur Andersen and ten at WPP as chief financial officer. He then joined Cable & Wireless as chief financial officer in 1996 and subsequently served as deputy chief executive and then chief executive of Cable & Wireless Regional, leaving in 2003. Robert was CEO of Aegis Group from 2005 to 2008, and was eight years on British American Tobacco's Board as a non-executive director until 2013. Robert currently serves as a non-executive director of ITC Limited, a large Indian conglomerate, DJI (Holdings) plc and Spire Healthcare Group plc.