Elmar was born in Freiburg (Germany), the son of German business leader and Aviator Hans Ekkehard Bob

Hans Ekkehard Bob

Hans Ekkehard Bob was a German Fighter pilot, serving with the Luftwaffe. During World War II, Bob flew approximately seven hundred combat missions, and claimed sixty victories; thirty-seven of which were on the eastern front....

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Elmar Bob worked as an Executive in the United States, France, Germany and Japan.

Until December 2006, Elmar held the position as the Executive VP of Investor Relations for Spark Networks. Spark Networks was formerly known as Matchnet.com (Matchnet.com was the parent company of JDate, Americansingles, Christiansingles, Blacksinglesconnection)

Until 2004, Matchnet was only traded on Germany's Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is owned and operated by Deutsche Börse, which also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and the clearing company...

. That year, Elmar reincorporated the company in the United States and offered its stock on the US AMEX

AMEX

AMEX, AmEx or Amex may refer to:*American Stock Exchange*American Express, a global financial services corporation*American Express Community Stadium, association football stadium in Brighton, England, currently sponsored by American Express...

 National Market.

In 2001, Elmar, held the position of chief of Matchnet's European operations, and was quoted in the International Herald Tribune

International Herald Tribune

The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...

commenting on the fact that Bloomberg News wrongly reported Matchnet was being bought out and changing its focus to biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

.

Elmar started his career at Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 in Germany before moving on to be GM

General manager

General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...

 of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent (brand)

Yves Saint Laurent or YSL is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Today, its chief designer is Stefano Pilati. Yves Saint Laurent, founder of the brand, died in 2008.-History:...

 and Kenzo in Japan.

Elmar is currently a minority owner of GFS AG a small, private, wealth management

Wealth management

Wealth management is an investment advisory discipline that incorporates financial planning, investment portfolio management and a number of aggregated financial services...

company based in Germany and Switzerland but, he works for Siemens in Japan as the head of SCM Business Development.
He received his MBA degree (Finance) from INSEAD and his BS degree in Computer Science from University of Washington where he graduated with honors.