It’s New Orleans: Out to Lunch

Hosted ByPeter Ricchiuti

Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business finance professor Peter Ricchiuti holds court over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. Peter's lunch guests are New Orleans business people, from startups to CEO's, from artists to tech entrepreneurs, musicians to movers-and-shakers. New Orleans is on everybody's list as a great place to party but it's also on many lists of the best place to start a business. Peter's deeply knowledgable and equally levity-laden approach to business conversation neatly makese sense of the Crescent City's contradictions.

L.E.D.G.E. – Out to Lunch – It’s New Orleans

There are a lot of people these days claiming how well New Orleans is doing and that in business terms we’re now competitive with almost any city in the country. If you’d like proof that this is fact, and not just feel-good boosterism, this edition of Out to Lunch might convince you.

GE is the 6th largest company in the Fortune 500. They’ve been quoted as saying “New Orleans is becoming the hub of the South.” And they’re putting their money where their mouth is. In downtown New Orleans, in the Place St Charles building, GE Capital Technology Center has 70,000 square feet of office space. They’re hiring 300 IT experts in all kinds of fields of advanced technology. And they’ve put Chief Information Officer Mike de Boer in charge of the entire operation. 

secretary moret, mike deboer

A company the size of GE doesn’t just stick a pin in the map and hope things work out down in New Orleans. The groundwork for this massive of an investment involves interactions with all kinds of people who benefit from GE’s investment – among them the State of Louisiana. The health of the State – and the well-being of all of us – to some extent rests on our economic development. And that ultimately rests on the shoulders of the Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development – Stephen Moret. 

secretary stephen moret

GE is making a big investment here and are believers in a bright business future for New Orleans. Under Stephen Moret’s leadership of the LED, the State is also invested in GE’s success here. That means if you’re a Louisiana citizen you’ve got a stake in all this too. On this edition of Out to Lunch find out what you, GE, and the State have going on together.

It's Bougie baby
Realtor Tracey Moore