NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu and his transition team have tapped more than two dozen business and civic leaders to lead task forces on a host of city issues as Landrieu prepares to take office in May.
At a morning news conference at the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, Landrieu named the final slate of task forces designed to give the mayor-elect input as he prepares his transition.
The issues being tackled by the new task forces include some of the most pressing for post-Katrina New Orleans, including blight, housing, crime, city finances, recreation and flood protection. Landrieu previously named task force members for the areas of economic development and education, as well as forming a police superintendent search committee.
The list of co-chairs for the 14 task forces announced Wednesday includes several political names as well as civic activists and business leaders.
Former mayoral candidate James Perry, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, is co-chair of the housing task force. Retired Supreme Court chief justice Pascal Calogero, a longtime friend of the Landrieu family and former law partner of the mayor-elect’s father Moon Landrieu, co-chairs the criminal justice team and is partnered with appellate court Judge Edwin Lombard, a former clerk of Orleans Parish criminal court.
Here is the full list of task force co-chairs provided by the Landrieu transition team:
Blight: Ellen Lee, Senior Vice President of Programs, Greater New Orleans Foundation; David Marcello, Executive Director, Public Law Center City Contracting
City Contracting: Jay Lapeyre, President, The Laitram LLC; Charles Teamer, Chairman, Dryades Savings Bank
City Finances: Gregory N. Rattler Sr., Senior Vice President, Government and Nonprofit Banking Group; Suzanne Mestayer, managing member, Advisean Partners, LLC
Criminal Justice: Pascal F. Calogero, Jr., retired chief justice, Louisiana Supreme Court; Ed Lombard, judge, Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal
Cultural Economy: Robin Burgess, President, Burgess Management; Quint Davis, CEO, Festival Productions, Inc.-New Orleans
Customer Service: Mike Valentino, Owner, Hotel Management of New Orleans, LLC; Angela Thompson, General Manager, W Hotels
Health Care: Karen DeSalvo, Vice Dean Community Affairs and Health Policy, Tulane University School of Medicine; Terry Fontham, Dean, LSU Health Sciences Center, School of Public Health
Housing: Pres Kabacoff, CEO and Co-Chairman of the Board, HRI Properties, Inc.;James Perry, Executive Director, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center
Flood Protection & Coastal Restoration: R. King Milling, Chairman, Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation, Chairman, America’sWETLAND Foundation and Member, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority; Stephen Rosenthal, Chairman, Strategic Comp; Founding Member, Flood Protection Alliance
Neighborhood Development: LaToya Cantrell, President, Broadmoor Improvement Association; Denise Thornton, Founder & CEO, Beacon of Hope
Recreation: Roy Glapion, Senior Vice President, Professional Service Industries, Inc.; Rod West, President & CEO, Entergy New Orleans, Inc.
Social Innovation: Timolynn Sams, Executive Director, Neighborhood Partnership Network; Sr. Mary Lou Specha, PBVM, Executive Director, Reconcile New Orleans
Sustainable Energy & Environmental: Elizabeth Galante, Director, Gloal Green USA; Beverly Wright, Founder, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Youth & Families: Calvin Mackie, President and CEO, Channel ZerO Group, LLC and Chair, Louisiana Council on the Social Status of Black Boys and Men; Gina Warner, Executive Director, GNO Afterschool Partnership.
