Berwick High grad returns to lead economic development in St. Mary

New St. Mary Parish Economic Development Director Evan Boudreaux may not have a lot of years in the workforce, but during his already short career, the 25-year-old from Bayou Vista has done a lot.
He began the next chapter in a short, but already successful career, in December when he began work as head of the parish’s economic development efforts.
Boudreaux, who graduated from Berwick High School in 2013, began working in the state Legislature while pursuing a political science degree at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. After graduation, he worked for former U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany in Washington, D.C., and later returned to Louisiana where he worked as a lobbyist at a firm in Lafayette, providing representation for nine Louisiana regional economic development associations.
He later took a job in Louisiana working for U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy as his deputy chief of staff and political director before beginning his current role Dec. 1 in St. Mary Parish.
Boudreaux said he was drawn back to St. Mary Parish because of its potential. He said the parish has “just so much opportunity that needs to be tapped into and leveraged.”
He said he thinks with his contacts and experience, he can help the parish.
“I want to see St. Mary Parish thrive,” Boudreaux said. “I want to be able to see this parish become something where the kids who are growing up here aren’t counting down the days until they graduate high school and they can leave.”
Boudreaux said he was in that group growing up that wanted to leave and simply come back to visit.
“But as I kind of matured, I really saw what was the whole reason I wanted to get into public service to begin with, and it was the values and what I saw growing up here,” Boudreaux said. “St. Mary kind of molded me into striving for that.”
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said that while Boudreaux is young, he has a lot of experience, including some in politics.
“I like the fact that he is young, but I love the fact that he is a local boy, per se,” Hanagriff said.
Boudreaux said he feels this is his opportunity to give back to the parish.
Hanagriff said that Boudreaux is talented and he brings “a fresh perspective” to the parish.
“I think it’s great, and I’m excited about his energy, and I’m looking forward to working with him,” Hanagriff said.
Boudreaux said his first major project has been redoing the parish’s master plan for economic and community development.
Boudreaux said he would like to upgrade St. Mary Parish’s logo, develop a slogan for the parish and utilize technology more in the parish.
He also said the formation of an economic development advisory committee with representation from the parish and input from the public is a plan, too.
“I think that government should be transparent, so I want to hear the ideas, and I want to hear the feedback from the people who are living here,” Boudreaux said. “What are they seeing as the greatest opportunities or the greatest challenges in their communities? What are their ideas to fix those things? I want to be able to hear that feedback, so that through this committee, we can prioritize projects, we can prioritize goals, and through that, we can go through the process of addressing those.”
As for the state of the parish, Boudreaux said that while St. Mary was affected by COVID-19, it wasn’t hit as hard as other areas. The area was fortunate not to have any major hurricanes, either, which he said sets them up in a solid position heading into this year.
He said that the challenges the parish is facing are no different than the rest of the state. Boudreaux said the oil and gas industry downturn, keeping businesses and other nearby states securing businesses rather than them coming here are issues faced statewide.
“There’s nothing I see that’s so specific to St. Mary that is so detrimental” that they can’t overcome, Boudreaux said.
According to Louisiana Workforce Commission figures, St. Mary Parish’s unemployment rate among its civilian labor workforce — not seasonally adjusted — was 9.3% in November. That’s an improvement from 10.4% in October but still far worse than the 6.2% recorded in November 2019 prior to COVID-19’s impact.
While St. Mary’s November figure is better than Iberia and Assumption parishes, who each were at 9.8% unemployment, the parish is behind Lafourche (5.9%), Terrebonne (7.5%) and St. Martin (7.8%).
St. Mary’s rate also is below the national average of 6.4% and the state average of 8.1%.
LaSalle Parish has the state’s best mark at 4.5%.
Back in St. Mary, Boudreaux said the biggest area that needs to be tackled is the east and west ends working together.
“We need to come together as a parish to identify what the west side of the parish can support the east side and the east side of the parish can support the west side,” Boudreaux said. “I think that we need to, as a parish, come together as one community and tap into those resources.”
He also wants to change outsiders’ perception of the parish, noting that the parish can be as competitive as Lafayette, Terrebonne or Lafourche parishes.
Boudreaux said the parish needs to pursue opportunities, even if they may not be able to get some.
“But I think the worse they can do is tell us no, so what’s the harm in going after it?” Boudreaux said.
He said that the parish can work with surrounding parishes to address regional challenges, too.
Diversity is another goal he sees for the parish, as the industries here need help expanding and improving their success, and new businesses need to be brought to St. Mary Parish that are outside the oil and gas industry, too.
“I think that’s (oil and gas) always going to be important to the area, always going to be important to the state, but I do think that St. Mary needs to also look to encourage newer ideas, newer businesses to come here that we can also not become so reliant on the oil and gas industry,” Boudreaux said.
Diversification of the economy with oil and gas is something that Acadiana leaders have made a priority after learning lessons from the 1980s hardships, Lafayette Economic Development Authority President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said Friday.
“Those diversification efforts continue today with announcements by Amazon, Westfield Fluid Controls and SchoolMint in 2020,” Gothreaux said. “Now that our economy is facing a one-two punch of COVID-19 and global impacts to the energy industry, our continued diversification efforts have mitigated some of the impact on Lafayette Parish’s economy.”
“St. Mary Parish, under the leadership of Evan, has the opportunity to develop forward-thinking initiatives that will allow economic development, government, education and private businesses to work together in attracting new businesses and innovations to South Louisiana,” Gothreaux said.