Baton Rouge needs bold, proven leaders—and veteran tourism executive Butch Spyridon is exactly the kind of talent the Capital Region should be recruiting, Rolfe McCollister writes in his latest column.
Spyridon first came to Baton Rouge more than 30 years ago to lead the Baton Rouge Convention & Visitors Bureau before Nashville recruited him. He went on to spend three decades helping transform that city into a major tourism destination and economic powerhouse.
Now that Spyridon is back working on Baton Rouge’s behalf, McCollister argues that local leaders should give him the freedom to do what he does best—and keep politics out of his way. Spyridon doesn’t need the job and could easily walk away if officials begin micromanaging him, McCollister warns.
“I am a fan of Butch and glad he is on our team,” he writes.
McCollister is also optimistic about new BREC Superintendent Brooks Williams, who previously served as a city manager in Texas and arrives with a record of delivering results. Williams appears willing to embrace change and is well prepared for the challenge of leading an organization with roughly 1,000 employees, a budget exceeding $100 million and plenty of work remaining before BREC can again be considered a true “gold” park system, McCollister writes.
Like Spyridon, Williams must be allowed to lead. If other cities eventually try to lure him away with more money, McCollister says, that will be evidence that Baton Rouge found a winner.
“Butch and Brooks are the kind of talent we need at the top to lead East Baton Rouge,” he writes, adding that upcoming vacancies in other key positions present opportunities to assemble a stronger leadership team.
Elsewhere in the column, McCollister weighs in on November’s local elections, endorsing District Attorney Hillar Moore and several East Baton Rouge Parish School Board candidates. He also remembers legendary LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman, supports Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John Weimer’s efforts to rein in court spending and questions why Baton Rouge has made so little progress after years of civic leadership trips to flourishing cities.
McCollister also applauds St. George’s experiment with Uber-based public transportation, marks Business Report’s 44th anniversary and congratulates First Tuesday on four years of connecting businesses and volunteers with community nonprofits
SpaceX incentives
