Shimizu Distinguished Lecture - Bob Pragada: "From Disruption to Opportunity"

The CEE department is proud to welcome Bob Pragada, CEO of Jacobs and an alum of the department, for this year's Shimizu Distinguished Lecture. Bob's lecture, "From Disruption to Opportunity", will draw parallels in disruption within the engineering industry and his personal life, to creating opportunities in his career and in business. A short reception will follow the presentation. 

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/qwoEuiKFXYRUd6HM9

 

Bio

Bob Pragada is Chief Executive Officer of Jacobs and Chair of Jacobs’ Board of Directors. Focused on delivering some of the world’s most complex infrastructure and advanced manufacturing challenges, Jacobs generates more than $12 billion in annual revenue and delivers integrated, purpose-driven outcomes and solutions for clients globally. 

Earlier in his career, Bob served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps for nine years where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Bob’s naval career had many highlights, among which was his time serving the President of the United States as the Facilities Director at Camp David. His time in the service was followed by a seven-year tenure as Chief Operating Officer at Kinetics, a multibillion-dollar global provider of process solutions to the semiconductor and biopharmaceutical manufacturing industries. Bob earned a Bachelor of Science in systems engineering through the United States Naval Academy, and a Master of Science in engineering and management from Stanford University.

Bob joined Jacobs in 2006. He has held several leaderships positions, including Senior Vice President, Global Sales; Group Vice President, Northern Region (United States and the Republic of Ireland); and Vice President, Field Services. He returned to Jacobs in 2016 after having served as President and CEO of the Brock Group, a leading provider of industrial specialty services, to serve as President of the Global Industrial and Buildings & Infrastructure lines of business. He subsequently became Chief Operating Officer in November 2019 and was appointed to his current role in January 2023.

Bob’s tenure at Jacobs has been defined by his efforts leading enterprise-wide transformation, which directly led to material improvement in the company’s profitability and market leadership. Bob led several pivotal portfolio actions, including the acquisition of CH2M in 2017, the divestiture of the Energy, Chemicals and Resources business in 2019, the spin and merge of the Critical Mission Solutions business with Amentum in 2024, and the full acquisition of PA Consulting in 2026. Together, these moves repositioned Jacobs from a traditional engineering firm into a differentiated global solutions provider aligned with long-term secular growth trends. Under Bob’s leadership, Jacobs has strengthened its market-leading position in advanced facilities sectors such as semiconductors, data centers and life sciences. Today, Jacobs is the fastest growing business in its peer group. Under Bob’s leadership, Jacobs has been ranked number one in ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms in seven of the last eight years. The company ranked 50th in The Wall Street Journal’s Top 250 Best-Managed Companies of 2025 list.

Bob has been recognized with a Global Leadership Award by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC). Each year, USIBC recognizes business champions from the U.S. and India who dedicate their work to advancing the bilaterial economic relationship and making significant contributions to catalyzing growth in the U.S.-India commercial corridor.  

In complement with his executive role at Jacobs, Bob serves as a Director on the Boards of Eaton (NYSE:ETN – a $28-billion-dollar power management company), the United States Naval Academy Foundation and the Dallas Regional Chamber. Additionally, he is a member of The Business Council. He was named the Washington Executive Public Company Chief Operating Officer of the Year for 2021 and has been named to D CEO’s Dallas 500 Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth for five consecutive years. Bob is a regular business media contributor through appearances on CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, Barron’s and more.