Walt Leger

Walt Leger is the President and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the official destination marketing and sales organization for the tourism industry of New Orleans. Representing over 1,100 member businesses, New Orleans & Company is the tourism and hospitality industry’s official destination sales, marketing and trade organization, responsible for driving billions of dollars of diverse annual business to the regional cultural economy.
First as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans and later as an attorney with the law firm of Leger & Shaw, Walt has been a zealous advocate for his clients and victims of violent crime. Just out of law school, Walt served the people of the City of New Orleans as an Assistant District Attorney specializing in the prosecution of violent offenders and drug traffickers.
Walt is a proud graduate of Louisiana State University. In 2018, he was inducted into the LSU Hall of Distinction and chosen as the Young Alumnus of the Year. After graduating from Louisiana State University with numerous honors, Walt attended Tulane Law School, earning a certificate of specialization in Admiralty & Maritime Law and his Juris Doctor.
Walt was elected by acclamation in 2012 and again in 2016 to serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives, the youngest member to ever serve in this 2nd highest ranking position in the Louisiana House of Representatives.
In the Legislature, Leger was a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, and the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, as well as the House Education Committee, House Judiciary Committee, House Criminal Justice Committee, House Executive Committee, House Select Committee on Homeland Security, the Energy Council, the Justice Reinvestment Task Force, Multimodal Commerce Advisory Commission, Executive Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference of State Governments, and the Council of State Governments Governing Board for 2017-2018.
Between 2008-2020, Leger passed over 125 pieces of legislation. His support for tax, revenue and budget reform and stabilization, strategic infrastructure investments particularly for our Ports, rail and multi-modal facilities, Criminal Justice Reform and Reinvestment, Early Childhood Care and Education, Education Reform and Economic Development has been recognized nationally and across the state with dozens of awards naming him a legislative champion, legislator of the year, or advocate o