Since Hurricane Katrina, the issue of whether New Orleans has too many judges, and if so, how many, has been bantered around. But now, in the current session, the house is debating one bill, and the Senate has already passed another that aims to cut judges from New Orleans courts based on what BGR says is incomplete data. What could this mean for our courts and our city’s finances? BGR President and CEO Rebecca Mowbray speaks out on this week’s Biz Talks.
about
Rebecca Mowbray joined the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) as president, CEO and Samuel Zemurray chair in research leadership in January 2022. Her tenure at BGR builds on her career as a journalist, communications specialist, and program evaluator with additional training in internal audit and fraud prevention. She also served as assistant inspector general for inspections and evaluations at the City of New Orleans Office of Inspector General and deputy commissioner for public affairs at the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
As a journalist, she wrote for The Times-Picayune, Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and other publications. Mowbray earned master’s degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University after majoring in political science at Skidmore College. After graduate school, she served as a Henry Luce Scholar in Southeast Asia teaching journalism and working at an English-language newspaper. She previously worked as an English teacher in then-Czechoslovakia immediately after the Cold War.
In her free time, Mowbray can be found biking on the Mississippi River levee, paddling the kayak she built on waterways along the Gulf Coast or enjoying music at local festivals.
