Michael Hecht
President & CEO
Greater New Orleans Inc.
Panelist at:
- Session 3: Attracting Investment into Clean Hydrogen Projects: Successes, Challenges and Opportunities
14:20-
Michael Hecht is President & CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., the economic development nonprofit organization for Southeast Louisiana. The mission of GNO, Inc. is to create a region with a thriving economy and an excellent quality of life, for everyone. Under Michael’s leadership, GNO, Inc. was named “Economic Development Organization of the Year” and a “Top Ten Economic Development Organization in America.”
Before coming to GNO, Inc. Michael led the quarter-billion dollar Katrina Small Business Recovery Program for the State. Previous to coming home to Louisiana, Michael worked for Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City, running the post-9/11 small business program.
Michael’s entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding a conglomerate of restaurant ventures, including “Foreign Cinema,” named Restaurant of the Year 2000 in San Francisco. He began his career as a strategic management consultant in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.
Michael holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from Yale.
In 2022, Michael was named Honorary Consul of the Republic of Finland.
Michael was recognized as New Orleans “CEO of the Year” in 2018 and has received honors for his leadership locally and nationally as “One of the Ten People Who Made a Difference in the South,” “One of the Top 50 Economic Developers in North America,” and “One of 20 Economic Icons of the New Orleans Tricentennial.”
With family roots in Louisiana back to the 1830s, Michael now lives in New Orleans with his wife, Marlene, who is pursuing her PhD in Aging Studies at Tulane University. Michael and Marlene have two sons, Dexter and Kaj (“Kī”).