Rob was most recently the interim rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sunnyvale, California, where he led all aspects of Parish Life. During his tenure, he has helped grow St. Thomas’ membership and pledge units, including young adults and families. He has created and led a parish men’s retreat and a diocesan retreat at prior parishes. Before his current position, the Rev. Keim served as Associate Priest at Calvary Episcopal Church in Santa Cruz and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.
Before being ordained, the Rev. Keim worked in two high-level finance positions. From 1997 to 2003, he worked as Finance Director, PC Sales, for Hewlett Packard, where he led the finance side of a $5 billion PC sales business, and managed a team of 30 people. He also worked for five years as Controller, Finance Talent, for Cisco Systems, where he led efforts to improve the career planning and development for the 2600 people in Cisco Finance including university recruiting, rotation programs, mentoring circles, leadership development, and manager development.
The Rev. Keim has a stellar academic pedigree. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1986 with a B.A. in Economics and Computer Studies. He earned an MBA in 1991 from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He received a Master of Divinity degree in 2007 from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Anglican Studies in 2008 from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He was ordained to the diaconate in June 2009 and to the priesthood in December 2009, both in the Diocese of California.
The Rev. Keim is married to Jeff Diehl, the Principal and CFO at Albion Environmental, Inc. (an environmental consulting firm with offices in Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo). Jeff has served on the Diocesan Communications Commission, serves as diocesan consultant for rector search committees, and is a deputy to the General Convention representing the Diocese of El Camino Real. In 2007, Jeff co-chaired the bishop search committee that resulted in the election of Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves. Bishop Mary describes Jeff as “one of the top lay leaders in the diocese.” The Rev. Keim also has an adult daughter who lives in Bellevue, Washington.