2016

Matt Schwartz and Chris Papamichael

Domain Companies

The first to hold the title of Biz New Orleans CEO of the Year was actually two people, Matt Schwartz and Chris Papamichael, co-CEOs of Domain Companies, a real estate development and investment company specializing in sustainable, mixed-use development. The company’s South Market District project had become a beacon of success at a time when New Orleans was experiencing a boom in urban development not seen in more than a decade.

Launched in 2004, the company was the first mixed-use developer on the scene post-Katrina, and among its earliest actions was the acquisition of 5 acres of land for what was to become the $450 million South Market District.

“It involved negotiating purchase deals with more than 25 landowners, but it gave us the ability to create 200,0000 square feet of retail and a neighborhood of 1,000 luxury apartments and condominiums,” said Papamichael.

As of mid-December, Domain had completed five of the project’s seven planned buildings, 75,000 square feet of retail and 334 apartments in what is the first mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Downtown New Orleans. In March 2016, Domain opened the $76 million Ace Hotel and was looking ahead to opening the co-working space The Shop at the Contemporary Arts Center in the summer of 2017 and completing The Standard at South Market in the spring of 2018.

2017

Warner Thomas

Ochsner Health System

Five years into his tenure at CEO of Louisiana’s largest nonprofit health system, Warner Thomas was responsible for the overall strategic growth and development of the 30 system-owned, managed and affiliated hospitals, and more than 80 health centers and urgent care centers located throughout Southeast Louisiana.

Ochsner Health provided an economic impact of more than $1 billion to the region, and employed more than 18,000 people and was continuing to expand at a rapid rate. Among the notable projects were an expansion of the west tower on Jefferson Highway and the groundbreaking of the Tom and Gayle Benson Cancer Center.

Biggest Life Lesson: “How people help people through adversity says a lot about who they are.”

2018

Michael Hecht

GNO, Inc.

The cover subject for the first issue of Biz New Orleans, Michael Hecht returned in the January 2019 issue as the CEO of the Year.

Since joining GNO, Inc., in June 2008, he had racked up an impressive set of wins, including more than 77 new companies drawn to the region and $30 billion in new investment.

In addition to helping to rewrite national flood insurance policy and bringing the first nonstop flight from New Orleans to Europe since 1982, GNO, Inc., played a substantial role in both 2018’s No. 1 and No. 2 stories of the year — the purchase of Avondale Shipyard and the opening of DXC Technology, the biggest economic development jobs win in Louisiana’s history.

On New Orleans: “We’ve reached a level of economic success in this region that wouldn’t have been thought possible in the weeks following Katrina, or, quite frankly, in the weeks before it.”

2019

Kevin Dolliole

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

“A move of this magnitude can be compared to picking up a small city and moving it to a different location.”

This is how Kevin Dolliole, the director of aviation at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, explained the scope of the work involved in the construction of the new North Terminal. That part of his job officially ended in 2019 with the airport’s celebrated opening on Nov. 6.

Since joining the airport on June 26, 2017, as aviation director, Dolliole’s more than 40 years of experience in the aviation industry has been put to the test. He oversees about 200 direct airport employees, but if you add airline employees, parking, concessions, ground transportation, police, and other staff, that number balloons to over 4,000 people serving approximately 40,000 travelers every single day.

How He Handles Problems: “Upfront and head on. I don’t let issues linger and I don’t sugarcoat them. It’s always better to confront things on the front end so something doesn’t become a problem rather than a challenge.”

2020

Quentin Messer

NOLABA

In the big “year of COVID-19,” all of 2020’s executives of the year were chosen based on the work they did to help the region through the pandemic. In this way, Quentin Messer, CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance since June 2015, was an obvious standout.
NOLABA was the first local entity to set up a direct relief effort with the launch of its Gig Economy Relief Fund on March 16, which started with a $100,000 contribution from

NOLABA. In the first 24 hours of accepting applications, almost 1,000 people applied for assistance. By the fall, the organization had raised $1.5 million for gig workers, small business owners, opportunity youth and hospitality workers.

NOLABA also helped small businesses apply for federal funding, paired with Get Shift Done in mid-May to help out-of-work hospitality workers earn some money by filling shifts at community food banks and hunger relief organizations, and was charged with administering the city’s Outdoor Dining Grand Program.

In 2020, while operating with a staff reduced by 32%, NOLABA also took home a record-setting eight awards from the International Economic Development Council, including Best in Show.

Leadership Pet Peeve: “I have no respect for people who pass the blame. If you’re a leader, take the blame. Even in an organization our size, it’s impossible for me to know everything, but if something goes awry, it’s on me.”

2021

Patrick Comer, Scott Wolfe Jr. and Matt Wisdom

Lucid; Levelset ; Turbosquid

The first, and only three-way tie for CEO of the year to-date went to the men behind the biggest entrepreneurial wins of 2021. In a watershed year for company exits that we have yet to see matched, the acquisition of New Orleans-based 3D image platform TurboSquid for $75 million, then construction tech company Levelset for $500 million, then analytics company Lucid for roughly $1.1 billion (marking the first “unicorn”) brought the kind of attention to the region’s entrepreneurial scene that it had long been waiting for.

“These exits validate the ‘long play’ that has been made by the New Orleans entrepreneurial community since Hurricane Katrina,” noted Michael Hecht, CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc.

Comer on Optimism for “Silicon Bayou”: “It’s taken 20 years for this first turn of the flywheel, but I think the next companies to turn over were probably started five years ago, two years ago or even more recently.”

Wolfe Jr. on Advice to Tech Startups: “Build that team, build that value. Get your mind out of New Orleans and think big about your company.”

Wisdom on What Concerned Him About New Orleans: “We need to grow some of our companies into something major, like Google, but instead, the buyouts are happening before our companies grow to that scale.”

2022

Melissa Sawyer

Youth Empowerment Program (YEP)

The top story of the year was New Orleans’ crime problem, so Biz celebrated a leader who had long battled the issue by giving hope and opportunity to area youth.

At age 27, Melissa Sawyer became the co-founder of Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), the first juvenile reentry program in Louisiana. A native of British Columbia, Canada, she came to New Orleans with Teach For America and spent two years teaching before leaving to get a master’s degree at Harvard University. She then began work at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana on statewide juvenile justice reform. The problems she and her colleagues witnessed with juvenile justice led her to create YEP.

In its first year, YEP engaged 25 young people with a staff of five and a budget of $235,000, working exclusively with young people coming out of incarceration. Eighteen years later, the staff numbered 58, plus a board of about 20. The organization owns its three buildings outright, and its annual budget in 2022 sat at about $5.6 million.

In 2022 YEP had directly impacted the lives of over 8,500 New Orleanians and counting, which included helping over 560 people receive their high school equivalency diplomas.

That August, YEP opened the New Orleans East Youth Opportunity Center in partnership with Educators for Quality Alternatives. The center includes after-school programs for middle schools and high schools, a high school-equivalency program, childcare, job training, a health clinic and a food pantry.

On Crime: “We can’t give up or think that things are hopeless or not getting better, because I believe they are. I see it every single day in the kids who come here, families who come here, the adults going to get their high school equivalency.”

2023

Michael Sawaya

New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

Since 2018, Michael Sawaya has served as the president of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, a domain that spans about 3 million square feet — the sixth-largest convention center in the country. In 2023, Sawaya was overseeing approximately 400 full-time employees amid $557 million in capital improvement projects that reach even beyond its walls. At the time, about $180 million in improvements had been completed.

The plan also includes $26 million to be invested in an adjacent mixed-use development, a project that has taken shape under the name the River District, the groundbreaking for which took place Nov. 29, 2023.

On His Leadership Style: “If I don’t get around and say hello to people and look them in the eye and tell them I appreciate what they do, then they’re not committed to the vision that we have,” he said. “Then they don’t deliver the best every day when they walk in the door, and they don’t go out and recruit people like them to join us. I continually ask them to tell me how they feel — what they like and don’t like and how we can continue to improve.”