Board and

Staff

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Commission for the Port of New Orleans is comprised of six Commissioners. With the alignment of the Port of New Orleans and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad in February 2018, and in accordance with La R.S. 33:4530 et seq., Port Commissioners also serve on the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Commission. The Governor of Louisiana appoints Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans members from a list of three nominations submitted by local civic, labor, education and maritime groups. They are unsalaried and serve five-year staggered terms.

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Walter J. Leger, Jr.

Chairman

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Walter J. Leger, Jr.

Chairman

Walter J. Leger Jr., Chairman, 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.

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James J. Carter, Jr.

Vice-Chairman

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James J. Carter, Jr.

Vice-Chairman

James Carter, Jr., Vice-Chairman is an accomplished attorney, educator, statesman and author. He is the Managing Partner of The Cochran Firm-Trials & Mass Torts and has been admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, all Louisiana U.S. District courts, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Carter has been recognized by New Orleans City Business Magazine as a Leader in Law in 2012 and 2016. In 2021, along with three Supreme Court Justices, he was recognized by Law Dragon 500 for excellence in the legal profession, and was also inducted into the elite Litigation Counsel of America, which includes less than one half of one percent of North American lawyers, judges and scholars.
As a public servant, he was elected to and served from 2006 to 2010 on the first New Orleans City Council seated after Hurricane Katrina. Noted for his experience in understanding holistic criminal justice reform and economic development, Carter was appointed the first African American Criminal Justice Commissioner in the city’s history.
Carter is a lecturer and adjunct professor of law. He is a Civil Trial Litigation Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law and sits on the Howard University’s School of Law Board of Visitors. He has served as a Trial Advocacy Adjunct Professor at Tulane University School of Law, and is the immediate past chairman of the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. He is also a participant in a multi-year study of leadership in divided communities at The University of Oxford, Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict. He has lectured in England, Canada, Panama, Jamaica and across the United States.
Carter received his undergraduate degree from Howard University and then went on to graduate from Howard University School of Law. He has also been awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Grambling State University and received a prized certification in litigation from the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law.

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Sharonda R. Williams

Secretary-Treasurer

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Sharonda R. Williams

Secretary-Treasurer

Sharonda Williams, Secretary-Treasurer currently serves as General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs for Loyola University. Prior to that, she was Special Counsel at Fishman Haygood, LLP in New Orleans. Williams also served as City Attorney for the City of New Orleans from May 2013 to November 2015. As City Attorney, she was the lead attorney handling the most comprehensive police consent decree in the history of the United States as well as the consent decree aimed at reforming the Orleans Parish Jail. These endeavors required constant work with the United States Department of Justice.

Williams also served as the lead attorney representing the City in settling a more than 30-year dispute relating to back pay and pension issues for the New Orleans Firefighters. She had served as Chief Deputy City Attorney from October 2011 until May 2013.

Prior to joining the City of New Orleans, Williams was a partner in the general litigation section at Sher Garner, where she handled cases ranging from construction disputes, medical malpractice, insurance coverage disputes, entertainment law contract negotiations, intellectual property licensing issues, and bankruptcy adversary proceedings. She has served as the Chair of the Board of Commissioners of the Regional Transit Authority as well as being involved in numerous other professional and civic organizations.

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Jeanne E. Ferrer

Commissioner

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Jeanne E. Ferrer

Commissioner

Captain Jeanne E. Ferrer is a lifelong native of St. Bernard Parish. She graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 2006 as a Logistics and Intermodal Transportation major. She holds a United States Naval Reserve Officer Commission as well as a USCG Master unlimited license and a First-Class Pilot License of unlimited tonnage on the Lower Mississippi River.

After a decade of sea time aboard deep-sea cargo vessels and offshore supply vessels, Ferrer departed her Master position to serve as a Louisiana State Commissioned Crescent River Port Pilot. In addition to her pilot commission, she also served as a Commissioner for the St. Bernard Port Terminal and Harbor District overseeing the Port’s operations and economic development. As a member of the Lower Mississippi River Navigation Technical Committee, Ferrer collaborates with numerous local and federal agencies to grow the Lower Mississippi River’s navigation resources. She recently worked to expand the Lower Mississippi River anchorages to further streamline the supply chain during the river’s 50-foot deepening project.

Ferrer gives back to the industry as a mentor for Open Waters Louisiana and Women Offshore while also serving on the advisory board for Riverworks Discovery. She takes pride in developing the maritime industry’s next generation.

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Darryl D. Berger

Commissioner

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Darryl D. Berger

Commissioner

Darryl D. Berger, Commissioner, 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 currently serves as chairman of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp., chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tulane University, and is a member and former vice-chairman of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. Berger also serves as a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Berger has served as the inaugural chairman and founding member of the French Quarter Festival, founding member of the French Quarter Management District, and founding member of the Vieux Carre Commission Foundation. He also currently serves as a founding member and current chairman of the board of the University Medical Center. He and his wife, Louellen, are natives and lifelong residents of New Orleans.

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Todd Murphy

Commissioner

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Todd Murphy

Commissioner

Todd P. Murphy, native of Metairie, La., is the Chief Operating Officer of M Wealth Advisors - Raymond James. He spent nearly a decade as President of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and Ex-Officio Administrator of the organization’s Charitable Foundation and Political Action Committee. As the chamber’s primary spokesperson, he drove advocacy, membership development, and marketing. Under Murphy’s leadership, the chamber was awarded a Five-Star Accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and was honored three times in the past decade as the most outstanding Chamber in the State of Louisiana by the Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.

Murphy was recognized twice as an Economic Development Champion by Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (JEDCO) and was previously named a role model by the Young Leadership Council. He is a former president of the Louisiana State Chamber Association and served on the Board of Directors of the regional economic development organization, GNO Inc, as well as the board of LABI. He has also served on numerous charitable, civic and business organizations.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at LSU. He is an alumnus of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI), the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program, and is a Fellow of the Loyola University Institute of Politics.

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Joseph F. Toomy

Commissioner

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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.