Today's edition of "Meet Your Supervisor." J. Stephen Perry, Past Chair

Mr. J. Stephen Perry, Past Chair
2020 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, La. 70131
504-566-5092
sperry@lsu.edu

Appointed in 2011 by Jindal. Apparently reappointed in 2016 by Edwards.



Mr. Perry is a member-at-large; his term of service ends on June 1, 2022. He is the president/CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau Inc.

Under Stephen Perry’s direction, the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, or CVB, has routinely been ranked as one of the top five CVBs in America and won multiple national awards for excellence in sales, marketing, public relations, branding, customer service and corporate relations. The New Orleans CVB is one of the largest economic development corporations in Louisiana closing nearly $2 billion a year in executed sales and carries responsibility for brand management, marketing and sales valued at $5-7 billion in visitor spending annually in New Orleans. Perry also manages offices in four American cities and five foreign countries.

Mr. Perry has won many national accolades for his work immediately following Hurricane Katrina in rebuilding tourism in New Orleans, becoming a regular guest on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, CNBC and other national news outlets. He has been featured on the cover and in leading articles in many national trade publications. Under his leadership du ring the BP oil spill, New Orleans ended 2010 as the number one destination in the country for REVPAR growth (a measure of hotel industry success.)

In July 2011, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed Mr. Perry to the LSU Board of Supervisors. The board oversees LSU in the development of academic and professional programs of instruction, research, and public service, management of two medical schools and the LSU Law Center, the LSU AgCenter, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, works to increase opportunities for students and enhanced services to the state and its citizens.

Mr. Perry recently completed a one-year term as chairman of the Board for Destination Marketing Association International, or DMAI. DMAI is the international governing body of convention and visitor bureaus, dedicated to improving the effectiveness of 2,800 professionals from nearly 650 destination marketing organizations in 30 countries.

In 2010, Mr. Perry became one of only two urban destination CEOs in the country selected by the Obama Administration to serve on the 29-person U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board and advise U.5. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and the president of the United States on all key matters relating to national travel and tourism policy.

Mr. Perry also served on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board in 2008 under the Bush Administration and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, and is one of only two members asked to continue service with the Obama Administration board.

He currently serves as an executive committee member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Travel Association, the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $770 billion travel industry.

Through Perry’s service with DMAI, U.S. Travel Association and the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, New Orleans has unprecedented representation in national travel and tourism matters. Perry not only has an opportunity to shape national travel policy, but to advance the cause of New Orleans, its assets, its attractiveness and value as a destination and as a center of best practices, and affords him routine contact with some of the Crescent City’s most important customers and partners. Through his participation on these major panels, the New Orleans brand is placed front and center in American tourism.

Perry served as chief of staff and higher education advisor to Gov. M.J. Foster from the time of his election in November 1995 until August 2002. As chief of staff to the governor in Foster’s Administration, Perry was responsible for direct management oversight of all state departments and agencies. All cabinet secretaries and heads of agencies reported directly to him and ultimately to the governor. Finally, Perry served as the lead architect of public policy for the Foster administration and drove the design and implementation of many far-reaching policy and management reforms.

Perry also served as higher education advisor to the governor and was recognized in the legislature and around Louisiana as a fierce advocate for the needs of higher education and the agenda of LSU. Perry was a leader in the recruitment of Chancellor Mark Emmert (now president of the NCAA), the establishment of the Flagship Agenda, and led the governor’s efforts on multiple faculty pay raises, targeted investments in Centers of Excellence, funding previously unfunded mandates, exempting higher education from mid-year budget cuts, and providing a high level of investment to LSU and higher education in the capital outlay and building process. Perry also led a successful effort to invest more than $100 million in deferred maintenance and new technology infrastructure for all universities.

Mr. Perry was the primary driver of the state’s efforts and lead negotiator in the 2001 retention negotiations with the New Orleans Saints, the attraction of the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) and the building of the PGA Tour Tournament Players Club in Greater New Orleans, which is the new site of the Zurich Classic on the PGA Tour.

Perry hold a B.A. degrees in history from LSU, studied twice in the Soviet Union, received an M.A. in anthropology from LSU, and he completed the Senior Executives Program in State and Local Government offered by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

James M. Williams, Chairman

Mary L. Werner, Chairman-elect