NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Governmental Research – a private, nonprofit, independent research organization – announced the selection of four new board members. The board members, who will serve for three-year terms, are charged with “advancing informed public policy making and the effective use of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area.”
The new board members are:
Vanessa Claiborne, president and CEO of Chaffe & Associates Inc., a regional investment banking firm. Claiborne is on the executive committee of the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region and serves on the Board of Isidore Newman School. She is the immediate past chair of the American Red Cross of Southeast Louisiana
Jessie Haynes, managing director of the Helis Foundation. She also serves as the nominating and governance chair of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s board of trustees; on the executive committee of the Preservation Resource Center’s board of directors; and on the executive committee of the Arts Council New Orleans’ board of directors.
Graham Ralston, New Orleans Market president and commercial banking executive for Regions Bank. He is a member of the Business Council of New Orleans & the River Region and is currently serving on the boards of Greater New Orleans Inc., the Regional Loan Corporation, University of Holy Cross and the Academy of the Sacred Heart. He is also a past board pPresident of the Preservation Resource Center and the CFA Society of Louisiana.
Charles West, president of Square Button Consulting, a New Orleans-based company that helps portfolio, public and private organizations build and grow to their full potential. He also serves as the chair of the board of directors of FirstLine Schools, a member of the advisory board of Breakthrough New Orleans, and the vice-chair of the New Orleans Criminal Justice Council and was a fellow of the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute.