Columbus, OH – It is with tremendous pride that The Buckeye Institute announces our intrepid president and chief executive officer Robert Alt will be recognized with the 2026 Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership.

“I am deeply honored to receive such a prestigious national award named after someone I have long admired,” said Robert Alt. “Tom and Shirley Roe were enthusiastic supporters and dear friends of The Buckeye Institute, and their legacy carries on through everything we do at Buckeye. Tom set a fantastic example of how to serve the cause of freedom well and faithfully. I hope I’m making him proud.”

Established in 1992 and named after the now-late businessman and generous philanthropist, the Thomas A. Roe Award pays tribute to those whose achievements have greatly advanced public policy solutions grounded in free-market principles—particularly in the state policy movement—recognizing leadership, innovation, and accomplishment.

Thomas A. Roe, Jr., was committed to limited government, free enterprise, and economic liberty as pathways to human flourishing. After years building and funding think tanks at the national level, Tom led the charge to help states develop their own intellectual engines to generate and establish sensible public policy solutions—an aspiration that President Ronald Reagan directly encouraged Tom to pursue, and one from which all Americans benefit decades hence.

Edwin Meese III, 75th Attorney General of the United States and counselor to President Reagan, remarked, “Robert has elevated The Buckeye Institute and the entire conservative movement to new heights! I am pleased he has been selected for this accolade he richly deserves, and extend my hearty congratulations as I have enjoyed his strategic approach, humor, character, and friendship since we first worked together in 1997.”

Robert Alt is a lawyer, scholar, and leader who catalyzed The Buckeye Institute’s exponential growth after he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center. In addition to his responsibilities and roles within and outside of Buckeye and tireless service on various boards and commissions, Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is also the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™. 

Robert Alt will accept the Thomas A. Roe Award in Orlando, Florida, during State Policy Network’s annual meeting in August and regrets only that Tom and Shirley Roe won’t be there too.

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