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November 26, 2014Susan Testroet-Bergeron has been selected as the new director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.
The position had been vacant since longtime director Kerry St. Pé retired earlier this year.
She will begin with BTNEP Jan. 5.
Testroet-Bergeron will leave her post as the Outreach Coordinator for the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Program.
She has also previously worked for BTNEP, serving in education specialist, communications, media and outreach coordinator roles.
“She is a great communicator. She’s respected by her peers,” said BTNEP Management Conference Chairman Al Levron.
Levron, chairman of the group tasked with choosing St. Pé’s replacement, said the group received many very qualified resumes and interviewed three candidates, but Testroet-Bergeron’s knowledge of the subject matter and especially her consensus-building skills set her apart.
“The foundation [of BTNEP] is decision making by consensus. She can be involved and she has shown by example being involved in discussions with people with two really different points of view and her communication skills are such that she can help facilitate some finding of common ground so with that the search committee all believed that Susan is a great fit for this program.”
Levron said her consensus-building skills will come in handy when BTNEP discusses its strategic plan compared to that of the state.
“There are some inconsistencies between the two,” Levron explained. “Part of her job is going to be finding the consensus and finding the areas where the two plans are consistent and work toward implementation of those goals.”
BTNEP was established in 1991 and is one of 28 congressionally mandated national estuary programs created under the Clean Water Act to identify, restore and protect nationally significant estuaries of the United States.
“Susan will be a wonderful addition to the BTNEP team and an effective leader of the Estuary Program,” Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium Executive Director Dr. Nancy Rabalais said in a release. “Susan has an extraordinary talent in her ability to work with multiple groups – government officials, stakeholders, legislative delegates, educators, the media, industry representatives and audiences of all types. She will be a positive force in the continued importance of BTNEP and its citizens in the future of an exceptional coastal ecosystem.”
