10 years later: Lessons learned from Rita and 2005

10 years later: Lessons learned from Rita and 2005

From Staff Reports

The Contraband

For over a decade, the McLeod Lecture Series on Louisiana Politics at McNeese State University has focused on timely as well as historical aspects of Louisiana politics and efforts to promote a climate of good government.

The 12th presentation of the series brings the Southwest Louisiana community to a milestone anniversary, according to Patricia Prudhomme, director of Banners at McNeese.

“Hurricane Rita and Lessons Learned 10 Years Later” is the title of the 2015 McLeod Lecture Series to be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, in F.G. Bulber Auditorium. This free event is sponsored by Banners at McNeese.

“2015 marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Rita,” said Prudhomme. “The McLeod Lecture Series will examine the political and governing changes that Hurricane Rita brought to this area as the community observes the 10th anniversary of this historical storm.”

She said a four-person panel will discuss the ways that Louisiana citizens recovered from this force of nature and highlight improvement of preparedness in Southwest Louisiana, protection of resources across the state and the evolution of a stronger region.

The panel includes: Phillip “Scooter” Trosclair, program manager at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and commissioner and vice president on the Chenier Plain Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority for Southwest Louisiana; Paul W. Rainwater, executive vice president/chief strategy officer of Plexos Group and former chief of staff for Gov. Bobby Jindal; Ryan Bourriaque, parish administrator for the Cameron Parish Police Jury; and David Phillips, an employee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 2004.

This year’s panel moderator is Britney Glaser, 7News Sunrise anchor and health reporter for KPLC. Glaser - a mass communications graduate from Louisiana State University - is an award-winning reporter that has been recognized by the Louisiana Associated Press and the Louisiana State Medical Society for her reporting. She is also the recipient of the 2013 Michael E. DeBakey Award for Journalism from the Foundation for Biomedical Research in Washington, D.C., for a series on alligator blood being tested as a new antibiotic by a McNeese biochemistry professor.

Trosclair has worked with the Alligator Program at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, where he traveled across Louisiana to alligator farms participating in the ranching program through the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and he was a habitat manager for the refuge, where he initiated intense management programs to enhance habitats for Louisiana wildlife. He also serves on the Cameron Parish Gravity Drainage Board in District 5 and is an activist for restoration projects along the coastline. He is a McNeese graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management.

Rainwater, who left Gov. Jindal’s administration in 2014, also served as Louisiana commissioner of administration, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, legislative director and chief of operations for former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and the chief administrative officer for the city of Lake Charles. Rainwater recently retired as a colonel with the Louisiana Army National Guard and has also served in the U.S. Army Reserves. He is a McNeese graduate with a bachelor’s degree in government. He has also received a Master of International Relations degree from Salve Regina University in Rhode Island and a local government manager certification from LSU.

Bourriaque also served as associate administrator with the Cameron Parish Police Jury, where he managed all state and federal grant programs totaling nearly $200 million to Cameron Parish after Hurricanes Rita and Ike. With a background in planning and development, he has worked with more than 30 Louisiana communities to oversee grant administration. He is a member of the Chenier Plain Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority Board of Directors. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a master’s degree in natural resource economics and environmental policy from LSU.

Phillips - a retired U.S. Army intelligence operations officer – worked as a FEMA intergovernmental affairs liaison to coastal parishes after Hurricane Rita. During this time he also served as director of the FEMA Southwest Louisiana Area Field Office, overseeing the Public Assistance and Individual Assistance programs. At this time, there were more than 11,000 temporary housing units and nearly 200,000 FEMA applicants under his jurisdiction. He has also served for 34 years as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland European Campus and he attended the U.S. Army Staff Management College.



The annual McLeod Lecture Series honors the late Bill McLeod, a prominent retired lawyer, district judge and former state legislator from Lake Charles. All research materials, records and artifacts pertaining to the annual lecture will become a part of the McNeese Library Archives.