Prior to joining Lafayette Square, Abhay Patel served as Managing Director, Mergers and Acquisitions at Butler Snow Advisory, where he led sell-side, buy-side, and capital-raise transactions for companies in the lower and middle market. Before that, Patel served as interim CEO and Board member for the Pelican Institute, where he led the organization through an executive transition and was primarily responsible for supporting Smart on Crime—a public-private partnership that led the passage of historic criminal justice reform legislation in Louisiana. Patel was also a 2016 candidate for the United States Senate in Louisiana. Before his campaign, Patel served as VP of Business Development for the New Orleans Business Alliance, where he led the firm’s business retention, expansion, and attraction platform. Patel graduated from Louisiana State University and holds a J.D. from the Boston University School of Law.