Rob Barrick (BE’74) has been named board chairman and senior principal of Smith Seckman Reid Inc., an employee-owned engineering design and facility consulting firm with 12 offices nationwide.
His new post comes after serving 29 years as SSR’s president and CEO. The Nashville-based firm provides design and consulting services for transportation and water infrastructure projects and building systems.
Barrick continues to lead the strategic direction of the firm, including initiating new markets and developing partnerships that promote SSR’s growth, expansion and diversification.
Barrick joined SSR in 1974 after earning a degree in mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt. By 1982, he was named head of the mechanical engineering department. A year later, Barrick was tapped to start a branch office in Houston, Texas, that opened in 1984.
Barrick, PE, LEED AP, CEM, GBE, returned to Vanderbilt for graduate studies and earned a MBA in 1983. He is a registered professional engineer in 15 states.
He is an adjunct engineering professor at Vanderbilt and a former member of the School of Engineering’s Board of Visitors. Barrick is an active Nashville community leader. He helped found The Nashville Food Project and serves on the board for Room in the Inn. He also is a former Nashville Code of Appeals board member and currently serves as board member for the Adventure Science Center and Students Taking a Right Stand.
In 2003, the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers named him Engineer of the Year. The Nashville Business Journal named him one of Nashville’s Most Admired CEOs in 2015.
Contact: Brenda Ellis, (615) 343-6314
brenda.ellis@vanderbilt.edu