Kathleen Coviello is the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA’s) Chief Economic Transformation Officer. In this role, she oversees the Authority’s strategic sector, economic transformation products (corporate tax credit programs, clean energy and offshore wind products, innovation and venture products, and strategic innovation centers) and the Product Operations departments. The Division provides value-added business engagement and products targeted at commercial businesses within the state’s strategic sectors. As a leader across these departments, she works to support high-quality job creation, catalyze private investment, and build a diverse innovation ecosystem in New Jersey.

Kathleen most recently served as the NJEDA’s Executive Vice President for Technology, Life Sciences & Entrepreneurship, where she was responsible for working closely with the state’s emerging technology and life science companies and investors.

Under Kathleen’s leadership, the NJEDA has delivered over $1 billion in direct investments, business incentives, tax credits, and venture fund investments. During her tenure, the New Jersey Chapter of Golden Seeds was begun, the NJ Innovation Evergreen Fund was created, the NJ Accelerate and NJ Ignite programs were launched along with the State’s Angel Tax Credit Program, the New Jersey Founders & Funders program was born, federal State Small Business Credit Initiatives funds were deployed into several regional venture funds. Kathleen also led the NJEDA’s strategic innovation center investments resulting in the creation of the HAX LLC studio through a partnership with SOSV and the NJEDA became an investor and Core Partner in the Helix.

Kathleen joined the NJEDA in 2005 as a single contributor and has continuously elevated her position within the organization. Prior to joining the NJEDA, Kathleen spent over 17 years in the banking industry, with the last eight focused on the NJ Technology Venture Lending Market. Her venture lending experience includes employment at Silicon Valley Bank, Comerica Bank and Progress’ Techbanc. Kathleen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Albright College and a Master of Business Administration from LaSalle University.