VCPORA Board and Staff

Office Hours:

The VCPORA office at 816 N. Rampart is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Please call ahead for an appointment. 504-581-7200

Staff

Executive Director

Meg Lousteau  Meg’s interest in preservation began during her undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies and Liberal Arts in 1991.  After graduating, she moved to Paris, where she was an au pair for a large family and studied French.  Living in Europe offered Meg the opportunity to travel extensively throughout both Western and Eastern Europe, and even into western Asia.  These travels furthered her interest in protecting and preserving her home town of New Orleans.  Upon her return, she enrolled in the University of New Orleans’ College of Urban and Public Affairs, where she was a graduate assistant.  She earned her Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning, also completing the Historic Preservation component, in 1996.  

Meg then went to work for the Preservation Resource Center, where she was assistant director of the Operation Comeback program for 8 ½ years.  During that time, Operation Comeback marketed historic neighborhoods, helped people buy and renovate houses, produced a variety of workshops to help homebuyers and neighborhoods, advocated for preservation at the city and grass roots level, and undertook dozens of renovation and resale projects on its own.  

Her next step was to become the first executive director in the history of the Louisiana Landmarks Society.  Located in the Pitot House, which the organization helped save from demolition in the 1960s, Landmarks’ mission involved both interpreting one of the oldest houses in the state, as well as acting as a vigorous advocate for preservation and neighborhoods.  During her tenure, Landmarks successfully worked on numerous advocacy efforts, including the creation of the New Orleans’ Nine, modeled on the National Trust’s Eleven Most Endangered.

Meg left Landmarks after Katrina, and became involved in real estate and renovations.  However, her love of preservation and advocacy lured her back to the non-profit world, and in November of 2008, she accepted a position as the first executive director of VCPORA.  

Meg serves on the board of the Historic Faubourg Tremé Association, and on the PRC’s Property Advisory Committee. In 2004, she was named on of CityBusiness Magazine’s “People to Watch,” and in 2003, that publication included her as a member of the “Power Generation.” In 2001, she was named one of New Orleans Magazine’s Eight Under 35.  She was first a member, and then a co-chair of the Young Leadership Council’s Neighborhood Renaissance Partnership from 1994-99. 

President

Ann Masson is a twenty-eight year resident of the Vieux Carré.  An architectural historian, she holds a Master’s degree in the History of Art from Tulane and has taught in the university’s architecture school since 2001.  For more than 15 years the Executive Director of Gallier House Museum, she has also undertaken projects for the Preservation Resource Center, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the University of Pennsylvania, Destrehan Plantation, the E.D. White Historic Home in Thibodaux, the Oaks House Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, and Neal Auction Company.  She has been active in numerous neighborhood projects, such as serving as president of the Vieux Carré Property Owners and French Quarter Festivals, Inc. and as a board officer of the Friends of the Cabildo, the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, and Save Our Cemeteries.  Current projects include researching and writing books about the Cabildo and Vieux Carré architecture.

Vice Presidents

Nadine Blake, a native of New Orleans returned to the Crescent City in 2004 after living in Los Angeles and New York. In L.A. Nadine worked for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, a not-for-profit arts agency as a program director. In New York City she worked as a decorator for the firm Mark Hampton Inc. while serving as a member of her residence's co-op board.  Committed to the Vieux Carre, she opened her home accessories / gift shop on Royal Street in 2007. She and Simon happily reside in the French Quarter.

John Church (Vice President) has been a French Quarter resident for 16 years. He moved to New Orleans from Washington, D.C., to become the Medical Center Director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He retired from that position on September 1, 2006, after finding positions for the 1700 employees who were displaced by Katrina. He decided that New Orleans and the French Quarter had to be a part of his future. His health care career gave him experience in management, negotiating, writing, and public relations at the local, state, and national levels. His college training in architecture gives him a love for the historic beauty of the French Quarter and a desire to preserve the area as a neighborhood as well as an area loved by visitors.

Treasurer

Peggy Armstrong (Treasurer)  Peggy is a retired Certified Public Accountant.  She attended the University of Tulsa, the University of Texas at Arlington, and received her BS from the University of New Orleans. Peggy and her husband, Robert, live in the French , and she has served as a VCPORA board member in the past.  and have two daughters and four grandchildren.  In addition to being Treasurer of the World Affairs Council of New Orleans, Peggy is also Treasurer of the Girl Scouts Louisiana East Council Board.  Peggy enjoys walking on the river early in the morning and does so most every morning. She also enjoys reading and spending time with her grandchildren. 

Secretary

James "Jimbo" Crouch (Secretary) is a 10 year resident of the French Quarter and a 16 year resident of New Orleans, previously living in rural Kentucky where his family has lived for several generations. After graduating from Tulane with a Masters of Architecture in 1995 he worked in the architecture profession in New Orleans, often working on a variety of preservation-oriented projects which made good use of his knowledge of New Orleans' built environment. After Hurricane Katrina, he was hired to work at the Environmental Department of FEMA, providing technical guidance for Public Assistance projects and performing Section 106 review on FEMA undertakings, eventually becoming Lead Architectural Historian for the New Orleans office. Since 2009, he has worked for the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), providing technical assistance to recipients of National Park Service grants for historic rehabilitation.

BOARD MEMBERS

Carol Allen is a native of Southwest Louisiana but made New Orleans her home in 1980 until she moved to Paris, France in 1985 to marry a French citizen.  In 1993, Carol and Fred Feinsilber bought a property on Royal St. and returned once or twice a year to visit the city.  In March 2008, Carol returned to New Orleans definitively and lives in her Royal Street residence. A former Superintendent of Schools and university professor, Carol has run a non-profit in Paris, organized international conferences, written three books (including the biography of New Orleans chef, Leah Chase), and since returning home, has served as committee chairperson of the Quality of Life committee for VCPORA.  She is also a member of French Quarter Citizens, and has volunteered with the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Trinity Church's Loaves and Fishes program, and is currently working with the Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood & Adult Learning Foundation, founded by Phyllis Landrieu.  She always knew if she left France there was only one place she would want to live: The French Quarter in New Orleans.

Jim Babst is a lawyer in private practice, with the firm of Hamilton, Brown & Babst, LLC.  He grew up uptown, a Jesuit boy, who studied philosophy as an undergraduate at Yale and law at Tulane.  He handles civil and administrative cases and the appeals they spawn – from admiralty and antitrust to chemical releases and zoning.  The tort-reform effort spearheaded by LABI exposed him to the world of legislation in 1988, and he has had a governmental relations practice ever since.  Jim is on the adjunct faculty at the Tulane and Loyola law schools, teaching a joint course, with David Marcello, on legislative and administrative advocacy.  He was chairman of the LABI board in 2001 and remains a board member to date.  Jim served on working committees and on the board of the United Way for many years.  He has served as an elected delegate to the houses of the American and Louisiana State bar associations and, for four years, on the Louisiana State Law Institute Council.  He and his wife, Cynthia Wegmann, leased and lived a wonderful house in the Vieux Carre for 18 months after Katrina, on Burgundy Street near St. Philip, but returned, eventually, to their home on Napoleon Avenue as the repairs after Katrina neared completion. 

Lou Bush is a native of Alabama and came to New Orleans for work in 1951, working with the US Department of Defense in management and procurement.  Since retirement her volunteer work has included 20 years as Ombudsman in the Louisiana Long Term Care Program. She is also active in administrative work at St. Anna’s Episcopal Church on Esplanade.  Lou has lived in the French Quarter, and only the French Quarter, for 24 years and she would not live anywhere else in the city.

Richard Campanella, Tulane geographer, applies the mapping sciences toward studying how humans form and develop cities. His four books, including Bienville's Dilemma and Geographies of New Orleans, have won awards from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and Gulf South Booksellers Association, and have been praised in the Journal of Urban History, Louisiana History, and Bloomsbury Review. Rich's research has been published in Journal of American History, Architectural Education, Technology in Society, and Photogrammetric Engineering, and featured in the New York Times, NPR, and PBS American Experience. He and his wife Marina live in Bywater, but their favorite neighborhood is the French Quarter.

Albert “Blue” Flettrich is a native New Orleanian and has lived in the Vieux Carré for fourteen years.  He has been a member of VCPORA for many years and looks forward to working as a board member to enhance and preserve the lifestyle of the French Quarter.  He has served on the board of Patio Planters and took leadership in organizing and executing some of the home and garden tours.  He additionally chaired a joint committee of VCPORA and French Quarter Citizens whose goal was to reduce the noise of the mostly illegal motorcycles that often enter the Vieux Carré.  Also as a member of FQC Blue was membership chair and worked on progressive dinners. He now serves as a member-at-large on the board of the Friends of the Vieux Carré Commission, and has been a loyal volunteer in the VCC office every Friday since Katrina.

Mamie Sterkx Gasperecz was named the Executive Director of the Hermann-Grima/Gallier Historic Houses on August 1, 2007.  She is a native of Alexandria, LA, and has lived in the city for 28 years.  Mamie earned a BA in History and an MBA from Loyola, New Orleans.  She spent more than a decade in banking, several years as an adjunct instructor in Management at UNO and served on numerous non-profit boards and committees supporting children's education and preservationist causes.  As she begins her new role at the museums, Mamie is focused on strategic planning, educational programming and forging new partnerships with the HGGHH's neighbors in the Vieux Carré.

Judith Kossover and her husband, Mel, have lived in the French Quarter for 19 years and have been homeowners since 1995.  Judith previously served on the VCPORA Board and continues to serve on the Audit and the Quality of Life Committees.  She is an active member of French Quarter Citizens and COPS 8.  Judith is a Diabetes Educator in private practice and has been active with many Diabetes organizations.  She served on the Board of Trustees of Congregation Temple Sinai and treasurer of Temple Sinai Sisterhood.  She served as president of the Louisiana affiliate of the American Diabetes Association and president of the New Orleans Speech and Hearing Center Board. 

Andrée Moss is joining VCPORA's board once again.  Her interests lie not only as a resident but as a business person as well.  Andree's family has had an antique store on Royal Street since 1899.  She grew up hearing of problems since high school when her father served on the Vieux Carre Commission.  The priorities for preservation have changed very little; the opposing forces ever stronger.  She joins us again to help support our district, encourage political commitment, and fight for observance of the ordinances already in place. Andree graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Newcomb College of Tulane University.  She doe Alumnae work for the University; served on her high school board as well as Newcomb's, Longue Vieux House and Gardens, New Orleans Museum's Art Advisory Board; also the Greater New Orleans Foundation, a organization that brings together philanthropists with local non-profit groups.        

Joel Myers is a lifetime resident of New Orleans and a former resident of the French Quarter. She is a former member of the City Planning Commission and a past president of the League of Women Voters of New Orleans and Louisiana.  For many years she was a teacher of social studies and related subjects, mainly at McGehee School.  She is still actively involved in tutoring children and adults.  Joel has previously served on the VCPORA board, chairing the VCPORA Short Term Rentals Committee, and plans to continue to work on this and other important issues. 

Clara Frederick Pincus, known to her friends as "Freddie," received her undergraduate degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, and her masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Northwestern University.  She is a retired speech/language pathologist with expertise in early intervention for the developmentally disabled.  She has spent many years advocating at legislative hearings for the elderly and disabled.  She has served on the boards of Citizens Care, Alzheimer's Association, Louisiana Guardianship and the Advocacy Center.  She is a past president of Citizens Care and the Louisiana Speech/Language and Hearing Association.  Freddie moved to the Quarter in 1954. At that time the Quarter was considered a slum and an unfit neighborhood Freddie and her husband were among the residents who helped make the Quarter acceptable and desirable as residential property. In 2005, she was given the Eugenie Schwartz-Grace Gage Award for those efforts. Freddie is a former board member, secretary, vice-president, and volunteer office manager of VCPORA. She hopes that post-Katrina planners will enable all New Orleans neighborhoods to become as important as the Quarter.

Ann Theriot purchased her first home in the Vieux Carre in 2006.  Ann in a native of Breaux Bridge, but has made New Orleans her home since moving here in 2001.  She holds a bachelors of arts in Marketing from Louisiana State University and a juris doctor from Tulane University Law School.  Ann is employed as the marketing and recruiting director for a local law firm and privately practices as general counsel for her family corporations.  Her legal experience includes drafting legislation, leases, and contracts, as well as intellectual property rights.  She is the co-chair of the Junior League Plate Project, sits on the board of directors for the Lighthouse for the Blind, and is a member of the Lower Quarter Crime Watch. 

Mercedes Whitecloud has been a property owner in the Vieux Carré since the mid 1960s, and became a resident in 1996.  With a degree in chemistry and a passion for Louisiana antiques and gardening, Mercedes has long been involved in the technical, hands-on aspects of preservation.  Her concerns for the viability of the Quarter focus on the enforcement of zoning ordinances, noise issues, traffic, and short-term rentals.