Our Team

Our Board

We are self-made business builders with decades of real-world operating experience.  Our purpose and passion is to unleash human potential through entrepreneurism.

Veneeth Iyengar, Chair

Veneeth is the first executive director for the state of Louisiana's broadband efforts (also known as ConnectLA). He is responsible for coordinating efforts among federal, state and local leaders in allocating nearly $1.6 Billion in federal funds to eliminate the digital divide in Louisiana by 2029.

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

ConnectLA's work also has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Politico, Axios, Fierce Telecom, Telecompetitor, Associated Press, Semafor, The Advocate, USA Today's network of newspapers and other leading telecom publications.

From 2018-2021, he was the Assistant Chief Administrative Officer for the Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish. During, the parish saw the best year in history for economic development projects. He was involved in the lifecycle of Economic Development deals and he led 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.

In 2023, Veneeth received the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Impact Award, the Woodrow Wilson Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service from Johns Hopkins University in 2022, 2020 Leadership Louisiana Recipient by the Council for a Better Louisiana and 2018 Forty under 40 in Baton Rouge by the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.

He is on Ochsner's Health State Advisory Board with the focus of significantly improving the healthcare rankings in the state, Board of Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation and Chairman for Innovation Catalyst, a non-profit evergreen investment based in Baton Rouge that has made more than a dozen investments startups.

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 High School.

Jim Odom

Jim is currently Vice President of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, a $1B supplier of music and technology products. He is the co-founder of PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc., which was acquired by Fender in December 2021. PreSonus, established in 1995, is a leading technology brand in the digital media and music production industries, with distribution into 150+ countries.  

Jim is also a co-founder and partner of Plexos Group LLC, a global disaster recovery and program management company based in Baton Rouge, LA. He also co-founded United Studio Technologies, a professional microphone developer based in Baton Rouge. He has served as a director for several technology companies and is an active investor with several recent exits. 

Jim currently serves on the Dean's Advisory Board, LSU Dept Electrical and Computer Engineering and was appointed in 2012 by Governor Jindal to engage and advise on economic development initiatives for the State of Louisiana, as related to public and private programs that enhance and promote further innovation throughout the State. 

Jim holds a BSEE Degree in Computer Engineering from LSU, has post-graduate certificates from the Investment Banking Institute of NYC, and the Venture Capital Institute. He also studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is the recipient of various gold and platinum sales awards for music performance and engineering, and still performs music with his band Louisiana’s LeRoux.

Craig A. Stevens

Craig A. Stevens was raised in Opelousas Louisiana and upon graduating from Opelousas High School and immediately left for Air Force Basic Training.  His first duty assignment in the Air Force was as a Fireman at Barksdale Air Force Base.  Craig continued to advance in his military career functioning as a Fireman, Executive Officer, Cyber Operations Officer, Command & Control Officer, and Flight Commander. He's had assignments across the US, Asia, and Europe. After 25 years of service, he retired as a Captain in the 93rd Bomb Squadron.

Craig also worked in Corporate America as Director of Operations for Circle K Convenience Stores whereas he was responsible for the Operations of 105 convenience stores in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Craig is currently President of Genesis 360 Maintenance, Construction, and IT. He started the business in 2011 by doing parking lot striping and has grown to a full blown one-stop shop for any type of construction, building maintenance, and ground maintenance and now IT services across the U.S for Commercial Clients as well as Federal Clients to include Army Corp of Engineers, NASA Space Center (Houston), Federal Aviation Administration, and the Naval Academy to name a few.

Craig’s company won 2022 Baton Rouge Business Report Small Company of the Year, 2022 SBA  8(a) firm of the year, 2022 SBA Business Person of the Year for Louisiana, INC. 5000 fastest growing companies in America.  In 2023 Craig has been selected as SBA Veteran Champion of the Year and again one of INC 5000 fastest growing companies in America. 

Craig is a very proud supporter of the local community as he served on the boards for Baton Rouge Food Bank, Boys & Girls Club, BREC, Home Builders Association, Better Business Bureau, Ascension Chamber, LABI, and Innovation Catalyst.  He is also a graduate of Leadership Ascension, SBA’s Emerging Leaders Program, and BRACs Drive Minority Business Accelerator .  Craig is a Rotarian, C100 Member, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

He is married to the lovely Felicia Stevens who is a 4th grade teacher at Bullion Elementary in Ascension Parish, and they have two older kids as well as 6-year-old boy/girl twins.

Anita Byrne

Anita Byrne, Partner with SSA Consultants (a business management and organizational development consulting firm), has worked extensively with organizations ranging from small businesses to nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations at the federal, state, and local level. In this role, she has led cultural change management projects, leadership development initiatives, executive coaching sessions, strategic planning efforts, and outreach and communications engagements. A Hogan certified leadership development coach, her client engagements are focused on aligning an organization’s capital and talent in pursuit of its mission. Prior to joining SSA in 2006, she managed for a Fortune 500 multinational restaurant company where she specialized in training and development and guest relations.

Byrne holds a B.A. with College Honors in History and Political Science from Louisiana State University through Ogden Honors College and has her MBA from William & Mary. Her civic and philanthropic commitments include service on numerous boards including St. James Episcopal Church, Urban Restoration Enrichment Corporation, Nexus LA, LSU Ogden Honors College Dean’s Advisory Council, Inclusive Louisiana Ministry of Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, BREC Foundation, and ECHO Alliance with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. She also serves as mentor with Baton Rouge Youth Coalition.

Allen Richey

Allen serves as Senior Vice President of Product Management for Lumen Technologies where he is responsible for a ~$3B P&L across a portfolio of a dozen products.

Prior to his role leading a product portfolio, he led Corporate Strategy for Lumen and served as the Chief of Staff to the CEO. Allen has been with Lumen for 6 years, leading analysis and strategic roadmap development across several parts of the business and providing strategic insights into inorganic activities throughout the portfolio.

Prior to Lumen Allen worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Company where he focused on strategy and operations across several industries including Oil and Gas, Logistics, Chemicals, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Packaged Goods, Public Sector and Aerospace clients.

Prior to consulting Allen worked in the US Senator Mary Landrieu, ultimately serving as head of the appropriations and infrastructure team. In that role he supported the Senator’s policy stances in the levee, flood and coastal erosion mitigation arenas before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the federally funded flood protection system in New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana.

Allen holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Additionally, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Louisiana State University where he graduated with College Honors, was Student Body President, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was the University’s first Truman Scholar.

Allen and his wife Jenny live in Baton Rouge with their 3 wonderful children and 1 bad dog. He spends his time away from work engaged in the kids’ activities ranging from coaching basketball to chaperoning Boy Scout campouts to volunteering for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as serving on the boards of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children and the LSU Honors College.

Kenny Nguyen

If you walk around his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and ask, "who is Kenny Nguyen," you may get a few different responses.

Many would say he is Baton Rouge's hypeman as the CEO/Co-Founder of ThreeSixtyEight. The agency is a strategic creative and technology partner to growing brands like Tony Robbins, Chase, and Alfa Insurance. Through the success of the company's work, ThreeSixtyEight's vision is to help Baton Rouge become known as the creative capital of the south. That vision is why the agency powers Assembly Required, a non-profit that produces community events that bring together diverse communities with topics that can transform the city of Baton Rouge.

Beyond ThreeSixtyEight, some would say that he's a local investor in Soji: Modern Asian, Baton Rouge's first modern Asian restaurant that isn't named PF Changs. They may also say he is a big advocate for STARS (workers skilled through alternative routes) as an advisory council member for the social enterprise Opportunity@Work. As a college dropout himself, he is passionate about bringing awareness to the 70+ million workers commonly overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don't have a four-year degree.

Now the ones close to him would first call him the husband of Laura Siu and the wrangler of his dog Taco Corgnelius (ask for pics and you shall receive). They also say he's the person confident enough to order for the entire table. We are still waiting to find out where this confidence comes from.