Ven Neralla – Chief of Staff, Congressman Andy Levin

Ven Neralla currently serves as Chief of Staff to Congressman Andy Levin (D-MI). He previously served on the staff of three other members of Congress: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Congressman Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR). 

Ven also served for eight years as a political appointee in the administration of President Barack Obama, as Senior Advisor for House Appropriations and Global Health at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and in a dual role as Director of Congressional Affairs for the Research, Education, and Economics bureau and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

For two and half years at the beginning of the Obama administration, Ven handled congressional affairs in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel as a Director of Priority Placement. Prior to joining the White House, Ven was Associate Director for Congressional Affairs at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a small, federal foreign aid agency. 

Before coming to the Hill, Ven worked with the multilateral community at the United Nations Association-Canada on food security issues and at an international NGO following primarily trade and economic policy in Asia, with a focus on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). 

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii to parents of south Indian origin, Ven spent a number of formative years in Canada, graduating from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Ven’s favorite form of escape is at the movies.