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Board and Staff

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The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans consists of seven commissioners. They are unsalaried and serve five-year staggered terms. The Governor of Louisiana appoints Board members from a list of three nominations submitted by local civic, labor, education and maritime groups.

The Board reflects the Port’s three-parish jurisdiction, with two members from Jefferson Parish, four from Orleans Parish and one from St. Bernard Parish. Secretary-Treasurer Jack C. Jensen, Jr. and Commissioner Joseph F. Toomy represent Jefferson Parish. Chairman William H. Langenstein, III, Commissioner Darryl D. Berger, Commissioner Tara C. Hernandez and Commissioner Walter J. Leger, Jr. represent Orleans Parish. Vice-Chairman Charles H. Ponstein represents St. Bernard Parish.

Senior Staff
Board Meetings
Past Board Meetings
Organizational Chart

William H. Langenstein, III

Chairman

Bio

William H. Langenstein, III

Chairman

William H. Langenstein, III, Chairman, appointed to the Board February 2018, is one of Louisiana’s leading tax, corporate and transaction attorneys at Chaffe, McCall. He is an honorary consul to the Republic of Korea and a member of the New Orleans Estate Planning Council.

Langenstein earned a Juris Doctorate from Loyola University New Orleans, received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from Louisiana State University and is a recent graduate of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute. He is a board-certified tax attorney, a licensed title insurance agent and an inactive certified public accountant.

Langenstein is a member of the New Orleans Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Louisiana Children’s Museum Early Learning Village Steering Committee. He also serves on several boards, including Greater New Orleans Inc., the World Trade Center New Orleans (Transportation Committee), New Orleans Board of Trade, and the G.N.O. Educational Television Foundation. Langenstein is a former member of the National Kidney Foundation and has served or is currently serving on several corporate boards including Koerner Capital LLC; IBERIABANK Corporation; Geocent LLC; Kavanagh Family Foundation; Maritime Holdings LLC; and Intermarine LLC.

Langenstein has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, as a Top Lawyer by New Orleans Magazine, and recognized as a City Business Leadership in Law Honoree.

Charles H. Ponstein

Vice-Chairman

Bio

Charles H. Ponstein

Vice-Chairman

Charles H. Ponstein, Vice-Chairman, appointed to the Board March 2018, is a landlord and owner of several commercial and industrial buildings. A lifelong resident of St. Bernard Parish, Ponstein served as Councilman-At-Large from 1992-1996 and Parish President from 1996-2004. He has served as a member of the St. Bernard Parish Chamber of Commerce, St. Bernard Economic Development Commission, Regional Planning Commission and United Way of New Orleans.

Ponstein received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of New Orleans in 1971 after graduating from Holy Cross High School in 1967. He opened Ponstein’s Food Store, the first self-service gas station in the New Orleans metropolitan area, in May 1972. He and his wife, Claudette, have three children, Jeffrey, Neil and Sadie, and three grandchildren, Payton, Noelle and Roman.

Ponstein brings a legacy of leadership and public service in St. Bernard Parish that will benefit both the Port and Public Belt Railroad.

Jack C. Jensen, Jr.

Secretary-Treasurer

Bio

Jack C. Jensen, Jr.

Secretary-Treasurer

Jack C. Jensen, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer, appointed to the Board June 2018, is the founder of Transportation Consultants Inc. d/b/a TCI Trucking and Warehousing and has built TCI into the largest independent trucking and warehousing company in the New Orleans region. Jensen is a graduate of Holy Cross High School and the University of New Orleans with over 40 years’ experience in the transportation, logistics, supply, value-added, import/export, port development and trucking industries.

Having committed more than $70 million in capital investments in industrial property in New Orleans, with nearly 50% of his TCI Trucking employees within a 3-mile radius of his Ninth Ward headquarters, Jensen has realized a dream of positively affecting the surrounding community in which his company has invested.

Jensen has served on the boards of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, Covenant House and Holy Cross High School. He has assisted with Catholic Charities of New Orleans, Bridge House, Desire NOLA, and the Save Our Lake Foundation. Jensen was recognized as Young Leadership Council’s 2009 Role Model of the Year, and as an Honorary Life Member of the International Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers of New Orleans. He and his wife, Cindy, have seven children, six of whom assist with managing the family businesses.

Darryl D. Berger

Commissioner

Bio

Darryl D. Berger

Commissioner

Darryl D. Berger, Commissioner, appointed to the Board February 2017, is the Founder and Chairman of The Berger Company Inc. and an investor, developer, and financier of real estate. Berger’s company has owned or developed in excess of $1 billion of real estate, including more than two dozen retail shopping centers, various hotels, office buildings, multi-family projects and parking facilities.

Berger earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and his law degree from Tulane University. He served for nine years as Chair of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp.; is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Trustees of Tulane University; and is an emeritus member and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. He was also a long-term member of the Board and former Chair of Isidore Newman School. Berger also serves as a member of the board of directors and executive committee of New Orleans and Company (formerly CVB).

He has served as the inaugural Chair and founding member of the French Quarter Festival; a founding member and first Chair of the French Quarter Management District; and founding member and first Chair of the Vieux Carre Commission Foundation. He also currently serves as a member of the board of the University Medical Center (UMC) where he was a founding member and past Chair.

Berger has been the recipient of many awards and recognition for his work in the business community and in the area of human rights. He and his wife, Louellen, are native New Orleanians and lifelong residents.

Tara C. Hernandez

Commissioner

Bio

Tara C. Hernandez

Commissioner

Tara C. Hernandez, Commissioner, appointed to the Board July 2016, is President of New Orleans-based JCH Properties, a boutique urban real estate development firm that specializes in the conversion of underutilized real estate into residential, commercial and mixed-use redevelopment projects. She has led or participated in the development of residential, mixed-use, mixed-income and commercial development projects in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri, often involving public-private partnerships.

Hernandez holds a finance degree from Loyola University New Orleans and a Master of Science in real estate development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is active on several national, local industry and non-profit boards. Hernandez is the immediate past chair of the board of directors for Greater New Orleans Inc., the region’s foremost economic development agency. She also serves on the executive boards of the Idea Village and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation.

Hernandez was recent chair of the Urban Land Institute’s National Hines Competition Jury and has received local awards from the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans and New Orleans Business Alliance. She brings a wealth of experience in real estate development and entrepreneurial endeavors to the Board and is a respected leader within the Greater New Orleans business community.

Joseph F. Toomy

Commissioner

Bio

Joseph F. Toomy

Commissioner

Joseph F. Toomy, Commissioner, appointed to the Board August 2019, is a veteran lawmaker who represented Dist. 85 in the Louisiana State Legislature from 1984 until 2008. During his legislative tenure, he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee from 1992 until 2008 and vice chairman of Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs from 1990 to 1992. He previously served on Port NOLA’s Board of Commissioners from 2009 to 2014 and served as chairman in 2013.

An insurance broker from 2000 until 2016, Toomy also served in several administrative capacities with Delgado Community College beginning in 1981, serving as vice chancellor for administrative affairs from 1992 until 2000. He was also a member of the Algiers Development District Board from 2014 to 2018 and chairman of the Gretna Redevelopment Committee from 2017 to 2018.

Toomy earned his Bachelor’s degree in economics from Tulane University in 1971 and a Master of Business Administration from Tulane in 1973. He began his political career as a delegate to the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, before being elected to the Jefferson Parish School Board in 1974 – serving as president in 1977.

The Alliance for Good Government, Raintree Children & Family Services, Louisiana Municipal Association and Louisiana State Fireman’s Association each honored Toomy as Legislator of the Year at varying times.

Walter J. Leger, Jr.

Commissioner

Bio

Walter J. Leger, Jr.

Commissioner

Walter J. Leger Jr., Commissioner, appointed to the Board July 2020, is a prominent attorney and esteemed legal expert. Leger serves as the Senior Partner in the law firm of Leger & Shaw. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University, and received his legal education at Tulane University, where he graduated from Tulane School of Law with a concentration in Maritime Law.

After graduation, Leger worked as an admiralty associate at the Phelps Dunbar law firm. He later formed his own firm dedicated to admiralty and complex litigation, including the Hard Rock Hotel litigation, nationwide opioid litigation, the BP Oil Spill case, and the Castano Tobacco litigation to name a few.

Leger is the past President of the New Orleans Bar Foundation and the New Orleans Bar Association. The Louisiana Bar Journal named him a “Louisiana Legal Legend.” He received the “President’s Award” for leadership and public service from the New Orleans Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Louisiana Association of Justice.

Leger has tirelessly served his community and Louisiana, currently sitting on the Louisiana Land Trust as Chairman, the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) as a Commissioner and the New Orleans City Park Board. He is a member of the Louisiana Committee of 100 for Economic Development, the Southeast Louisiana Business Council Coalition, the New Orleans/Baton Rouge Super Region Committee, the Board of Trustees of the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Louisiana Cancer Research Center. He served as Chairman of the St. Bernard Economic Development Foundation and also as a founding Director of GNO, Inc.