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Robert C. Drew

Bob Drew retired from Southern Impact Research Center, LLC (SIRC) as its Administrative Director. When requested, Bob from time-to-time still performs specific activities for SIRC and offers counsel as needed.

Bob went to Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia for his four years of high school and then on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After 2 years at UNC the U.S. Army beckoned Bob because of the Korean War. After two years in the Army, Bob went to live in Detroit where his sister and her family lived. He decided to go back to school and entered into a curriculum in Industrial Management at Wayne State University. Bob was on a co-op program at Wayne State, and after graduation the company he co-op'ed with, the R. P. Scherer Corporation, asked him to become full time in the Materials Management Department. Across the street from his sister, there happened to live a good-looking young lady whom Bob married now that he had a decent job. Forty-eight years later they're still married due mostly to her good nature and patience. Together they had three children.

While working at Scherer, Bob became a member of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) and after a few years became certified by APICS in Production & Inventory Management, a CPIM.

Four years after going full time at Scherer, Bob became the manager of the department and five years after that, Bob took a similar job in St. Louis at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. Bob later worked as the Assistant to the Director of Manufacturing and later as the Manager of Materials Handling and Distribution. After 13 years at Mallinckrodt, Bob decided to take a position with the Anchor Hocking Corporation in Ohio as their Manager of Physical Distribution where just one of there several warehouse was 27 acres in size. Three years later Bob was asked to take a similar position at the Bike Athletic Company in Knoxville where a year later he met Dave Halstead. Soon Bike promoted Bob to the Director of Logistics and a year later, when the owner of Bike decided to sell the company, the new owner asked Bob to set up a separate company which would produce, design and manage all of the helmet products business from the old Bike company. This new company, Athletic Helmet Inc. (AHI) was then sold off, and the new owners asked Bob to take the position as its Vice President & General Manager. Dave Halstead, who had come with Bob to AHI from Bike, was at the same time named Director of Research, Development and Quality under Bob.

After four years at AHI Bob decided to go into business for himself and for three years sold manufacturing software. Then Dave Halstead, who was still working for AHI, asked Bob to partner with him in a new venture to manufacture bicycle helmets and perform testing for the National Operating Committee for Standards in Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE). Eventually, Bob and Dave sold the helmet business to a third investor and split off the technical business into a new company called Southern Impact Research Center, LLC (SIRC) which is where Bob stayed until his retirement in 2001.