Eli oversees the U.S. State Dept. Global Investors Program. He has assisted with training, supporting and launching new angel networks in Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, Mexico, and Colombia. He also serves as a Board Member on the Angel Capital Association, Capital Advisor to the Stanford Latino Business Action Network, and US Senator for the World Business Angel Forum.

He is an investor in Portfolia’s Rising America Fund; Advisor to AccelHub Venture Partners, the Business Angel Minority Association (baMa); and is actively building a national network of investors of color.

Prior, he was the Director of Venture Development at Texas Tech University where he co-founded the Lubbock Angel Network, a group that has invested over $3M and seen three exits since its founding in 2015. His efforts in Texas led to over $20M in funding for startups, entrepreneurship programs, and proof of concept funds. Before that, Mr. Velasquez worked for The Boeing Company in southern California, initially within Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) group where he was assigned to develop the Delta Rockets. In his last two years at Boeing, he worked as an Intellectual Property Consultant with Boeing’s Intellectual Property Business (IPB) unit.

He obtained a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and his J.D. degree with an Intellectual Property Certificate from Whittier Law School.