The Reimagining the Economy Project has been steeped in practitioner experiences and insight. Over the past three years, we have collaborated with a range of government and non-government practitioners, both in the U.S. and around the world, through events and workshops, communities of practice, and applied research projects. We are particularly excited to build on this mission through a new Practitioner in Residence program. We are launching this with two practitioners who are joining our team this semester: Daniel Goetzel and Vishnu Venugopalan.
Goetzel, until recently, served as Senior Advisor for Investments in the and as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s newly created . He helped design and implement programs that deployed $3 billion into regional innovation ecosystems with the goal of developing emerging technology clusters outside of Silicon Valley. In addition to his work with the federal government, Goetzel served as the first-ever Entrepreneurial Lead of the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program, inaugural Director of Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, and the Head of Corporate Strategy and Startup Acceleration at Columbia University. He also led a $100 million public-private partnership called Cyber NYC, a joint startup acceleration effort between New York City Economic Development Corporation, four universities, and multiple venture funds to transform New York City into a cyber security hub.
During his time at RtE, Goetzel will research how new models for funding under-invested communities can lead to economic development and job creation, with a focus on building tech ecosystems in historically overlooked communities. And he will share stories of his experience in this space: writing, advising, and supporting the next generation of students who want to work on innovation and economic development strategies at the federal, state and local levels.
Venugopalan joins RtE after more than ten years in the Indian government as an Indian Administrative Service officer. During this time, he served as Commissioner of Investment Promotion and Managing Director & CEO of , the Department of Industries, Investment Promotion, and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu. As the head of Tamil Nadu's state investment promotion agency, Vishnu played a pivotal role in attracting investments across global value chains in critical sectors, including advanced electronics, electric vehicles, and green energy. His service has been awarded multiple times. He received the National Award for Best Electoral Practices by the Election Commission of India for pioneering the adoption of innovative technologies in Indian elections. The Government of Tamil Nadu honored him with the prestigious Chief Minister’s Good Governance Award for his outstanding work in public healthcare innovation, particularly for reducing maternal mortality.
Venugopalan will spend his time with RtE and the Center for International Development exploring the intersection of industrial policies, economic growth, and employment generation from a practitioner’s perspective. He plans to leverage his firsthand experience in policy creation and implementation to bridge theory with real-world application, contributing insights that are scalable globally. He will also engage students through CID’s seminar series.
Both Goetzel and Venugopalan bring extensive experience to the project. Their thorough knowledge of economic and political practice in the U.S. and India respectively, will be a major contribution to RtE’s goal of understanding how economic policy and practice work and what structures and mechanisms can be used to make it work for everyone.
