Rick Gallot

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|image =Rick Gallot (3014951) (cropped).jpg

|caption=Gallot in 2016

| name=Richard J. Gallot, Jr.

| image name=

| office = President of University of Louisiana System

| termstart = 2024

| office1 = 10th President of Grambling State University

| termstart1 = 2016

| termend1 = 2024

| preceded1 = Willie Larkin

| state_senate2=Louisiana

| district2=29th

| term_start2=January 9, 2012

| term_end2=January 2016

| preceded2=Joe McPherson

| succeeded2=Jay Luneau

| state_house3=Louisiana

| district3=11th

| term_start3=2000

| term_end3=2012

| preceded3=Pinkie C. Wilkerson

| succeeded3=Patrick Jefferson

| party=Democratic

| birth_date=April 1966

| birth_place=Ruston, Lincoln Parish
Louisianan, USA

| death_date=

| death_place=

| resting_place=

| spouse=Christy Cox Gallot

| children=Four children

| profession=Attorney

| religion=

| residence=Grambling, Louisiana

| alma_mater=Grambling State University

Southern University Law Center

|}}

Richard Joseph Gallot Jr., known as Rick Gallot (born April 1966) was named president of the University of Louisiana System in October 2023 after serving nearly nine years as president of Grambling State{{cite web | url=https://lailluminator.com/briefs/gallot-finalizes-contract-to-become-ul-system-president-after-landry-questioned-hire/ | title=Gallot finalizes contract to become UL System president after Landry questioned hire • Louisiana Illuminator }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.gram.edu/news/?p=1433|title=Grambling State University - Gallot Named Grambling State University President {{!}} News|website=www.gram.edu|access-date=2016-07-27}} Also he was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 29. In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, Gallot received 12,992 votes (50.3 percent).

Gallot, an African American born in Ruston, graduated from the historically black Grambling State University in Grambling and the Southern University Law Center of Baton Rouge. He is a member of Grambling's Gamma Psi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and an inductee of the Southern Law Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/54275/richard-gallot-jr#.VfGPKBFViko|title=Richard Gallot, Jr. Biography|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=September 10, 2015}} In 2012, he succeeded the term-limited white Democratic Senator Joe McPherson.{{cite web |url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10222011/10222011_Legislative.html|title=Louisiana primary election returns, October 22, 2011|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=October 24, 2011}}

Despite a generally liberal voting record, in 2014 Gallot was one of only two Democrats in the State Senate to vote against reforming Louisiana's payday lending laws, having sided with the payday lending industry against a grassroots campaign that supported reform.{{cite web|url=https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillDocs.aspx?i=223923&t=votes|title=Votes on SB 84|publisher=legis.la.gov|accessdate=September 10, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/54275/richard-gallot-jr#.VfGQlBFViko|title=Richard Gallot, Jr.'s Ratings and Endorsements|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=September 10, 2015}} Gallot did not seek reelection in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 24, 2015.

In April 2016, Gallot began serving on the Board of Directors of Cleco Corporation, an electric utility company based in Pineville, Louisiana.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cleco.com/leadership|title=Cleco Board and Executive officers - Cleco|website=www.cleco.com|access-date=2016-07-27}}

Gallot was selected as president of Grambling State University and to begin his tenure, donated $20,000 to the institution noting, "I wouldn't ask anyone to do what I wouldn't do myself."{{cite web|url=http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/education/2016/07/26/uls-naming-system-pres-grambling-pres/87095420/|title=Rick Gallot named new Grambling president |accessdate=2016-07-27}}

In October 2023, Gallot was named president of the University of Louisiana System.[https://www.ulsystem.edu/office-of-the-president/#:~:text=President%20Rick%20Gallot,president%20of%20Grambling%20State%20University Profile], ulsystem.edu. Accessed March 25, 2024.