Creating an Inclusive Work Culture with Collaborative Community Partnerships
Since its inception, the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) has employed best practices in economic development, positioning NOLABA as the perfect intersection of commerce and culture through an inclusive economic development strategy. Today, the organization continues its legacy as they work in collaboration with Oschner Health System, Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) and the City of New Orleans, to reshape the city through thoughtful economic development in order to create a more just and equitable place for all residents. Join NOLABA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, Ashleigh Gardere, in discussion with Missy Hopson Sparks from the Ochsner Leadership Institute, Ellen Lee with the City of New Orleans and Carmen James Randolph with GNOF as they address topics such as: economic barriers that affect employee retention, diversifying an organization’s leaders to better reflect the population being served and exploring what a city-wide strategy, that employs collaboration and engagement to foster inclusivity and bring about real impact, looks like.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to develop an integrated workforce and economic development strategy that builds equity.
- Learn a framework for building public-private-philanthropic partnership to address equity issues.
- Learn how to gain stakeholder support by using metrics to build credibility for equity initiatives.
Ashleigh Gardere
Ashleigh Gardere serves as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA), responsible for implementation of a new business model for economic development. In partnership with NOLABA President & CEO Quentin Messer, Gardere is demonstrating the power of a holistic economic development strategy that fully maximizes opportunity for the people and businesses of New Orleans.
Gardere most recently served as a Senior Advisor to Mayor Mitch Landrieu. In this role, she managed the Mayor’s Economic Opportunity Strategy and supported the revitalization of the Claiborne Corridor through a cross-sector initiative called The Network for Economic Opportunity. The Network was responsible for the start-up, development, implementation and management of productive partnerships among local industries, small businesses, residents, non-profits and city agencies to drive long-term revitalization. By integrating The Network’s portfolio within NOLABA, Gardere expects to prove that an inclusive economy best ensures a thriving, sustainable economy for New Orleans.
Gardere previously served as Vice President of Community Relations at Chase Bank for Louisiana. During her tenure, she piloted the firm’s place-based neighborhood revitalization strategy.
Gardere began her career working in various strategic planning and policy development roles supporting the work of local and national nonprofit organizations with community development-oriented missions.
A New Orleans native, Gardere earned a B.A. in metropolitan studies from New York University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the proud wife of Lamar and mother to Jayden and Justin Gardere.
Carmen James Randolph
Carmen James Randolph joined the Foundation staff in February of 2014 as Vice President for Programs. Carmen previously worked at the Washington-based Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation where she was for the past 15 years including three years as senior program officer in education. While at the Meyer Foundation, Carmen led various award-winning initiatives to support a wide range of work including education organizing, charter school improvement, and post-secondary education reform.
As a leader in education reform in Washington, D.C., Carmen also held numerous national and local leadership roles with Grantmakers for Education; the Youth Transition Funders Group, a national network of grantmakers whose mission is to help all youth make a successful transition to adulthood by the age of 25; the S.T.E.P. Up Advisory Board, which addresses the graduation crisis in the District of Columbia; and, New Schools Venture Fund’s DC Schools Fund.
As Vice President for Programs at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Carmen develops and manages the Foundation’s grantmaking portfolios in the areas of economic opportunity, organizational effectiveness, the environment, health and human services, arts and culture, education, and youth development.
Missy Hopson Sparks
Missy Sparks, PhD serves as Vice President of Talent Management/Human Resources for Ochsner Health System. In this role she oversees Workforce Development, Orientation & Onboarding, Diversity & Inclusion, Performance Management and Engagement for more than 26,000 team members.
She leads her team in developing a diverse talent pipeline that opens career pathways into healthcare for the unemployed/underemployed. She is a current board member for the Workforce Development Board for New Orleans, YouthForce NOLA, and for Communities in Schools. Additionally, she volunteers weekly to help feed the hungry and homeless through St. Mark’s United Methodist in the French Quarter.
Ellen Lee
Ellen M. Lee serves as the Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of New Orleans. The Director serves as an advisor to Mayor LaToya Cantrell and provides policy direction, management, and oversight of the department’s programmatic initiatives and administrative activities to provide solutions at the intersection of business, workforce, housing, and cultural needs. Ms. Lee returned to the public sector in 2014 after serving nearly six years as Senior Vice President of Programs at the Greater New Orleans Foundation where she was responsible for the programmatic and grantmaking activity of the community foundation serving New Orleans and its 12 surrounding parishes. Prior to her work in philanthropy, Ms. Lee held the position of Assistant Director of the Disaster Recovery Unit (DRU) within the State of Louisiana's Office of Community Development, responsible for administering federal funds to assist in the recovery of southern and coastal Louisiana following the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Ms. Lee is twice a graduate of the University of New Orleans holding Bachelor of Science in Finance and Master of Business Administration degrees. She has also served on the Department of Management Faculty at UNO. Ms. Lee holds a certificate from the National Preparedness Leadership Institute at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She serves in leadership roles on multiple boards of directors of national and local civic and service related organizations including the Center for Community Progress, Total Community Action, and the Catholic Foundation of New Orleans.