Speakers

Veneeth Iyengar serves as the executive director of ConnectLA and is the first executive director for the State of Louisiana's broadband efforts. Under the leadership of Gov. Jeff Landry, he is responsible for coordinating efforts among federal, state, and local leaders by allocating nearly $1.6 billion in federal funds to eliminate the digital divide in Louisiana by 2028, if not sooner.

He and his team are considered thought leaders in the broadband community for their rapid scale-up and execution of federal dollars to bring access to the 1.7 million residents in Louisiana who lack high-speed internet. Louisiana's efforts have been recognized nationally as having the best broadband office in terms of execution, and Veneeth is often asked to speak at events hosted and/or organized by leading organizations like the Pew Charitable Trusts, National Governors Association, Consumer Electronics Show, Fiber Broadband Association, National Conference of State Legislators, National Association of Counties, U.S. Department of Commerce's SelectUSA Summit, Federalist Society, American Enterprise Institute, and Brookings Institution.

From 2018 to 2021, Veneeth was the assistant chief administrative officer for the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, primarily responsible for economic development. He was involved in the lifecycle of economic development deals, in addition to leading the administration's response in helping small business owners during the pandemic.

In 2020, Veneeth was asked by the governor to co-chair his Resilient Louisiana Healthcare Task Force, which included the CEOs of leading healthcare systems, payors, and rural healthcare organizations in the state. The task force recommended approaches to create an innovative healthcare economy given the challenges posed by the pandemic. Prior to his time as a public servant, Veneeth helped build the venture capital/private equity healthcare practice for Sage Growth Partners and worked in the office of the former CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation under President George W. Bush.

Veneeth was named a Forty Under 40 recipient by the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report (2018) and a Leadership Louisiana recipient by the Council for a Better Louisiana (2020). In addition to these honors, Veneeth received the Woodrow Wilson Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service from Johns Hopkins University (2022) and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Impact Award (2023).

He currently serves on Ochsner’s Healthy State Advisory Board, focused on significantly improving healthcare rankings in the state, as well as the board of directors for the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation. He also serves as board chairman for Innovation Catalyst, a nonprofit evergreen investment fund based in Baton Rouge that has made more than a dozen startup investments.

He received his Master of Science in Finance from Johns Hopkins University and his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Purdue University. Veneeth grew up in Baton Rouge and attended Baton Rouge Magnet High School.Veneeth Iyengar serves as the executive director of ConnectLA and is the first executive director for the State of Louisiana's broadband efforts. Under the leadership of Gov. Jeff Landry, he is responsible for coordinating efforts among federal, state, and local leaders by allocating nearly $1.6 billion in federal funds to eliminate the digital divide in Louisiana by 2028, if not sooner.

He and his team are considered thought leaders in the broadband community for their rapid scale-up and execution of federal dollars to bring access to the 1.7 million residents in Louisiana who lack high-speed internet. Louisiana's efforts have been recognized nationally as having the best broadband office in terms of execution, and Veneeth is often asked to speak at events hosted and/or organized by leading organizations like the Pew Charitable Trusts, National Governors Association, Consumer Electronics Show, Fiber Broadband Association, National Conference of State Legislators, National Association of Counties, U.S. Department of Commerce's SelectUSA Summit, Federalist Society, American Enterprise Institute, and Brookings Institution.

From 2018 to 2021, Veneeth was the assistant chief administrative officer for the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, primarily responsible for economic development. He was involved in the lifecycle of economic development deals, in addition to leading the administration's response in helping small business owners during the pandemic.

In 2020, Veneeth was asked by the governor to co-chair his Resilient Louisiana Healthcare Task Force, which included the CEOs of leading healthcare systems, payors, and rural healthcare organizations in the state. The task force recommended approaches to create an innovative healthcare economy given the challenges posed by the pandemic. Prior to his time as a public servant, Veneeth helped build the venture capital/private equity healthcare practice for Sage Growth Partners and worked in the office of the former CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation under President George W. Bush.

Veneeth was named a Forty Under 40 recipient by the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report (2018) and a Leadership Louisiana recipient by the Council for a Better Louisiana (2020). In addition to these honors, Veneeth received the Woodrow Wilson Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service from Johns Hopkins University (2022) and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Impact Award (2023).

He currently serves on Ochsner’s Healthy State Advisory Board, focused on significantly improving healthcare rankings in the state, as well as the board of directors for the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation. He also serves as board chairman for Innovation Catalyst, a nonprofit evergreen investment fund based in Baton Rouge that has made more than a dozen startup investments.

He received his Master of Science in Finance from Johns Hopkins University and his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Purdue University. Veneeth grew up in Baton Rouge and attended Baton Rouge Magnet High School.