Former Tulane Chapter President Eric Lavin, ’09, was selected for the 2016 Forbes 30 under 30 in the education category. Lavin is a founding manager of the Aspen Institute’s Innovation Labin Washington, where he helps social entrepreneurs accelerate their ventures through access to resources and mentors.

Aspen Institute is a nonprofit that promotes leadership and nonpartisan solutions for some of society’s greatest challenges, and the Innovation Lab works with entrepreneurs tackling these issues.This means supporting clients like B Lab, a nonprofit promoting socially conscious businesses that place social welfare alongside financial profit as a business priority.

Like the startups they support, the Innovation Lab is also a new enterprise.“We are measuring our ability to be successful based on the success of some of the ventures. Instead of investing cash,we invest non-monetary resources, like access to coaching and industry connections,”Lavin said.

Lavin thinks his role at the Innovation Lab has a lot in common with his former role as a chapter president. “As a chapter president, you want to support your brothers to be the best that they can be, both as members of the Fraternity and as students and men embarking on a career. You’re not going to do everything for them, but you try to prod, provoke and coach at the right time. You try to get each person to unleash their potential. And that’s really what I do today with entrepreneurs.”