Julia Fisher-Cormier has spent her career at the intersection of infrastructure, policy and place. Now, it seems, that “place” is home.
A third-generation St. Charles Parish resident and lifelong Luling native, Fisher-Cormier was appointed executive director of the Port of South Louisiana following a national search and a unanimous vote by the board of commissioners.
It’s a homecoming of sorts: Fisher-Cormier served as the port’s chief commercial officer, where she helped launch more than $1 billion in new foreign direct investment, revitalized the Globalplex Intermodal Facility and reversed a decade-long tonnage decline.
In between, she worked under Gov. Landry’s administration as deputy secretary of DOTD, leading the Office of Transformation and overseeing over $120 million in port and aviation infrastructure funding. She also advanced state-funded passenger rail routes and secured a federal planning grant covering the state’s 32 active ports.
Now she’s back, with a greater challenge and sharper skills to handle it.
“My passion for public service has deepened my commitment to build a more resilient and competitive infrastructure and logistics network that has historically been the backbone of our region,” she said.
The Port of South Louisiana is no small assignment. The largest port in Louisiana and second in the Western hemisphere, it stretches 54 miles along the Mississippi River and serves as the nation’s top grain exporter. Fisher-Cormier is aware of both the scale of the opportunity and the discipline required to capture it.
“Balancing speed with stewardship, being bold without sacrificing discipline is a constant challenge,” she said. “There’s also the responsibility of ensuring that growth brings value not just to industry but to the surrounding communities.”
Her vision for the port extends beyond tonnage figures. Louisiana, she argues, has a rare convergence of assets (deepwater access, multimodal connectivity, industrial capacity, and global relevance in agriculture, energy and manufacturing), and the moment calls for thinking bigger.
“The opportunity is to move beyond being seen solely as a point of transit,” Fisher-Cormier said, “and into a role as a strategic platform for economic development.”
Company
Port of South Louisiana
Title
Executive Director
Assumed New Position
December 2025
