Robert Roche

Background

About Robert Roche

For three decades, Robert Roche has built businesses, partnerships, and policy bridges between Japan and the United States as an operator, advisor, and trusted convener. He is co-founder, President, and Executive Chairman of Oak Lawn Marketing, a company he named after his hometown in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He founded the company in 1993, with the goal of enriching lifestyles worldwide by offering innovative home convenience, health, beauty, and wellness products. Roche has launched, managed, and invested in businesses across the U.S. and Asia in a variety of sectors. He developed a top rated golf course and residential community in Utah, and through Gallup Land Partners, LLC, is developing a carbon-neutral manufacturing complex with an inland port, free trade zone, and residential housing in Gallup, New Mexico. In addition to his successful business ventures, Roche is an engaged civic leader with a strong record of public service and international engagement. He has represented both the U.S. and Japan in various capacities and contributed as a donor, advisor, and board member to numerous organizations. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Quad Investors Network (QUIN), a non-profit that facilitates investments, joint ventures, and licensing in emerging technologies across the Indo-Pacific. He also serves on the Board of the Center for New American Security (CNAS), a U.S. foreign policy think tank, and is the co founder of the Business Forward Foundation. Roche is the Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and is a member of the Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) as well as the Trilateral Commission—a global forum of senior policymakers and business leaders focused on addressing major global challenges. He serves as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with the Economic Security & Policy Innovation Program (ESPI) at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo. Roche supports non-profit organizations focused on enhancing education, improving international relations, and building sustainable communities. His endowments established a Chair for Interreligious Research at Nanzan University in Japan, and a Master of Laws in International Business Transactions at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. Roche received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Japanese studies at Illinois State University and earned his J.D. at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Roche is fluent in Japanese and proficient in Mandarin Chinese.