The LSU Foundation confirmed Louisiana Secretary of Economic Development Stephen Moret as its new president and CEO Monday. He will begin his new job in May.

This isn’t his first work with the University. Moret served as assistant to former University Chancellor William “Bill” Jenkins from 1998 to 1999.

Moret, a University alumnus, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and served as Student Government president. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed Moret as secretary in 2008. Moret since has launched a five-year initiative to strengthen the greater Baton Rouge economy.

Moret is set to replace interim president and CEO G. Lee Griffin, who has served since July 2011.
“One of my life’s greatest privileges and joys has been my quarter-century affiliation with our state’s flagship research university,” Moret said in a press release from the LSU Foundation. “I share the aspirations of LSU President F. King Alexander and the LSU Foundation Board of Directors for LSU to build a more robust philanthropic support base that will enable the university to better sustain the important work of its faculty, continue and enhance its transformative impact on the lives of students, and invest in opportunities for academic preeminence.”