Robert Alt is president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, where he also serves on the Board of Directors, catalyzed exponential growth after he took the organization’s helm in 2012, and founded its Economic Research Center and Legal Center.

In 2026, State Policy Network honored Alt with its prestigious Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership.

Alt is a distinguished scholar and accomplished attorney with particular expertise in constitutional law, legal policy, criminal justice, and national security. He regularly provides commentary on podcasts, television, and radio, and his writings have appeared in countless media outlets. Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—as well as before the Federal Election Commission and numerous state legislatures.

He worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, and—prior to that role—spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.

He is an officer for both The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He previously taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.

Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago, where he was symposium editor, won the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy, and worked as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein, following which he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University, where he won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science, served as student senator, and was inducted into Alpha Chi National Honor Society.

Alt is an elite high-altitude mountaineer and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed the famed Seven Summits of the World (the tallest peak on every continent), including Mount Everest. He is the creator and owner of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and frequently speaks about his adventurous hobby—especially as it relates to leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.