‘LaPolitics’ Q&A: Michael Hecht on the NOLA-state government feud

LaPolitics: What concerns do you have about the recent bickering between state government and New Orleans officials?

Greater New Orleans Inc. CEO Michael Hecht: We have so much momentum as a state. We just want to keep focusing on the wins, particularly the economic development wins, and not be distracted. This is a completely historic moment for Louisiana, because global trends are now favoring what Louisiana has been best at for decades. And so I think most people are really just trying to focus on capitalizing on the moment at hand.

How are global trends favoring Louisiana?

One is the repatriation of supply chains post-COVID. That’s something that started under President Biden and continued under Trump, the idea that we need to make things in America again. And the second is the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Both of those favor Louisiana because we have been world leaders in trade, in defense, in energy particularly, and in aerospace for decades, certainly since World War II. So you have this confluence of macro trends, and Louisiana is, by virtue of our history, extremely well set up to take advantage of these trends.

You’re stepping away as the day-to-day CEO at GNO Inc. Why do this now?

There’s never a perfect time, but I also believe that nobody is irreplaceable. I wanted to make sure the transition happened when there was a lot of positive momentum. If you look at what’s going on in the economy, if you look at the crime rate being at a 50-year low, if you look at education improving at a nation-leading level, there’s a lot of positive momentum in the economy and beyond right now. I could not have done this four years ago when New Orleans was caught up in a cycle of very destructive violence. And these trends that we talked about favoring Louisiana were not yet necessarily apparent. I think to some degree, it’s as simple as leaving while you’re on top.

How will your new role with GNO Inc. work?

The new role, which we’re calling CEO emeritus, is going to have a few primary focus areas. One is just onboarding the new CEO. And a lot of that’s going to be turning over relationships to the new CEO, because relationships are fundamental to what we do. The second is going to be fundraising. We’re going to be rolling out a plan called our 5×5 plan, which is a plan to grow the population of the region by 5% over the next five years. And I’m going to be leading the fundraising effort around that. And I’ll continue to focus on these high-level projects like building the new Louisiana International Terminal, national flood and homeowners insurance, and maybe even supporting the city and state if we’re fortunate enough to get the next Super Bowl in 2031. But I’ll be doing less of the day-to-day meetings, the day-to-day communications, the day-to-day project management.

—They said it: “The governor of Louisiana, Huey Long, excuse me, Jeff Landry, has hired all of these people.” –ESPN college football pundit Paul Finebaum on the latest LSU football controversy

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.