Khloi Rose Charles
May 24, 2016
Shrimp season starts off Louisiana shores on a steady keel
May 24, 2016
The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority is set to bring in a new chief executive officer after a two-month search.
The TEDA board approved a search committee’s recommendation to hire Matthew Rookard to the organization’s head position. Rookard began his new job on Monday.
TEDA Board President Kerry Chauvin said Rookard would bring great qualities to TEDA, where he would team with Business Retention and Expansion Director Katherine Gilbert-Theriot.
“We were very fortunate to get him on board. He’s got a tremendous amount of experience and has leadership qualities that I think is going to bring TEDA forward and really do some good things,” Chauvin said.
Rookard will fill a position that has been vacant since March, when then-CEO Pat Gordon resigned due to health reasons. Gordon took charge of TEDA when it was moved back outside of Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. He had previously been head of Terrebonne Parish’s planning and zoning department.
The search committee spent two months looking for Gordon’s replacement, placing ads both in print and online. According to Chauvin, the board was looking for a candidate with economic development experience and “CEO qualities.” Rookard brings the required experience, having spent almost three years with the Louisiana Economic Development Authority as well as six years with Greater New Orleans Inc.
The board president said after the first month of searching, TEDA brought in four candidates for interviews. According to Chauvin, Rookard stood out from the rest of the field during the face-to-face meeting.
“In the interview process we had four candidates, and he just interviewed better than the other three candidates and showed some tremendous leadership qualities. And that’s what we were looking for,” he said.
Matthew Rookard assumed his role as head of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority this week.
