The year was 1997. Robby had spent years working for other companies, and he’d done well, but the win-at-all-costs mindset of that era never sat right with him. He believed the people doing the work mattered more than the corporate playbook said they did. Somewhere along the way, that belief turned into an itch: not to escape something, but to build something. Something of his own, built his way.
The answer came to him on the road late one night, driving home from a business trip. He pulled into a rest stop north of Victoria on Highway 59 and scrawled four words on a napkin: “God, Family, Team and Me™.” On his dashboard was a picture of his daughter, Casey. Casey and I. Say it out loud, and you hear the name. On October 9th, 1997, kci was born and with those four words, Robby reordered his life and laid the cornerstone of his new company.
The lowercase letters were no accident. In Robby’s mind, kci was never meant to stand above anyone. It existed to serve its customers and its employees alike and to build a better life for the people who showed up every day to do the work. That conviction shaped his management style, his business model, everything he touched.
Over the years, Robby designed processes and chemistries that created value for our clients and still do. But his real work, as he saw it, was the people. He was part businessman, part cheerleader, part psychologist. He loved challenging business norms, starting with his own title: CEO, at kci, stood for Cultural Excellence Officer. Small thing, maybe. But it told you everything about how he thought, the old corporate playbook was there to be questioned, and work was supposed to be rewarding, not just endured.
That’s what people mean by the kci magic. It can’t be explained, only experienced. He believed in people more than they believed in themselves, and he built a culture like none other, the heartbeat of kci, beating as strong today as it ever has.
He had a standard he preached and lived: “100% conformance to requirements and 100% positive customer perception.” That’s the backbone of kci. He was thankful for the opportunities our clients provide, and more importantly, for those God has given us. We still are.
Robby wore his faith on his sleeve. He loved the Lord and knew that through all of life’s ups and downs, He would see the company through and see Robby through, too. He was thankful for God’s grace, knowing the Lord had equipped the kci team with a spirit to serve. He’d simply look at the team and smile, knowing: they built it.
