NEW ORLEANS — Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Darryl D. Berger to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. Berger, who was sworn in during today’s monthly Board meeting, will serve a five-year term, succeeding Scott Cooper, one of four Orleans Parish representatives on the seven-member regional Board.
“We are excited to welcome Mr. Berger aboard,” Port President and CEO Brandy Christian said. “He brings a wealth of experience in real estate, planning, and financing to our organization. We look forward to his contributions.”
Berger is President of The Berger Company Inc., which he founded in 1972 and is based in New Orleans. An investor, developer and financier of real estate, Berger is particularly active as a leading developer in downtown New Orleans, leading projects such as the Jax Brewery, one of the largest historic redevelopments in the nation, as well as Canal Place, the Windsor Court, Omni Royal Orleans, Loews New Orleans Hotel and Omni Riverfront Hotel.
Throughout his career, Berger’s company has owned or developed in excess of $1 billion of real estate of all types, including more than two dozen retail shopping centers, various hotels, office buildings, multi-family projects and parking facilities.
According to Berger “The Port is the reason for the existence of our city and remains a cornerstone of our region’s economy. I look forward to serving on this Board to continue the growth of this great Port”.
A leader in the hospitality industry, Berger currently serves as chairman of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp., as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Berger earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his law degree from Tulane University. He currently serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tulane University and is a member and former vice chairman of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. An active member of a variety of community, business and educational boards, Berger served as the inaugural chairman and founding member of the French Quarter Festival, founding member of the French Quarter Management District and founding member of the Vieux Carre Commission Foundation. He also currently serves as a founding member and current Chair of the Board of the University Medical Center.
Berger and his wife, Louellen, are natives and lifelong residents of New Orleans.
The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans consists of seven commissioners, who are unsalaried and serve five-year staggered terms. The Governor of Louisiana appoints members from a list of three nominees submitted by 19 local business, civic, labor, education and maritime groups. Four members are selected from Orleans Parish, two from Jefferson Parish and one from St. Bernard Parish.
Current members include Chairman Michael W. Kearney, Vice Chairman Robert R. Barkerding, Secretary-Treasurer Laney J. Chouest, Arnold B. Baker, Tara C. Hernandez and William T. Bergeron.
The Port of New Orleans is a deep-draft multipurpose port at the center of the world’s busiest port system — Louisiana’s Lower Mississippi River. Connected to major inland markets and Canada via 14,500 miles of waterways, six class-1 railroads and the interstate highway system, the Port is the ideal gateway for steel, project cargo, containers, coffee, natural rubber, chemicals, forest products, manufactured goods and cruising, Port reps said. An extensive network of ocean carrier services, along with added-value services like transloading of bulk into containers, make the Port of New Orleans the superior logistics solution for many types of cargo, they said. To stay ahead of market demand, the Port has invested more than $100 million in capital-improvement projects since 2012 and has a Master Plan to expand the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal to an annual capacity of 1.5 million TEUs.
