Stephen Moret has served as president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership since 2017. At VEDP, he has collaborated with state, regional, and local partners to craft an ambitious vision focused on transformational goals, including accelerating employment growth; enabling every region to grow; and moving Virginia back to the top of national business climate rankings. At VEDP, he led Virginia’s successful state-and-local team bid for Amazon’s HQ2; designed Virginia’s $1.1-billion Tech Talent Investment Program; and launched a world-class, custom workforce initiative, the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program. Previously he served as secretary of economic development in Louisiana, CEO of the LSU Foundation, and consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Moret earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from LSU; an MBA from Harvard Business School; and a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, where his research focused on linkages between higher education and the labor market.