After completing his undergraduate studies in Fayetteville, Mr. McKinley joined Humble Oil and Refining Company as a technical contact engineer for one of the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking units in Baytown, Texas in 1968. In 1971, he was commissioned in U.S. Army Medical Service Corps where he served for three years in the Preventive Medicine Unit at U.S. DeWitt Army Hospital in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. Following his Army service, Bob attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, completing his Master’s degree requirements in 1975. His thesis topic was the development of a synthetic, tri-leaflet, aortic valve prosthesis. In September 1975, he joined S&B Engineers and Constructors in Houston, Texas. S&B is a full service engineering and construction company serving the refining, chemical, and petrochemical industries. McKinley served in the Process Design Department, becoming Department Head in 1994. He was promoted to Manager of Engineering and Sr. Vice President for S&B in 1995. He retired from S&B in December of 2004. McKinley and his wife, Pamela, currently live in the community of Pipe Creek, near Bandera, Texas in the Texas Hill Country.

Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers, 2006.