A former assistant attorney general will serve as Louisiana's next secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, Gov.-elect Jeff Landry announced Friday. Landry also tapped three new members of the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Terrence "Joe" Donahue, a lawyer who recently oversaw the Louisiana Department of Justice’s Occupational Licensing Review Program as an assistant attorney general, will head the DOTD, where he also has held prior positions, according to Landry's office.
Meanwhile, Landry said he would appoint Conrad Appel, Judy Armstrong and Simone Champagne to the state's top education board.
Appel and Champagne are both former lawmakers, with Appel having served in the Louisiana Senate representing Jefferson Parish. He chaired the Senate Education Committee under Gov. Bobby Jindal and helped pass Jindal's sweeping educational reform bills in 2012.
Champagne was a member of the state House from 2008 and 2014, representing Iberia and Vermilion parishes. She sits on the Youngsville City Council.
Armstrong was recently the principal of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans. She previously worked for the Louisiana Department of Education for 10 years, leaving the agency in 1995, according to her LinkedIn profile.
BESE, which regulates Louisiana's public schools, has 11 members. Eight of them are elected, and the governor appoints the remaining three.
Appel, Armstrong and Champagne will replace outgoing appointees Belinda Davis, Thomas Roque and Doris Voitier.
At the DOTD, Donahue will replace Eric Kalivoda, who took up the post in March and is slated to retire. The agency has been pursuing several key infrastructure projects under Gov. John Bel Edwards, including replacing the Calcasieu River bridge and building a new Mississippi River bridge in the Baton Rouge area.
Though the next steps for those long-anticipated projects remain unclear, Landry has said both are a priority.
