New Orleans business, community leaders
announce Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors Program

NEW ORLEANS (March 22, 2007) – To share positive news of New Orleans’ economic and cultural revitalization and combat misperceptions about the city’s recovery, Tulane University President Scott Cowen and New Orleans City Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow today announced the creation of the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors Program. Local business and community leaders who comprise the entity have volunteered to represent the city and speak on behalf of its recovery to media, business councils, civic groups, political leadership and philanthropic organizations in top markets around the country over the coming months.

“If our long-term recovery is going to be successful, it is critical that we build a solid base of support for New Orleans around the country,” Cowen said. “The ongoing one-sided, negative news coverage and misperceptions continue to exist, and these stand as two of the largest roadblocks to our efforts to rebuild one of America’s great cities.”

Cowen and Fielkow, joined by Rod West, President and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, and Kim Boyle, Esq., of Phelps Dunbar, LLC, created the program and recruited a core group of influential local leaders to serve as the program’s initial ambassadors. Volunteers confirmed as of this date include:

The Hon. David Bell, Chief Judge, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court
Cesar Burgos, Managing Partner, Burgos & Evans, LLC
Ron Forman, CEO, Audubon Nature Institute
Dr. Norman Francis, President, Xavier University
Ruthie Frierson, Chairman Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans
The Hon. Stacy Head, New Orleans City Council
Leslie Hirsch, President and CEO, Touro Infirmary
Gregory Ben Johnson, President and CEO, Greater New Orleans Foundation
Merritt Lane, President and CEO, Canal Barge Company, Inc.
William Raymond Manning, President, Manning Architects
Ron Markham, President and CEO, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
Ti Martin, Managing Partner, Commander’s Palace Restaurant
Anne Milling, Founder, Women of the Storm
Father Vien Thé Nguyen, Pastor, Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church
W. Anthony Patton, President and CEO, EBONetworks, LLC
Phyllis Taylor, Chairman and CEO, Taylor Energy Company, LLC
The Hon. Oliver Thomas, President, New Orleans City Council
Sidney D. Torres IV, President and CEO, SDT LLC Waste and Debris Services
Dr. Vera Triplett, Assistant Professor of Counseling, Our Lady of Holy Cross College
Dr. Michael White, Jazz Musician, Professor, Xavier University
Becky Zaheri, Founder, Katrina Krewe

“We invited a cross-section of outstanding individuals with diverse expertise from throughout the community to represent New Orleans and provide an accurate picture of our progressing recovery,” Fielkow said. “These ambassadors are knowledgeable and passionate about our city, and they are dedicated and committed to its return to glory.”

In late April, small groups of ambassadors will begin to make coordinated 2-3 day visits to top markets throughout the United States. They will meet with newspaper editorial boards and business, civic and philanthropic groups to address key recovery issues, including the city’s rebuilding plan, levees, education reform, housing, crime and other topics.

“We’re making a strategic, targeted effort to generate balanced, accurate news coverage of the city’s recovery and to build support from other influential constituencies to counteract the negative images that continue to be propagated throughout the country,” Fielkow said. “Our best spokespeople are those who are at the forefront of bringing our city back from Katrina’s devastation. Certainly one of the most important elements our Ambassadors will bring to their visits will be their own personal experiences during the recovery.”

The Ambassadors Program is expected to visit several key markets, including: Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis. Fielkow added that the organization also plans to make additional and repeat-market visits long-term.

New Orleans-based firms Peter A. Mayer Public Relations and Keating Magee Momentum Marketing have been retained to provide strategy and logistics coordination for the initiative. Together, the agencies are designing an integrated media relations campaign to facilitate meetings with key organizations and generate media exposure in each market the Ambassadors Program visits.

Funding for the Fleur-de-lis Ambassadors Program is being provided by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the New Orleans Business Council, Tulane University, and Bill Goldring, Republic Beverage. The program is named after the fleur-de-lis, a stylized representation of an iris with three petals tied by a band, which has become one of the enduring symbols of the City of New Orleans.

For more information, visit http://fleurdelis.tulane.edu