Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication to reflect that Camille Manning-Broome is the chief executive officer of the Center for Planning Excellence.
The board of directors for the Center for Planning Excellence has tapped Camille Manning-Broome to succeed CEO and president Elizabeth “Boo” Thomas, effective July 1.
CPEX announced Thomas’s retirement earlier this month, adding that a transition plan for the organization was in place. Thomas is the center’s longtime director, having founded the organization in 2006 after it sprouted out of the master plan initiative Plan Baton Rouge which she also ran.
“CPEX has been fortunate to have a bold, visionary leader in Boo Thomas since its inception in 1998, when she was tapped to lead Plan Baton Rouge, the master plan for downtown,” board chair Cordell Haymon says in a statement. “The board is grateful for the foundation Boo has laid and is confident in Camille’s skills for growing the organization’s impact.”
CPEX is a nonprofit organization that coordinates urban, rural and regional planning efforts across communities. Manning-Broome currently serves as senior vice president, having spent her time at CPEX working to develop and oversee multidisciplinary statewide resiliency and planning efforts that support model land use tools in communities across Louisiana.
She also helped spearhead and direct cross-agency projects, published documents like the Louisiana Land Use Toolkit and worked on comprehensive plans in more than 30 communities, according to the center’s website. In a statement, Manning-Broome says she’s honored the board has trusted her to continue on Thomas’ legacy.
“In support of our mission to bring people, culture and planning together to improve quality of life, CPEX will maintain our focus on delivering best practices and policies for planning while developing innovative solutions to address the challenges of the future,” she says. “I am at the service of the board and the staff, and we are all at the service of Louisiana’s communities.”
