Steering Committee
Co-Chairs
The Honorable Pat Quinn
Governor, State of Illinois
The Honorable Jay Dardenne
Lt. Governor, State of Louisiana
Committee Members
Joe Accardo
Executive Director, Ports Association of Louisiana
The Honorable John Alario, Jr.
Senate President, State of Louisiana
Scott Angelle
Former Secretary, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
Phil Bass
Director, Gulf of Mexico Alliance
Dr. Donald Boesch
President, Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland
The Honorable John Breaux
U.S. Senator (LA) 1987-2005
Valerie Cahill
Chairperson of the Board, Port of New Orleans
The Honorable Joel T. Chaisson, J.D.
Former Senate President & 29th Judicial District Court Judge, (ret.)
Louisiana Legislature / St. Charles Parish
Zhongyuan Chen, Ph.D
Professor, State Key Laboratory for Estuarine and Coastal Research
East China Normal University, Shanghai
Doug Daigle
Coordinator, Lower Mississippi River Sub-Basin Committee
Mark Davis, J.D
Director, Institute on Water Resource Law, Tulane University
John Day, Ph.D
Professor, Coastal Ecology Institute, Louisiana State University
Maj. Gen. Hunt Downer, ARNG, Ret.
Former Speaker of the House, Louisiana Legislature
Sean Duffy
Executive Director, Big River Coalition
George Dunklin, Jr.
Chairman, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
C. Berwick Duval, II
Vice Chairman, Foundation for Louisiana
Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, Ph.D
Director, National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, University of Minnesota
Karen Gautreaux
Director of Government Relations, Louisiana Chapter, The Nature Conservancy
Teri Goodman
Assistant City Manager, City of Dubuque, IA
Claude Griffin
Social Investment Manager – Environment, Shell
Charles ‘Chip’ Groat, Ph.D
President & CEO, The Water Institute of the Gulf
Dale Hall
CEO, Ducks Unlimited
Michael Hecht
President & CEO, Greater New Orleans, INC
The Honorable Kip Holden
Mayor-President, City of Baton Rouge, LA
LT. Gen. Russel Honoré
US Army (Ret.)
Susan Kaderka
South Central Regional Executive Director, National Wildlife Federation
The Honorable Mitch Landrieu
Mayor, City of New Orleans, LA
Steve Mathies, Ph.D
Steering Committee Member, America’s Great Watershed Initiative
Irvin Mayfield
Artistic Director, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
Paul McIlhenny
Chairman & CEO, McIlhenny Company (makers of Tobasco)
Doug Meffert, Ph.D
Vice President, National Audubon Society
Dale Morris
Senior Economist, Royal Netherlands Embassy
Chris Paola, Ph.D
Principal Investigator, National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, University of Minnesota
Sarah Pauley
Director, Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Denise Reed
Laboratory Director, Lake Ponchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of New Orleans
Randy Roach
Mayor, City of Lake Charles, LA
Sybil Seitzinger
Professor, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University
William Clifford Smith
Member-Designee, Mississippi River Commission
The Honorable Mike Strain, D.V.M
Commissioner, Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry
James Syvitski
Executive Director, Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System, University of Colorado
Torbjorn Tornqvist, Ph.D
Director, NICCR Coastal Center, Tulane University
Robert Twilley, Ph.D
Executive Director, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, Professor, Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University
Wiliam Walker, Ph.D
Executive Director, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources
Marcia Willhite
Bureau Chief, EPA Bureau of Water, Illinois
Warner Williams
President, Gulf of Mexico Business Unit, Chevron Corporation
Jerome Zeringue
Executive Director, Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, Louisiana
