Executive Staff

Download the Executive Organizational Chart
 

Jump to...

• Andy Kopplin, Deputy Mayor and CAO
• Judy Reese Morse, Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff
• Emily Arata, Deputy Mayor of External Affairs
• Cedric S. Grant, Deputy Mayor of Facilities, Infrastructure and Community Development
• Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety
• Richard Cortizas J.D. City Attorney
• Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, Health Commissioner

First Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer

Andy Kopplin

Andy Kopplin serves as First Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer. In this capacity, he oversees the day-to-day operational functions of City Hall. The Deputy Mayor also helps coordinate and implement innovative solutions to reform city government, as well as being tasked with ensuring the city is fiscally responsible. Kopplin comes from Teach For America, where he most recently served as senior advisor to the Founder & CEO. Prior to Teach For America, Mr. Kopplin served for more than two years as Founding Executive Director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), the agency charged with leading the state’s recovery efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, where he developed the strategy and built the bipartisan coalitions that more than doubled congressional appropriations for Louisiana's rebuilding, from $13 billion to $28 billion. Before heading the LRA, Kopplin was Chief of Staff to two consecutive Louisiana governors, Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Republican M.J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. He joined Foster’s staff in 1996 as Policy Director, and in that role led the pioneering effort to create the state’s community college system by building a collation of Republicans, Democrats, business, labor, educators, and students. Mr. Kopplin holds a bachelor’s degree from Rice University; a master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and is a 1986 Harry S. Truman Scholarship winner.

Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff

Judy Reese Morse

Judy Reese Morse serves as Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff. In this capacity, she oversees the Mayor’s Office and is responsible for overseeing policy development and strategic planning for economic development, education, social innovation, international affairs, coastal and environmental affairs, and cultural economy. Ms. Morse most recently served as Co-Chair of Transition New Orleans and as the Chief of Staff in the Office of Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Prior to joining the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, she worked at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. There, she served as director of corporate communications, focusing primarily on attracting new audiences as public radio listeners. Her career also includes work on the federal level. Ms. Morse was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow serving at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Resolution Trust Corporation. She also worked on Capitol Hill in the office of former Congresswoman Lindy Boggs as a special projects assistant. Morse has an undergraduate degree in Communications from Loyola University in New Orleans and a Master of Public Administration from American University in Washington, DC.

Deputy Mayor of External Affairs

Emily Arata

Emily Arata serves as Deputy Mayor of External Affairs. In this capacity, she oversees the Mayor’s executive office, and the departments of Communications, Intergovernmental Relations and Constituency Services. These units work to communicate the message of the Mayor, as well as ensure that City Hall is working in collaboration with all of its partners at the municipal, state and federal level. Ms. Arata served as Campaign Manager for Mitch Landrieu’s primary victories for Mayor of New Orleans in 2010 and for re-election as Lieutenant Governor in 2008. She has been with the Lt. Governor’s Office since 2005, most recently serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, overseeing communications, policy, scheduling and operations. Prior to joining Landrieu’s team, Ms. Arata was a partner in High Note Communications, a New Orleans-based firm handling public relations and public affairs work for various clients in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors. Arata is a veteran of several state and local campaigns, as well as two presidential races. At the federal level, Ms. Arata worked on Capitol Hill in the offices of Senator Landrieu and Representative Johnson of Texas. For her dedication to community service, Ms. Arata earned a Presidential Scholarship to Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She received a Bachelors of Science degree from the College of Charleston.

Deputy Mayor of Facilities, Infrastructure and Community Development

Cedric S. Grant

Cedric S. Grant serves as the Deputy Mayor of Facilities, Infrastructure and Community Development. In this capacity, he oversees the City’s capital development, infrastructure projects, and community development initiatives. By coordinating the efforts of the Capital Projects Administration, the Department of Public Works, Property Management, and the Project Delivery Unit, the Deputy Mayor enhances the city’s recovery effort and helps integrate both the rebuilding of roads and buildings as well as their ongoing maintenance. By also overseeing the city’s ongoing efforts at community development, the Deputy Mayor connects the recovery with ongoing projects to help build the strongest neighborhoods possible for all citizens. Mr. Grant comes to City Hall after serving as Chief Administrative Officer of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, where he was responsible for management and oversight of all governmental operations. In 2004, Governor Blanco appointed Mr. Grant as Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, where he served until 2008. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Grant was employed by Parsons Corporation in Atlanta, where he managed road and highway infrastructure projects. Prior to his Parsons employment, Mr. Grant held numerous managerial and administrative positions in government over thirty years, most recently with the City of New Orleans as Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Grant also served as Planning Manager for the Port of New Orleans and Director of Capital Projects for the New Orleans Downtown Development District. Mr. Grant served his country in the U.S. Army and completed 23 years of active and reserve service, retiring in 1995 with the rank of major.

Deputy Mayor of Public Safety

Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed

Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Sneed serves as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety. In this capacity, he oversees the City’s public safety departments including NOPD, NOFD, EMS and Emergency Management with the goal of providing coordinated safety and security to citizens. By coordinating both internal city functions as well as external relations with other criminal justice entities, the Deputy Mayor helps limit duplicative efforts and maximizes the effectiveness of all facets of the system. Most recently, Lt. Col. Sneed served as the director of the City of New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, where he oversaw the City Assisted Evacuation Plan. Lt. Col. Sneed served over 30 years of active duty in the United States Marine Corps.

City Attorney

Richard F. Cortizas J.D.

Richard Cortizas serves as City Attorney. In this capacity, he is responsible for directing and supervising the legal affairs of the City of New Orleans. Prior to the Mayor’s office, Richard Cortizas was most recently an attorney in the Business & Finance Practice Group of the Jones Walker Law firm. He focused his practice on the representation of clients in transactional matters. Primarily representing corporate clients in complex land use and zoning matters, public finance and economic development projects. He has represented several major developers on multi-million-dollar commercial and residential development projects throughout the state of Louisiana. Mr. Cortizas has also served as a guest lecturer on land use and zoning subject matters.

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Cortizas served as Regional Director for U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu in Louisiana. He is a graduate of Loyola University’s College of Business (B.B.A.) and Loyola University’s College of Law (J.D.).

Health Commissioner

Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc

Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo is the City of New Orleans Health Commissioner and serves as Senior Health Policy Advisor to Mayor Mitch Landrieu. In this role, she directs the Health Department, whose mission is to protect and promote the health of New Orleanians, and also advises Mayor Landrieu on local, state and federal health policy matters.  She has undertaken a major effort to transform and modernize the City Health Department into one more effective and capable of improving the public’s health.

Dr. DeSalvo brought to the role more than 20 years of experience in medical practice, research and policy aimed at improving access to quality, affordable community health care for all.  She envisioned and led the effort to create the nationally recognized model of neighborhood-based medical homes for low income, uninsured and other vulnerable populations in the New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina. She led and represented the community effort to reform the health system in New Orleans, which was recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Dr. DeSalvo was also named a Woman of Excellence in Health Care by the Louisiana Legislative Women’s Caucus.  

Dr. DeSalvo practices internal medicine and is on leave from her position as professor of medicine and Vice Dean for Community Affairs and Health Policy at the Tulane University School of Medicine. She has also held the C. Thorpe Ray Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine.  She has served on numerous local and national professional boards. She is the current President of the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum and 504Healthnet, and past President of the National Association of Chiefs of General Internal Medicine. 

She received her Medical Doctorate and Masters in Public Health at Tulane University, a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and her B.A. from Suffolk University.