Rob Lalka is Albert R. Lepage Professor in Business at Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business and Executive Director of the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.  In 2019, he was the recipient of the Freeman School’s Excellence in Intellectual Contributions Award.  

He is the co-founder of Medora Ventures and board chairman of Public Democracy, Inc.  He moved to New Orleans from Washington, DC, where he was a director at Village Capital and a senior advisor at the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.  Before that, Lalka served in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships and was on the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff.  

Lalka graduated from Yale University and holds his master’s degree in global public policy from Duke University.  He and his wife, Lynn, reside in New Orleans' Broadmoor neighborhood, where he has served as a Commissioner for the Broadmoor Improvement Association.