Jeff Lopez

Born and raised in New Mexico, Mr. Lopez serves as the Director of the NM Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), where he oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal grants for broadband expansion, deployment and services. He supervises bold broadband initiatives, including the massive federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the Connect NM Fund, the Statewide Education Network, OBAE’s Student Connect initiative and multiple Tribal grant programs. Lopez oversees and guides OBAE’s workforce that manages broadband infrastructure projects throughout New Mexico.



Mr. Lopez also brings extensive federal policy and infrastructure expertise to his leadership role and continues to advance New Mexico’s digital connectivity agenda.



He has more than 13 years of federal experience in support of New Mexicans. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Lopez served as senior policy advisor to U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján. Lopez managed the senator’s role as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband and worked directly on legislation that created the federal BEAD program through which New Mexico is receiving $675 million to connect unserved and underserved households across the state.



Mr. Lopez also coordinated the senator's bipartisan work to create the Universal Service Fund (USF) Working Group which is considering potential changes to the Fund managed by the Federal Communications Commission.



Mr. Lopez holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.



He lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two children.