Robert John Emmons has been an entrepreneur, business doctor, and international consultant to companies around the world; and he has served as CEO of both American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange companies. He has also been a university professor and is the author of an internationally published marketing book and six collections of poetry. Emmons has served as chairman and/or trustee of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Santa Barbara Foundation, the Mosher Foundation, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Lotusland Botanical Gardens, Marymount School, Laguna Blanca School, San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Community Arts and Music Association, Loyola Marymount University, Unity Shoppe, and the International Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger. He has received the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award, the Los Angeles Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award, the Food For All Humanitarian Award, the Santa Barbara News-Press Lifetime Achievement Award, the KEYT Man of the Year Award, University of Southern California's Executive of the Year Award, and the Westmont College Medal for Community Leadership. Always opening new doors and embarking on new adventures, Emmons traveled to Italy in 2012 to take sculpture lessons at the Florence Academy of Art.