Evan Nicoll likes to joke that he is a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. What he is clearly a master at though is staying busy and giving back. “I often joke, that I get involved in so many things because of my undiagnosed ADHD, Nicoll said. “But in truth, I get involved in so many things because they each feed into different areas that are of interest to me.”
And Nicoll certainly has a lot of interests. This native of Kenner is a managing partner of GWave Holdings, vice president of Nicoll’s Limousine & Shuttle Service, and an adjunct lecturer at Tulane University. He is also heavily involved in local philanthropic work and supporting the music scene of New Orleans. Anyone who’s been to a Mardi Gras parade knows those 610 Stompers come with a lot of energy, but where does Nicoll find his?
As a lecturer at Tulane, Nicoll tells his students when meeting new people to focus on building the relationship for the sake of it, not with the end goal of what they could get from it. “You never know the person you’re going to meet, the relationship you have the opportunity to build–and not for transactional purposes–but because you never know where that can lead in 6 months from now, a year from now, 5 years from now,” he said.
Nicoll is a graduate of Tulane University. But some of his greatest lessons came long before he stepped onto the campus, when his high school experience was interrupted by Katrina.
The storm brought Nicoll to the panhandle of Florida to J.R. Arnold High School Panama City Beach, a co-ed school without uniforms, just a block from the beach. Quite a change from an all-boys catholic school. It’s not the beach he remembers the fondest though: “I will forever be indebted to the people of that region who took us in, literally clothed and housed us, and treated us like family,” he said. “While Katrina was many things, it also brought out some of the kindest acts I’ve ever seen from absolute complete strangers.”
It is easy to see how these ideas of showing kindness to strangers in need and getting to know people for the simple beauty of community, are still very strong values in Nicoll’s life. He serves on the Executive Board of the Young Leadership Council as VP of Development and is a member of GNO Inc.’s Next Gen Council. He also works with local nonprofits and civic organizations like Fund 17, and Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans.
“First and foremost, I think it’s very important that we should give more than we take…You can’t take the wealth you create with you to the grave, and I think we have a moral and ethical obligation to do what we can to leave this world better than we found it.”
Though Nicoll doesn’t believe we’ve achieved that noble goal as a society (yet), he sees each day as a new opportunity to make good on that promise. As an individual, he focuses on ways he can make the greatest impact at the local level. “It’s not just about giving your treasure,” he says, “but your time and talent as well.”
For anyone visiting New Orleans, Nicoll has a message: Come and enjoy the food, music, and culture, but, never forget that New Orleans can be more than that. “We can be the place where you can find work-life balance, probably tipping the scales to more of the latter.”
He also has a message for life-long New Orleanians as well: Stay open-minded to outsiders. “If we keep doing what we’ve always done, then we’ll always get what we’ve always got. We should keep our hearts open to new ways of doing things if we want better outcomes.”
If his mind and heart are always open, then his legs are always dancing. When’s he’s not teaching an entrepreneurship or leadership course at Tulane, or working with the family business, Nicoll’s Limousine & Shuttle Service, or finding more ways to help the startup community find investment through GWave Holdings, you can find him dancing it out with the 610 Stompers.
“Being a 610 Stomper is one of the most fun things I’ve had the pleasure of getting to do. It’s hard to describe what it’s like dancing down St. Charles Avenue, shaking your tailfeather and having a blast being a total silly goose,” Nicoll said. “I love getting to see the looks on people’s faces, particularly someone who’s never seen us before, and see their jaw hit the ground when we pass by.”
When pressed for a favorite anecdote of a time he donned the stache and short-shorts, Nicoll passes up the time he had a dance party on St. Charles Avenue with Steve Gleason, for the time the 610 Stompers were invited to the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and he proposed to his now wife while dancing down 6th Avenue.
“The Stompers embody some of the best aspects of what it’s like to be in this city. A joie de vivre, and the most extraordinary dance moves only an ordinary man can do.”
Plus, the Stompers pay forward the support they receive by giving grants to numerous organizations across the crescent city. They aren’t just masters of great dance moves, but also of Evan Nicoll’s favorite trade—giving back.
