BRADIC PEOPLE & LEADERSHIP
Ryan Cooney
Director
Ryan Cooney serves as director of BRADIC, as well as director of business development for the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC). His dual roles allow him to bring expertise in driving economic development initiatives and new business attraction to both organizations. Ryan has played an active role in BRADIC efforts since 2008, successfully recruiting Electronic Arts' North American Testing Center to the LSU Campus along with Crawfish Games and BitRaider MMO to the Louisiana Technology Park. To date, his efforts have led to over 750 direct jobs created in the digital media sector.
Prior to assuming leadership of BRADIC in 2011, Ryan was the project manager for both BRADIC and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Ryan holds a B.S. in Management from the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and was a Top-25 Leadership LSU Graduate.
Melvin "Kip" Holden
Mayor-President, East Baton Rouge City-Parish
Melvin "Kip" Holden has the distinction of being the first African-American Mayor-President in East Baton Rouge Parish. A New Orleans native, Holden attended high school in Baton Rouge, graduating from Scotlandville High School. He went on to graduate from LSU with a BA in journalism and to receive both a masters degree in journalism and a Juris Doctorate from Southern University.
Holden's twenty year political career prior to his election as Mayor-President was one of solid advancement. He began as an EBR Parish Metro-Councilman (1984-88). In 1988 he ran for the Louisiana legislature and was elected to the House of Representatives where he served through 2001. Following his term as representative, Holden successfully ran for the Louisiana Senate, a position he held until 2004 when he ran for Mayor-President and beat the incumbent, Bobby Simpson. He was inaugurated in January, 2005.
John Spain
Executive Vice President, Baton Rouge Area Foundation
Walter Monsour
President and CEO, East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority
Adam Knapp
President and CEO, Baton Rouge Area Chamber