Meg Mahoney’s energy about economic policy is contagious.
For 10 years, she has worked in various government and public-policy offices—including the administration of former Gov. Mike Foster and now with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber—on advancing state and regional economic development.
Through each of her titles and job responsibilities, she has focused intently on making the region a place that residents enjoy calling home.
“The work I’ve always done is always about making Louisiana or Baton Rouge a better place,” Mahoney says. “I’ve worked with so many amazing, talented, smart, committed people. So I do what I do so that we can all be proud and we can all push the state and the region forward.”
Mahoney has done just that through involvement with Forum 35, [re]Inventing Redstick, Habitat for Humanity, Hands On Baton Rouge and numerous other projects. Her passion for community and economic growth stems from a love of Louisiana and an understanding the work is never complete. “We’ve made good progress,” she says, “but there’s always more to be done.”
Ultimately, making Baton Rouge residents proud to call Louisiana home is very personal for Mahoney. She wants her two young sons to feel as if everything they want for their future is right here in the region.
“I would love for when they are teenagers for them not to say that this is the lamest place ever. When they’re in college, I’d love for LSU to be an awesome university that they are excited to have. If it was like, ‘Wow, we’ve got UNC Chapel Hill right here,’ they’d say, ‘How cool is that!’ And having a family here and having great communities to live in and good roads and infrastructure and public education. And if they want to put their kids in public schools here, they have top-notch public education.”
That is what Mahoney wants for Baton Rouge.
Age: 36
What is your best business advice?
“Don’t be afraid to know what you don’t know.”
Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.
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