"The Business Council Movement Is One To Watch"
by Rebecca Mowbray - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Business Council steps up to plate

As negotiations unfolded this past week for the resignation of embattled District Attorney Eddie Jordan, an unlikely group turned up at the table: the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region.

The elite and elusive group of corporate executives worked with Mayor Ray Nagin on securing yet-unnamed private sector employment for Jordan, taking pragmatic steps to make it easier for him to step aside.

Business Council member Mark Mayer said the scope of the challenges facing New Orleans after the storm compelled the group to step up its level of public involvement. "It's not that the group has become more active, but that there are things that need more urgent attention," said Mayer, president of Peter A. Mayer Advertising Inc.

The group is essentially a private CEOs club. Membership is restricted to the heads of large companies based in the seven parishes of the greater New Orleans area, or regional heads of national companies operating in New Orleans. Dues are steep, running into the thousands of dollars each year. Membership lists are not public -- though it's not hard to figure out who belongs, because the 71 men and handful of women who belong are basically a who's who of local executives -- and many of the companies represented are private firms. The group also doesn't have a Web site.

While many of group's members are high-profile, the group itself is not. Many members contacted for this story declined comment, or deferred comment to the group's chairman, Jay Lapeyre, who was unavailable for an interview.

"The business council really works behind the scenes in trying to bring about change. Since the hurricane they've been very active," said Mark Drennen, chief executive of GNO Inc., who sometimes attends monthly business council meetings to brief the group on its more mainstream business activities, such as insurance.

Since the storm, the Business Council's members have played prominent roles in the commissions designed to rebuild the city. Members Donald T. "Boysie" Bollinger, chairman and chief executive of Bollinger Machine Shop & Shipyard Inc., and David Voelker, manager of the New Orleans firm Voelker/Investments, serve on the Louisiana Recovery Authority, for example.

Other Business Council members have run for office, such as Ron Forman, president and chief executive of the Audubon Nature Institute, who launched an unsuccessful bid for mayor in spring 2006, and John Georges, chief executive of Imperial Trading Co., who carried New Orleans in his unsuccessful bid for governor last month.

Peter Burns, an associate professor of political science at Loyola University, where he specializes in urban politics, said the Business Council movement is one to watch.