NEW ORLEANS – On Feb. 25, Mayor Helena Moreno announced four new appointments to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) board, part of a broader effort to reset the agency and strengthen regional transit partnerships.
“The mayor is deeply focused on building equity and expanding regional cooperation in public transportation, and that is why she is moving swiftly to recruit new leadership on the RTA board,” said Isis Casanova, director of communications for the City of New Orleans.
The mayor, working with the legislature, named the following appointees:
Coleman Adler — the local business leader and owner of Adler’s Jewelry, the long-running family-owned retail institution on Canal Street. Adler has been active in civic and philanthropic efforts across the region and brings private-sector and community leadership experience to the board.
Ann Duplessis — senior vice president of bank administration at Liberty Bank and Trust and president of Liberty Insurance Company. A former Louisiana state senator and longtime public official, Duplessis also serves as president and CEO of Duplessis Real Estate Group and has held multiple leadership roles in city and state government.
Barbara Major — a veteran community organizer and equity advocate whose work has spanned housing, health and neighborhood development initiatives. Major serves as a special consultant to the executive director of the St. Thomas Health Center and is co-founder and chair of the New Orleans Citizens Committee.
Erika Mann — chief executive officer of the Dryades YMCA in Central City and a longtime education leader. Before joining the YMCA, Mann led James Singleton Charter School and previously held leadership roles in both Orleans and Jefferson parish school systems.
In line with the mayor’s stated priorities, the new board is expected to focus on expanding equity and accessibility in public transportation while rebuilding working relationships with neighboring parishes.
RTA Governance Overhaul
The appointments follow a turbulent period that reshaped the agency’s governance and regional footprint.
In 2024, Jefferson Parish formally withdrew from the RTA board following disputes over agency leadership and contracting practices. Several Jefferson-appointed members resigned, and the Louisiana Legislature subsequently passed changes reducing the board from eight members to seven and revising quorum requirements.
Under the revised structure, the mayor appoints five of the seven members, with the remaining two selected by the City Council and state legislators.
The new board appointments will move through the New Orleans City Council confirmation process in the coming weeks. Outgoing RTA board members include Flozell Daniels Jr., Fred Neal Jr., Timolynn Sams, Mariah Moore and Arthur Walton.
Transit Expansion at a Pivotal Moment
The leadership transition comes as the agency advances major capital initiatives, including plans to implement the region’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system — a proposed 15-mile East-West corridor connecting New Orleans East, downtown and the West Bank with roughly 25 stops.
In Nov., the RTA hired AECOM to lead design work on the project, which would feature dedicated lanes, priority signaling, enhanced stations and real-time rider information intended to improve reliability and speed.
The BRT effort gained additional visibility in Dec. during “Express Lane to Progress,” a briefing convened with RIDE New Orleans that highlighted lessons from Birmingham, Alabama’s Birmingham Xpress system. Since launching in 2019, Birmingham’s 10-mile corridor has increased ridership by 71 percent and attracted private investment along its route.
As the design phase continues, officials have emphasized the need for regional coordination, early community engagement and cross-parish collaboration — priorities that align with Moreno’s push to reposition the RTA as a more stable and regionally focused agency.
The RTA currently operates about 28 bus routes and five streetcar lines, with more than 15 miles of streetcar track serving Orleans Parish and limited connections into Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes. The system’s ridership continues to rebound, with combined regional transit trips increasing about 16 percent in 2023 compared with 2022 following the pandemic downturn.
