Leadership Symposium

At last year's Leadership Symposium, YLC alums shared with us how their time at YLC allowed them to impart meaningful change on the community and build a better New Orleans. Many members with a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm, wondering "What can I do next?!"

This year's panel introduces YLC members to peers within the city who represent tourism, business development, and government. As the COVID-19 pandemic devastates our community and the country, they'll share actionable ways that YLC members can create meaningful change in New Orleans that will lead to a more prosperous and equitable future.

Moderated by Quentin L. Messer Jr. from the New Orleans Business Alliance, our panelists include Joseph I. Giarusso III (New Orleans City Council), Alejandra Guzmán (New Orleans Business Alliance), and Walt Leger III (New Orleans & Company). 

This event is free to YLC Members and the public. The Zoom URL will be emailed out the evening before the presentation, as well as the day of.

About Our Speakers:

Joseph I. Giarusso III grew up and went to high school in District A.  He was an honors graduate from Jesuit High School and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas with high honors.  Joe went on to earn an LSU law degree in 2001 where he was a member of the Louisiana Law Review and finished in the top five percent of his law school class.  Joe has practiced law for nearly 17 years.

He has spent a large portion of his career in public service as past Chair of the Young Leadership Council;  Executive Committee and Board Member of the Bureau of Governmental Research;  President of KIPP New Orleans Schools; president of his neighborhood association, Lakeview Civic Association; and a commissioner on the Lakeview Crime Prevention District.

Joe is married to Cassie Giarrusso and they have two young daughters who attend a local public school.

Alejandra Guzmán is an internationally-recognized expert in economic and community development, social responsibility, and new business development. With leadership experience in both the public and private sectors, Alejandra creates and analyzes inter-sectorial initiatives that maximize the resources of non-government organizations (NGO), government agencies, and private sector companies to solve international community and economic development challenges.

Under her leadership, Alejandra’s team has designed and implemented programs and platforms that reach more than 52,000 people annually. She has also advanced urban and community development for real estate projects valued in excess of $200 million and led risk management for assets in excess of $400 million.

In 2016, Alejandra began concentrating her development efforts on the +350,000 community members who she serves as a Vice President of Real Estate and Capital Investments at the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA). At NOLABA, Alejandra develops and executes real estate, policy, and partnership strategies to promote the development of communities that have been handicapped by disinvestment.

In addition to her role at NOLABA, Alejandra serves New Orleans residents through her board leadership with the The Urban Land Institute (ULI), Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana (HCCL), USGBC Louisiana, Xavier University Presidential Advisory Board, and Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. Collectively, she has fiduciary responsibility for operating budgets in excess of $200 million.

Alejandra has been acknowledged with numerous awards that recognize her work including the IEDC Young Economic Development Professional of the Year, the Biz New Orleans Magazine New & Notables Recognition, the Best Millennial in Economic Development, the “Excelencia” Young Leader Award by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana, CIO Look Class of 2019 Women Leaders, and the 2019 CityBusiness Women of the Year award.

Alejandra received her Master’s in Business Administration in 2012 from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business in New Orleans.

Walt Leger III is the Senior Vice President for Strategic Affairs and General Counsel at New Orleans & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the City of New Orleans. Boasting 1100 member businesses, New Orleans & Company’s goal is to cultivate and maintain a virtuous cycle between the businesses and attractions that make up the tourism industry, the visitors who invest in those businesses and attractions, and the city’s residents who benefit from tourism.

Walt Leger has been widely recognized across the state of Louisiana as a strategic thinker and fierce advocate. First, as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans and later as an attorney with the law firm of Leger & Shaw, Walt has been a zealous advocate for his clients and victims of violent crime.

Walt was elected in the fall of 2007 to the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 91, representing neighborhoods across the City of New Orleans. He was re-elected twice without opposition in 2011 and 2015. In 2012, he was elected by acclamation to serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives, the youngest member to ever serve in this 2nd highest-ranking position in the Louisiana House, a role in which he served again from 2016-2020. Walt left the Legislature in 2020 due to term limits.

Leger currently resides in New Orleans with his wife, Danielle, and daughters Cate and Caroline.

Quentin L. Messer, Jr.  As the leader of the accredited economic development organization (AEDO) focused on growing the Orleans Parish economy, Quentin leads initiatives and programs related to making New Orleans the most attractive city of its size for financial and human capital investment.  These initiatives and programs are conducted across four workstreams:  business attraction/retention, small business growth, talent and workforce development, and strategic neighborhood development.  He was named by Biz New Orleans as Businessperson of the Year (2019), Consultants Connect as one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers (2019) and selected by Ebony Magazine for its Ebony Power 100 as a Power Player (2018).  Immediately prior to joining NOLABA, Quentin was the Assistant Secretary for Louisiana Economic Development, (LED) the state department of economic development.  To learn more about the Business Alliance, please visit, www.nolaba.org.