ENTERGY NAMES NECOLE MERRITT GROUP VICE PRESIDENT OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
Entergy Corporation recently announced that Necole J. Merritt has been named group vice president, corporate communications. In her new corporate officer role, Merritt will provide executive leadership for the company’s internal and external communications organization.
Merritt has more than 25 years’ experience in communications leadership in the private sector and academia . She has held senior leadership roles across multiple companies including Saturn, BellSouth, AT&T and Cox Communications.
She joins Entergy after a recent position as vice president of marketing and communications for the Morehouse School of Medicine. Prior to that role, from 2008-11, Merritt served as chief communications officer and vice president of public affairs for Atlanta-based Cox Communications, where she was responsible for setting the strategic direction for the company’s internal and external communications.
Prior to Cox, Merritt worked for BellSouth and AT&T for nine years serving as senior director for communications, where she oversaw employee engagement, marketing communications and corporate social responsibility; she also worked in regulatory and external affairs.
Merritt started her career in 1988 working for Saturn Corporation and General Motors. While there, she held several positions of increasing responsibility including regional communications positions in Los Angeles and Chicago.
She has served as an adjunct instructor at Kennesaw State University and at Georgia Perimeter and Gwinnett Technical colleges. Merritt is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a professional association for chief communications officers. As an active member of the community while in Atlanta, Merritt was a member of the board of directors for Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta and is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Merritt earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and her master’s in communications from California State University, Northridge.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 14,000 employees.
JOSE TORRES-TAMA’S FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR PORTRAITS ON DISPLAY AT LE MUSEE DE F.P.C.
José Torres-Tama’s New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy, an Ogden Museum of Southern Art Traveling Exhibition, will be on display at Le Musée de f.p.c. May 23 through July 11. An opening reception will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, May 23, at Le Musée de f.p.c, 2336 Esplanade Ave., the historic house museum dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the history of free people of color. Le Musée de f.p.c. is open from noon to 4:30 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday and by appointment (with one-hour notice required).
The exhibition at Le Musée de f.p.c. is funded by the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York. Torres-Tama’s book titled New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy documents the exhibition of the same name. The art book, also funded with the support of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, contains biographical notes on each individual portrayed and a time line of New Orleans colonial history, both written by historian Keith Weldon Medley.
Torres-Tama is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and writer working in visual and performance art. For 20 years, he has worked in the New Orleans arts community, and since 1995, he has toured nationally and internationally with his multimedia performances. The exhibition features portraits of paper of 18th and 19th century historical figures. The project celebrates the legacy of New Orleans free people of color and their cultural, political and artistic contributions to the city, state and nation.
JOAN DAVIS NAMED NEW DELGADO CHANCELLOR
The Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of Supervisors recently named Joan Davis as the next chancellor of Delgado Community College. System President Monty Sullivan made the recommendation.
After a competitive and comprehensive nationwide search that began in February and included public forums and interviews with community partners and the search committee, Davis emerged from a talented and diverse pool of candidates as the top applicant for the Delgado Chancellor position.
“I am honored to have been selected Chancellor of Delgado Community College, and I greatly appreciate Dr. Sullivan’s and the Board’s appointment,” said Davis. “A wonderful stage has been set by my predecessors for my work with faculty and staff in moving the College to the next level and beyond in providing quality academic and workforce training for the greater New Orleans community.”
Davis currently serves as the Interim President of Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and was most recently the director of the Alabama Technology Network (ATN), where she provided workforce development training and assistance. Prior to her work at ATN she served as General Counsel and Vice-Chancellor for Legal and Human Resources at the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education. For nine years, she served as legal counsel to the Alabama State Board of Education, the system’s chancellor, and major administrators. During her tenure with the department, she also served as Interim Chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. Davis will assume responsibilities as Delgado Chancellor in early July.
A native of Macon, Georgia, Davis grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and is a product of the Tuscaloosa City Schools System. She earned the Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and History from Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Juris Doctorate from The University of Alabama School of Law.
