Bob Spieth

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business Studies

Email: robert.e.spieth@vanderbilt.edu
Office: Calhoun 215
Office Hours: T 2:00-2:30 PM or by appt.

Bob is a veteran executive with experience as a leader in the retail and logistics industries. He has led rapidly growing organizations in successfully achieving scale. His primary domain expertise is in operations—supply chain, fulfillment, and customer care.  He has served as executive functional leader there, as well as business unit president of a B2B service provider.

Bob currently serves as a board member at Flexe. He also consults for Advent International, a global private equity firm, as an operations advisor. In addition, Bob teaches undergraduate courses in business studies at Vanderbilt University.

In 2020, Bob retired from his role as COO at Qurate Retail Group (NYSE: QRG), parent company of QVC, HSN, Zulily, Frontgate, and Ballard Designs. He was responsible for all global operations including supply chain, fulfillment, customer experience, and real estate. Earlier, Bob served as COO at Zulily (NYSE: ZU) where he helped guide the e-commerce retailer through a period of explosive growth. Prior to that, he had multiple executive roles at OHL (now Geodis), which he helped lead from $40M to $1.2B in revenue. Earlier in his career, Bob served as a consultant with McKinsey and as an Army officer.

Bob has an B.A. in physics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was Baker Scholar. Bob currently serves as a board member at Service to School, a non-profit dedicated to improving educational opportunities for veterans.