Luncheon Speaker’s Biography March 30, 2020

Jason El Koubi
Executive Vice President
Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP)

Jason El Koubi is the Executive Vice President for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP).  In that position, he oversees activities related to economic competitiveness, international trade, incentives, research, and operations.

El Koubi was previously President and CEO of One Acadiana, a regional economic development organization based in Lafayette, Louisiana. That organization, under his leadership, developed and successfully launched one of the most successful capital campaigns of its kind in the nation to deliver a new, nationally competitive economic development program for the nine-parish region, including substantial new activities in public policy and advocacy; business attraction, retention, and expansion; and urban revitalization.

Prior to One Acadiana, El Koubi served as assistant secretary of Louisiana Economic Development (LED) where he directed initiatives that helped secure projects that have created more than 63,000 new jobs along with more than $28 billion in new capital investment, while dramatically improving Louisiana’s position in virtually every state business climate ranking. Additionally, he managed LED’s programs related to state economic competitiveness, business intelligence, community development, small business development, emergency response and recovery, and entertainment industry development.

He previously served as the policy director of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), where he directed policy and research operations during the response and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. His policy research team won the top economic development research award in the nation for two consecutive years.

El Koubi has focused his volunteer service on education and the arts. He has lived, worked, or traveled in more than 35 countries, was selected for the French-American Foundation’s Young Leaders Program, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He earned a B.S in Biological Engineering from Louisiana State University and earned an M.S. in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.