Bob Burt

Bob Burt spent most of his business career in manufacturing with his last 10 years as Chairman and CEO of FMC Corporation, a five billion dollar company making chemicals and oil field and flood processing equipment. Over 50% of FMC sales were overseas. Before his stint as CEO he ran the Corporate Planning Department, the Agricultural Chemicals (pesticides), and the Defense (Bradley fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and naval guns) Group. He spent five years with both Mobil Oil and Chemetron Corporation before joining FMC where he stayed for 28 years, retiring in 2002. He lived in Japan for two years when he was with Mobil. He served on the Boards of Pfizer, Phelps Dodge, and Janus.

He graduated from Princeton with a Chemical Engineering degree in 1959, spent three years as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, and attended Harvard Business School where he graduated with honors in 1964. During his business career he was Chairman of the Business Roundtable for two years and head of its Environmental Committee for six years as well as being active in several industry associations. He is a lifetime trustee of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He and Lynn (his wife for 47 years) split their time between Colleton River in Bluffton for eight months in the winter and the remainder of the time in Chicago. He is an active member of the “No Labels” organization. Lynn and Bob have three children and five grandchildren who live in Chicago and San Francisco.