NEW ORLEANS — Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Jeanne E. Ferrer and Darryl D. Berger to the board of commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) this month to succeed outgoing commissioners Charles H. Ponstein and William H. Langenstein III.
“I wish to thank Commissioners Langenstein and Ponstein for his or her service,” mentioned Brandy D. Christian, Port NOLA president and CEO and CEO of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. “Below their management, Port NOLA and NOPB completed super development, weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, and likewise appeared to the long run to make sure that Louisiana stays aggressive in worldwide commerce.”
The port mentioned accomplishments throughout their tenure included the $140 million enlargement of the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal with the addition of 4 new 100-foot gauge cranes, a $42 million greenback enlargement of Lineage Logistics to help the state’s $1.6 billion poultry export enterprise, and progress on the potential $1.8 billion Louisiana Worldwide Terminal in St. Bernard Parish.
As incoming commissioners, Ferrer will function the St. Bernard consultant and Berger will function a consultant of Orleans Parish on the seven-member regional board. Each Ferrer and Berger have been sworn in throughout an April 27 month-to-month board assembly and can serve a five-year time period. With the port’s alignment with the NOPB in 2018, commissioners additionally serve on the NOPB fee.
“The Port of New Orleans is happy to welcome Capt. Jeanne Ferrer and Darryl Berger to the Board of Commissioners,” mentioned Christian. “Jeanne Ferrer is an completed river pilot who brings invaluable expertise and information of our biggest pure useful resource, the Mississippi River. We’re additionally thrilled to have Darryl Berger again on the Port NOLA and NOPB boards. He brings a wealth of expertise in actual property growth, finance and entrepreneurial endeavors, to not point out his invaluable contributions to the Port NOLA gateway throughout his earlier time period as commissioner.”
Capt. Ferrer is a lifelong native of St. Bernard Parish. She graduated from the USA Service provider Marine Academy in 2006 as a Logistics and Intermodal Transportation main. She holds a United States Naval Reserve Officer Fee in addition to a USCG Grasp limitless license and a First Class Pilot License of limitless tonnage on the Decrease Mississippi River. After a decade of sea time aboard deep-sea cargo vessels and offshore provide vessels, Ferrer departed her place to function a Louisiana State Commissioned Crescent River Port Pilot. Along with her pilot fee, she additionally served as a commissioner for the St. Bernard Port Terminal and Harbor District overseeing the Port’s operations and financial growth.
As a member of the Decrease Mississippi River Navigation Technical Committee, Ferrer collaborates with quite a few native and federal businesses to develop the Decrease Mississippi River’s navigation assets. She lately labored to increase the Decrease Mississippi River anchorages to additional streamline the provision chain through the river’s 50-foot deepening undertaking.
Ferrer offers again to the trade as a mentor for Open Waters Louisiana and Ladies Offshore. She takes pleasure in creating the maritime trade’s subsequent era.
“I’m honored to affix the esteemed board of commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and New Orleans Public Belt,” mentioned Ferrer. “It is going to permit me to proceed to give attention to a high precedence — galvanizing one of many nation’s biggest belongings, the Mississippi River, as an integral and essential a part of the maritime logistics course of.”
Berger, who shall be serving the board of commissioners for the second time, first joined the Port NOLA and NOPB boards in February 2017. He served as chair of the board in 2022. He graduated from Newman College in 1965, acquired his undergraduate diploma from Vanderbilt College in 1969, and his regulation diploma from Tulane Regulation College in 1972.
He’s president of the Berger Firm, which he based in 1972. He has been on the forefront of actual property transactions of all kinds for practically 5 a long time and has been notably lively as a number one developer within the New Orleans downtown and riverfront.
Berger is a longtime member, and previous chairman, of the board of trustees at Tulane College. In 2015, he was inducted into the Tulane Regulation College Corridor of Fame. In 2019, he acquired the Dermott McGlinchy Lifetime Service Award, the very best alumni award bestowed by Tulane.
He served for 9 years as chair of the New Orleans Tourism and Advertising Corp. and is an emeritus member and former vice chairman of the board of belief of Vanderbilt College. He was additionally a longtime member of the board and former chair of Isidore Newman College.
Berger additionally served as a member of the board of administrators and government committee of New Orleans and Firm (previously the New Orleans Conference and Guests Bureau). He has served because the inaugural chair and founding member of the French Quarter Pageant, a founding member and first chair of the French Quarter Administration District, and founding member and first chair of the Vieux Carre Fee Basis. Berger was additionally a founding member and previous chair of the board of the College Medical Middle.
He and his spouse, Louellen, are each native New Orleanians and lifelong residents. They’ve 4 kids and 11 grandchildren.
“I look ahead to persevering with to offer strategic management on a lot of transformative initiatives essential to the long run development for the New Orleans gateway,” mentioned Berger. “That features the profitable growth of the brand new $1.8 billion downriver Louisiana Worldwide Terminal — a significant infrastructure undertaking important to our state’s competitiveness in worldwide commerce.”
The board consists of seven commissioners. They’re unsalaried and serve five-year staggered phrases. The governor of Louisiana appoints members from a listing of three nominations submitted by a number of native civic, labor, training and maritime teams. The board displays the three-parish jurisdiction, with 4 members from Orleans Parish, two from Jefferson Parish and one from St. Bernard Parish. Ferrer represents St. Bernard Parish; Chairman Jack C. Jensen Jr. and Vice-Chairman Joseph F. Toomy signify Jefferson Parish; Secretary-Treasurer Walter J. Leger Jr., Darryl D. Berger, James J. Carter Jr. and Sharonda R. Williams signify Orleans Parish.