Meet our team

Nicholas Lalla is an executive strategist and team leader, working at the intersection of economic development and emerging technology. His career as an urbanist has earned national recognition for building new ventures that catalyze inclusive growth, innovation, and resilience.

Nicholas founded and currently leads Tulsa Innovation Labs, a nonprofit deploying over $150 million in programmatic capital to grow northeast Oklahoma’s tech economy. Previously, he launched Cyber NYC at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which The New York Times called “among the nation’s most ambitious cybersecurity initiatives.” Earlier in his career, he worked as a strategy consultant at Deloitte, an analyst at the Urban Land Institute, and a public policy intern for New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

Born and raised in a working-class New Orleans family, Nicholas completed his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and, as a Sage Fellow, earned a master’s degree in African American studies from Cornell University. Drawing upon urban planning and critical race studies, his graduate research investigated post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans revitalization efforts. More recently, Nicholas completed executive leadership training at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

His writing has appeared in Newsweek, Fast Company, Urban Land Magazine, Next City, The Oklahoman, and The Stanford Social Innovation Review, among other publications. Nicholas has been invited to speak at conferences around the world, including South by Southwest EDU, Stanford University’s Nonprofit Management Institute, the Aspen Institute’s Festival of the Diaspora, Cyber Tech-Tel Aviv, Smart Cities-New York, Working Nation, and MIT’s Solve. He is a member of the International Economic Development Council, the Urban Land Institute, and the Fast Company Impact Council.

Jennifer is a fierce advocate for innovation and entrepreneurship in the heartland of America, with extensive experience working in Tulsa and the wider region on economic development initiatives.

She is responsible for TIL’s corporate and university engagement, stakeholder relations, and governance and advisory bodies.

Prior to joining TIL, Jennifer served in the economic development division of the Tulsa Regional Chamber as vice president of entrepreneurship and small business. In this capacity, she worked with area partners to help grow the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, assisting local startups and small businesses remove barriers to growth and managing the Chamber’s business incubator for high-growth startups, The Forge.

Jennifer also managed business retention and expansion efforts at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. She worked with companies of all sizes throughout the region and assisted them with expansion efforts.

She also worked in the Kansas City region for the Wyandotte Economic Development Council in investor relations and for Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph in development.

Originally from Kansas City, MO, Jennifer completed her undergraduate studies at Oklahoma State University and earned a certificate from the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute.

She serves as vice president of the board of directors for 36 Degrees North.

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