Paige Carter Named President and CEO of Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership

Paige Carter Named President and CEO of Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership

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More than $260 billion in proposed capital investments have been announced across Louisiana since January 2024, and starting in January 2027, Paige Carter will help decide how much of that money lands in the Capital Region. The Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership named Carter its next president and CEO, 1012 Industry Report reported, handing the nine-parish organization to Louisiana Economic Development’s chief business development officer as it prepares to chart its next five years.

Carter, who has called Baton Rouge home since 2013, steps into the job at a moment when the region’s economic development group is under pressure to deliver. The Partnership, formerly the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, is wrapping up its five-year “Bring It! Baton Rouge” strategic plan this year, and Carter has said she does not intend to replace it immediately. Instead, the organization will extend elements of the existing strategy through 2027 while Carter solicits input before building the next plan.

A Homecoming Built on a Decade of Deals

The move from statewide economic development to regional leadership was “as personal as it was professional,” Carter said. “Ultimately, this is my home. This is where I’m fortunate to raise my family. And so when this opportunity came up, it was a really beautiful maturation of my passions and my professional life, actually getting to serve the place that I’m personally very passionate about.”

Her record at LED is substantial. She returned to the agency in June 2024 as chief business development officer, helping oversee the state’s business recruitment and expansion efforts during what LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois called “record-setting economic growth.” Bourgeois described Carter as a “driving force” behind the state’s announcement of more than $260 billion in proposed capital investments since January 2024, and said that while LED “will certainly miss having her on our team every day,” she is excited to see Carter bring that experience to the Capital Region. Before rejoining LED, Carter served as executive director of industry engagement at the LSU Foundation, where she established the Office of Industry Engagement and helped secure the largest philanthropic donation in LSU’s history. Earlier still, as LED’s director of business development, her work contributed to the creation of more than 11,000 jobs, according to the Partnership’s announcement on greaterbatonrouge.org.

Paige Carter Named President and CEO of Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership
Photo: wbrz.com

“Paige brings an exceptional combination of economic development experience, relationship building, and a deep understanding of how to bring business, education, and government together around shared opportunities,” said Klein Kirby, chair of the Partnership’s board of directors and its search committee. “Greater Baton Rouge is her home, where she and her husband are raising their family, and she has a personal stake in its future.”

Carter will succeed Lori Melancon, who was removed from the post by the board in May. Since then, senior vice presidents Trey Godfrey and Jayson Newell have served as acting co-CEOs while a national search ran from August onward, WBRZ reported.

Four Priorities, One Ecosystem

Carter laid out four preliminary priorities for her tenure. The first is business retention and expansion: supporting the companies already operating in the Capital Region so they can grow and plug into Louisiana’s pipeline of major projects. The second is strengthening relationships among the nine parishes. “Economic development doesn’t see parish boundaries,” she said. “And so when we’re working on a project, the investors don’t see the Iberville line creeping into Ascension or West Baton Rouge into Ascension. They view it as an entire living ecosystem, and we need to do that as well.”

That framing matters because perceptions linger that the organization hasn’t always represented outlying parishes equally.

Speed to market, she said, means the region needs shovel-ready industrial sites and adequate infrastructure to stay competitive for the projects now in the pipeline. The fourth is closer collaboration with the state’s other regional economic development organizations, including Greater New Orleans Inc., Grow NELA and One Acadiana, so the Capital Region can capture opportunities generated by projects elsewhere in Louisiana.

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“We Fabricate the World”

Carter’s pitch for the region leans on its industrial muscle. The Capital Region’s concentration of energy expertise, industrial contractors, fabricators and manufacturers, she said, makes it an indispensable link in the supply chains of some of the world’s largest industrial developments. “We fuel the world, but what often gets missed is that we fabricate the world,” she said.

Rather than chasing industries simply because they have succeeded in other metro areas, she favors identifying complementary businesses that build on existing strengths — companies that could co-locate alongside established manufacturers and reduce their operating costs. “What are the symbiotic ecosystems that we can develop?” she asked. “Rather than looking across the country and looking at what other people are going after, let’s go after what ultimately makes the most sense for our ecosystem of companies that operate here currently.”

She also acknowledged that retaining highly educated young professionals remains a persistent challenge, and said she wants to work more closely with universities to understand what career opportunities graduates are seeking and feed those insights into recruitment efforts.

The Open Questions She Inherits

Carter’s first 100 days will focus on candid conversations with business leaders, parish officials and regional stakeholders. “My leadership is very much listen first and develop second,” she said.

LED has said it is “currently looking at all options” for replacing Carter as chief business development officer, without naming a successor or timeline. And the Partnership’s board has not yet said what the next five-year strategic plan will look like — only that elements of Bring It! Baton Rouge will carry through 2027 while Carter gathers input. For now, the $260 billion figure is the number everyone in the Capital Region will be watching.

Carter holds an MBA from Louisiana State University Shreveport and graduated cum laude from Arizona State University. Her work has earned the Business Facilities Platinum Deal of the Year Award twice, along with Baton Rouge Business Report honors including Forty Under 40 in 2021 and Influential Women in Business in 2025, according to the Partnership’s release. Read the full announcement from the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership, and see WBRZ’s coverage of the appointment.

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