(Feb. 14, 2006) -- Twenty-seven Louisiana business leaders have joined together to support the New Orleans Saints ' return to the Crescent City, it was announced.
The business leaders have formed a Saints Business Council, which had its first meeting Feb. 14. Tommy Coleman, the CEO of International-Matex Tank Terminals, and Stephen Perry, the President of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, were named as co-chairmen of the group.
"We are delighted that Tom Benson decided to return to New Orleans and play the 2006 season in the Superdome," Coleman and Perry said in a joint statement. "This was a very positive step in our rebuilding efforts and has already provided an enormous boost to the spirits of our community. Our group will work closely with the Saints to provide support at all levels -- selling suites and season tickets, identifying creative sponsorship arrangements, and generally working as hard as we can to help them succeed here."
The Saints regular season home schedule opens with their annual rivalry against Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons in the Superdome on Sunday, Sep. 24.
The members of the Saints Business Council are:
- Coleman E. Adler, Owner, Coleman E. Adler & Sons, Inc.
- Darryl Berger, President, Darryl Berger Companies, Inc.
- Donald T. Bollinger, CEO, Bollinger Machine Shop & Shipyard, Inc.
- J. Herbert Boydstun, President, Hibernia National Bank
- Robert Bruno, Bruno & Bruno Law Firm
- Joseph Canizaro, Chairman, First Bank & Trust
- Thomas B. Coleman, International-Matex Tank Terminals
- Angus R. Cooper, II, Chairman & CEO, Cooper/T. Smith Corporation
- L. Ronald Forman, President & CEO, Audubon Nature Institute
- Kyle M. France, President, Kehoe France Schools
- John Georges, CEO, Imperial Trading Co., Inc.
- Richard Gill, Chairman, Executive Committee, The Shaw Group, Inc.
- Frank A. Glaviano, Sr., VP Production Americas, Shell
- John J. Kallenborn, President, New Orleans Region, JPMorgan Chase Bank
- Barry Kern, President & CEO, Kern Studios
- David Marriott, SVP, Global and Field Sales, Marriott International
- William A. Monteleone, Chairman, Hotel Monteleone
- William A. Oliver, President, Bell South
- Dan Packer, President, Entergy-New Orleans
- Stephen Perry, President, New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Sean Reilly, President, Lamar Advertising
- Greg Rusovich, President & CEO, Transoceanic Shipping Co., Inc.
- Henry Shane, Favrot & Shane Architects
- Gary N. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Crescent Bank & Trust
- Frank Stewart, Jr., Stewart Capital, LLC
- David Voelker, Owner/Chairman, Frantzen Voelker Investments, LLC
- Phil Wittman, Stone Pigman
