Ashleigh Gardere is a pioneer in inclusive economic growth. She works effectively across government, business and nonprofit sectors to deliver transformative resultsin New Orleans while influencing new practices and policies across the nation. Recognized by Living Cities as one of the nation’s Top 25 Disruptive Leadersworking to close racial opportunity gaps, Ashleigh is an expert in economic and workforce development, public policy, organizational leadershipandculture change, and performance managementfor large-scalesystems transformation.She has raised over $150 million to support innovation and institution-building in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.

As Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of the New Orleans Business Alliance, Ashleigh transformed the public-private partnership into one of the nation’s leading economic development organizations prioritizing inclusive growth as the pathway to a thriving, sustainable economy.She established a new organizational structure and culture of performance while aligning Industry Attraction, Small Business Growth, Talent, and Strategic Neighborhood Development strategies to deliver greater benefits to locals.

Ashleigh served the City of New Orleans as Senior Advisor to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, connecting New Orleans residents to family-sustaining wages and business growth opportunities. As principal strategist, implementer and coordinator of the Mayor’s Economic Opportunity Strategy, Ashleigh led a cross-sector initiativethat reduced the African American male non-employment rate from 52% to 43.9%. In addition to passing one of the first local hire policies in the American South—and successfully defending the policy from state preemption, sheset a new standard of proactive compliance withthe City’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) policy, increasing DBE participation from 35% to 48.62% in just three years.

Ashleigh previously served as Vice President of Community Relations at Chase Bank for Louisiana. During her tenure, she envisioned, established and convened a collaborative of local and national foundations to support the revitalization of the Central City neighborhood as a model for post-Katrina, community-led rebuilding. Ashleigh began her career working in various strategic planning and policy development roles supporting the work of local and national nonprofit organizations with community development-oriented missions, including the F.B. Heron Foundation, Center for Community Change and Greater Treme Consortium.

Ashleigh serves as a trustee of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation which partners with organizations and networks to alleviate poverty and increase social and economic justice in 11 Southern states. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from New York University and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow.