Remembering Rob Roque

1965 - 2024

For over 26 years, Rob Roque helped lead GFOA’s Research and Consulting Center, providing guidance, advocacy, encouragement, education, and consulting services for hundreds of state and local governments working through ERP system selection and implementation. Having worked on the City of Pittsburgh’s PeopleSoft implementation in the 1990s, Rob came to GFOA to help build out a consulting practice aimed at providing independent, objective, and honest guidance for governments in need of strategic direction. Rob excelled at project management, explaining how government ERP systems can be used to improve processes, deciphering and explaining technical concepts to a non-technical audience, and standing up against ERP software vendors’ constant pursuit of change orders. He served as an advocate for his clients and for GFOA best practices. He also strived to develop new, innovative, and creative ways to deliver GFOA’s services. Throughout his time at GFOA, Rob helped train and mentor at least 35 consultants, worked with over 150 government clients, authored numerous articles in Government Finance Review, and led numerous GFOA conference sessions and webinars. Rob also staffed GFOA’s standing committees, helped lead GFOA’s Technical Resource Group, an informal collection of industry advisors, was part of GFOA’s internal team on artificial intelligence (AI), and planned numerous conference sessions on AI, robotic process automation, cybersecurity, and technology innovation at the most recent GFOA conference.

For the staff at GFOA, Rob served as a trusted colleague, mentor, and friend. His door was always open, and many of us sought out Rob’s help with feedback on a project, questions on anything technical, discussions on current events or politics, or simply a good laugh. Rob was always willing to take on a new assignment, loved being the first person at GFOA to pilot and play around with new technology, and managed to get involved with numerous cross-department working groups and task forces to set policies on GFOA systems, work-from-home guidelines, cybersecurity, use of AI, office dress code, and more.

In addition to his roles at GFOA, Rob served on the executive board for the Chicagoland Project Management Institute as VP of Technology, volunteered at his church, and most importantly was a very proud husband and father. He frequently shared stories of his two children, one with a PhD in Physics and the other a successful teacher. Rob enjoyed riding his bike, traveling with his family, and connecting with colleagues for a beer.

Rob leaves a lasting legacy at GFOA. His sense of humor and warm laughter will be missed by so many. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

A memorial service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Wheaton, IL, on July 30, 2024, at 1 PM Central Time, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation in Rob’s memory to Make-A-Wish Foundation or to his hometown parish: Emmanuel Episcopal Church of Cumberland, MD.