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Although Robert Gilliam was born and raised in California’s San Bernardino County (SBC), he started his career with jobs in San Diego and Los Angeles counties. The long commutes were necessary for many aspiring professionals during and after the 1990s, when political and economic instability drove recession and job scarcity. But eventually, Gilliam found his way back home.
His unconventional career prior to that took him from public works to the trades to the halls of Disney before he returned to SBC to serve as its chief of project management. He’s coordinating more than 500 active capital improvement projects designed to transform the region and revitalize a place where people can live, work, and thrive.
The vast county filled with deserts, mountains, and urban centers stretches across 20,000 square miles, making it the largest in the lower 48 states. For Gilliam, the county—which is bigger in area than nine states, as well as Switzerland, Denmark, and Belgium—remains in some ways a blank canvas. “Many people look at empty land and see what’s lacking. When I look at empty land, I see opportunity,” he says.
The mindset has permeated Gilliam’s home life. He lives in an unincorporated part of the Mojave Desert where he and his partner homeschool their children and produce food from the plants and animals they raise, practicing both permaculture and agroforestry. “Sustainability is more than just a buzzword; it’s a way of life,” he says.
While the Gilliam homestead lacks paved roads, modern utilities, Wi-Fi, and neighbors, it does boast unpolluted skies and unmatched sunsets. When Gilliam isn’t stargazing or finding new ways to beautify his environment, he can be found in his workshop transforming wood and steel into fine furniture, art, and musical instruments. The professional musician and Broadcast Music Inc-published recording artist often creates music used in mainstream television and film productions.
“Many people look at empty land and see what’s lacking. When I look at empty land, I see opportunity.”
Robert Gilliam
Many years before his return to San Bernardino, Gilliam started out as a junior estimator and superintendent for a company that did public works projects. He then discovered trade unions. Gilliam was picking up trash and stocking materials as a union carpenter preapprentice when he started asking for new opportunities and stretch assignments.
That approach eventually led to a variety of project experience, including fire/life safety systems, ballistics and materials testing, critical environment projects, and adaptive reuse. Soon, Gilliam’s growing and eclectic expertise was in demand. Disney came calling, and Gilliam spent five years as a construction management consultant and program representative for the mass media behemoth. Notable jobs included Disneyland’s Club 33 and various projects at the Grand Californian Hotel.
While Gilliam has earned an undergraduate degree in organizational leadership and a Master of Legal Studies in construction law, the foundational era at Disney (which operates much like its own municipality complete with its own fire department and board of directors) prepared him well to step into public service with his home county.
Gilliam now oversees an interdisciplinary team of project managers, building inspectors, controls analysts, and others who are responsible for hundreds of projects in a capital improvement program funded at over $1.5 billion. To better promote transparency, he developed a master project dashboard that provides insights and key analytics for small projects like sterile processing flooring and public restroom additions as well as big jobs such as full medical centers and fire stations.
In March 2024, SBC celebrated a groundbreaking for the Valley Communications Center (VCC) project. Deemed as the “last building standing in San Bernardino County,” the innovative disaster and emergency response center slated for completion in fall 2025 was designed to meet LEED Gold standards.
The three-story, 75,000-square-foot mission-critical facility will house the Sheriff-Coroner, County Fire, Office of Emergency Services, and related agencies while serving as the region’s main Emergency Operations Center. Thirty-three base isolators make the VCC earthquake resistant while redundant water and power systems will allow the building to sustain operations for three days when disaster strikes.
In September 2023, county leaders announced the construction of a new animal care center in Bloomington. When it opens in 2026, the 64,000-square-foot care center will replace a small, outdated facility in Devore that takes in more than 4,000 cats and dogs each year.
Another new construction project, the Rosena Ranch Fire Station, brings emergency services closer to hundreds of homes in the El Cajon Mountain pass between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains. The new station, also slated for completion in 2026, will help responders extinguish wildfires more quickly than before.
“Sustainability is more than just a buzzword; it’s a way of life.”
Robert Gilliam
In 2021, 900 acres and 4 homes were destroyed when a fire broke out in the remote foothills further away from other stations. The plan from CannonDesign incorporates mindful design and natural materials that blend the station into the surrounding mountains while a custom-fabricated weathering steel rainscreen brings durability and limited maintenance needs. Prefinished window systems match the color of the weathering steel, and concrete floors contribute a sense of warmth.
With these projects underway, Gilliam has turned his attention to building something else: his team. SBC’s project and facilities management department is just two years old. Gilliam is still building an organizational culture, having laid out the mission, vision, and values alongside his leaders that will help each individual thrive in their role in helping San Bernardino County reach what Gilliam calls its “true potential.” He’s pushing each person to embrace a continuous learning mindset, seek opportunities for improvement, align actions and shared values, and maintain high levels of integrity and accountability.
Together, they have big goals. Gilliam and his colleagues want their division to be a world-class organization by the end of 2025. How will they know if they’ve succeeded? “Success means that our team can lead a happy and authentic life while making a positive impact on the community which we serve,” Gilliam says. In doing so, they’ll make sure the future is bright for the 2 million residents that call San Bernardino County home.
Kitchell proudly partners with Robert Gilliam and the San Bernardino County Project and facilities management division, a division that leads the development of a capital program for the largest county in the US with 2.2 million residents. He and the diverse and dedicated team of professionals at the county focus on delivering projects that shape communities through value, innovation, service, and vision. Thank you for your commitment to the industry and cheers to your continued success!
