Following a unanimous vote from the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) Commission in January 2019, Corey Wilson accepted its offer to become the 6th Superintendent in the agency’s 75-year history. Prior to that Wilson served as the in-house attorney and administrative executive for BREC. In his role as Chief of Management and Business Services, he oversaw the administrative departments of Human Resources, Finance, Internal Audit, Communications, and Information Technology as well as handled all legal matters for the organization which has approximately 1,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $150 million.

Corey Wilson currently serves as an instructor at National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Directors School training future agency leaders from around the country. He has also presented at conferences such as NRPA, Louisiana Recreation and Park Association (LRPA), and Southwest Parks and Recreation Training Institute. Wilson is a member of the NRPA Ethnic Minority Society and is a Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP). In 2019, Wilson became a Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) Visitor, serving in the capacity of visiting agencies and evaluating compliance with standards. In 2021, Corey became a City Parks Alliance Board Member.

Prior to starting work with BREC in December 2012, Wilson worked as an entrepreneur for 10 years in New Orleans as an owner and managing member of a financial consulting and real estate development firm. Wilson served as the lead consultant with FEMA on several significant projects in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina and was a co-developer in the $20 million development of St. Bakhita Apartment Homes in Marrero. Wilson attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA where he graduated as the top accounting major in 1996. Following a brief stint as a staff accountant for a major public accounting firm, Wilson obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2001.

Corey Wilson is a board member of the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, a member of 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge, a 2014 graduate of Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Leadership Program and a 2020 graduate of the Council for a Better Louisiana Leadership Program. Wilson also volunteered as a court appointed special advocate for CASA of Baton Rouge which helps foster children find permanent homes. Corey Wilson resides in Baton Rouge with his loving wife Kay, their beautiful daughter Naima and a mixed Labrador, Cookie. He still enjoys sports as much as he did in high school and dabbles in photography in his spare time.

To learn more about the work of BRAF, please visit our website at braf.org.

Dr. Chantelle Varnado, Executive Director of Launch, has been working with children with disabilities and their families for over twenty years. She earned her Bachelor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Master of Communication Sciences and Disorders degrees from Southeastern Louisiana University. She worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist for 14 years in Livingston Parish Public Schools and at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2015, She earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Louisiana State University.

She founded Launch, a non-profit organization that serves children with disabilities and their families, in June of 2015. She has served as adjunct faculty, guest lecturer, and clinical supervisor for local universities since the time. She is a member of American Speech, Language and Hearing Association, Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce, and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. She also works with Special Olympics Healthy Athletes, BREC’s Inclusive Activities, Different Abilities, Incredible Kids of Denham Springs, STARS Soccer Club and numerous community organizations that promote extracurricular and inclusive activities for children with disabilities. Dr. Varnado lives in Denham Springs with her husband, Brad Varnado, of 21 years and two children Braden and Addison.

To learn more about Launch, please visit www.launchpeds.com or Facebook @launchpeds. To learn more about BRAF, head over to braf.org.

Sara joined the Community Foundation Southwest Louisiana as the CEO in December 2013.   

A fourth-generation resident of Lake Charles, she enjoys continuing the family tradition of being an active community member. She volunteers with the Junior League of Lake Charles, where she was named the 2013 Sustainer of the Year, and as a second-grade reading tutor at Oak Park Elementary School. With her husband, Mark, and 22-year-old daughter, Rachel, Sara enjoys participating in their church, First Presbyterian, and many community projects.

To learn more about BRAF, head over to braf.org.

Adam was named president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber in April 2008.

A native of Lake Charles, LA, he previously served as the deputy director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA). Knapp was a key figure in the creation of the entity, which is designed to facilitate the state’s recovery efforts in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Prior to his LRA tenure, he served as economic development advisor to two governors and the policy director for Louisiana Economic Development (LED). At LED, he managed the department’s economic policy initiatives, such as workforce development reform, entrepreneurial development, and risk capital accessibility. He directed the development and advancement of state legislative priorities, including the creation and refinement of important economic incentives, such as the Angel Investor Incentive, the Research and Development Tax Credit, the Film Investor Tax Credits, and the Quality Jobs Program.

Under Governors Foster and Blanco, Knapp worked on economic policy and was also a vital part of the team that successfully recruited or retained such companies as Union Tank Car, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, and Albemarle Corporation, among others.

Prior to state government, he worked for Accenture, one of the world’s premier technology and management consultancy firms, as an emerging technology consultant. Knapp graduated from Davidson College in 1996 and also studied at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Julius-Maximilians Universität in Würzburg, Germany.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Susan Bonnett Bourgeois is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Northshore Community Foundation, having served in that role since its founding. The Foundation works to elevate philanthropy in the Northshore Region of Louisiana, including St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington, and St. Helena Parishes.

In 2006, Susan was chosen to execute a strategic vision and planning process for the developing Foundation because of her history in fundraising, community service and public policy. While living in Baton Rouge, her volunteer efforts with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, including serving as a Founding Board member of Forum 35, well positioned her lead the new Foundation with a firm understanding of the potential it held to impact the rapidly growing region.

Before launching the Foundation, Susan owned Bonnett & Co., a governmental and public affairs consulting firm with clients across Louisiana. In addition to her work with candidates, she also represented insurance advocacy issues, local governments, and organized and managed political action committees.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Combining his 30 plus year history of public service with her 15 years of nonprofit leadership, Raymond A. Jetson and Sherreta R. Harrison form the dynamic, intergenerational co- leadership team at  MetroMorphosis, a Baton Rouge- based social enterprise focused on transforming communities. 

After completing a two-year fellowship on advanced leadership towards social impact at Harvard University, Raymond set about the business of creating a different approach to community change, one with a decidedly asset- based framing and focused on systems and structures. Informed by 15 years as a State Representative, 23 years as pastor of Star Hill Church, and as the deputy secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), Raymond founded MetroMorphosis with the understanding that lasting change had to emerge from and be sustained by those who stood to benefit most from it. As a result, one of MetroMorphosis’ earliest strategies, the Urban Leadership Development Initiative (ULDI), involved mobilizing young and emerging leaders and equipping them to lead change that was meaningful to them.

It was during the second cohort of ULDI that Raymond first encountered Sherreta. Driven by the desire to create access for those who have been historically denied it, Sherreta began teaching basic reading, writing and math skills to low- skilled adults before earning her Masters degree in Counselor Education. After working with families to improve the outcomes of adjudicated youth, Sherreta realized her passion lies in working with adults to help build stable families and communities. In 2013, she returned to her teaching and training roots providing capacity building services to nonprofit organizations before landing with MetroMorphosis in 2018, where she currently explores the intersection of organizational leadership, legacy building and community change.

Together, Raymond and Sherreta have led the repurposing of barbershops into community hubs, the increasing of private spending with black and woman owned businesses and the cultivation of the next generation of change makers.

Raymond is a leading voice on community change strategies, social innovation and the resurgence of elders in African American life, an Encore Public Voices Fellow, and along with his wife Tammy, is the proud parent of J’Erica Nicole and Jeremy Louis. Sherreta, an emerging authority on organizational leadership and member of the inaugural cohort of Encore’s Gen2Gen Innovation Fellowship, is a loving aunt to 9 amazing people. Both Raymond and Sherreta reside in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Jacinda Townsend is the author of Mother Country (Graywolf, 2022), winner of the 2022 Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and Saint Monkey (Norton, 2014), which won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Emily Chatelain is the Founder and Executive Director of local non-profit, Three O'Clock Project. Emily started her professional consulting company, School Food and Wellness Group in 2015 growing it to serve over 300 clients across 25 states today. Emily regularly volunteers in the nonprofit space as a speaker to discuss healthy eating or read books to elementary students. She has served nearly 6 million meals to school-age children throughout Louisiana.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Jennifer Armand was named Executive Director of the Bayou Community Foundation in December 2012, shortly after the Foundation was established.  In this role, Jennifer is responsible for managing and implementing the Foundation’s operations, including BCF’s nonprofit grant programs, nonprofit workshops and conferences, fund development, communications, community needs assessments and advocacy.

A resident of Houma and native of Lafayette, Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from LSU.  Earlier in her career, she worked as a radio news director in Lake Charles, Press Secretary for the LA Dept. of Environmental Quality, and Public Affairs Coordinator for the Georgia Gulf manufacturing facility in Plaquemine, LA. In 1997, Jennifer and husband Matthew moved to Houma and founded the advertising and public relations firm Armand Creative.  

Leading Bayou Community Foundation over the past decade, Jennifer’s love for the special people, places and culture of the Bayou Region grows stronger every day.  While not a native of the bayou, she is now one of the region’s biggest champions.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.

Sam Heisman is the Founding Head of School at Great Hearts Harveston, the first Great Hearts Academy to break ground in Louisiana.  The newly constructed campus will be opening in Baton Rouge for the 2023-2024 school year.

His last name may sound familiar to you and for good reason.  The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college sports and named after John Heisman, the great great grand uncle of Sam Heisman.  John Heisman was the athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club, the organization that created the award in 1935 to recognize “the most valuable college football player east of the Mississippi.”  The award was named in his honor after his death in 1936 and broadened to include players west of the Mississippi.  John Heisman had a rich career in college athletics as a football player, a head coach, and an athletic director.

Sam Heisman grew up the only boy in a family of six.  Although football was in his namesake, Heisman’s favorite sport in high school was basketball.  He wasn’t a naturally academic or gifted student.  “I didn’t really know what hard work looked like in an academic context until college.  I realized that I had a lot of catching up to do.”

He has a great love for poetry. Among his favorite poems are the Aeneid, Paradise Lost, and Sonnet 73. Heisman specified that it is not so much because of their content, but for the transformational experience he had while reading them, writing about them, or teaching them.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.