Poole elected to chair CABL in 2024
Special to the American Press
The Council for A Better Louisiana has elected Dr. Heather Spillers Poole of Alexandria chair of the organization for 2024.
She will serve on CABL’s Board of Directors along with a slate of officers from across the state, steering the organization in its 62nd year of service to Louisiana.
“Being chosen to lead CABL, an organization that has significantly impacted Louisiana through transformative policies in early childhood education, school accountability, and community and technical education, is a truly humbling experience,” said Poole. “We are currently developing a strategic plan to further enhance our support for the state, and I am eager to contribute in any capacity to continue building CABL’s distinguished reputation.”
Poole has worked in higher education for nearly 30 years. Since 2015 she has served as executive vice chancellor of academic and student affairs at Central Louisiana Technical Community College. She began her career at the Louisiana Board of Regents. Over the years she has served as the assistance commissioner of assessment and economic development at the Regents, executive director and dean of the Learning Center for Rapides Parish, and assistant vice chancellor of enrollment services at LSU in Alexandria.
Poole earned both her undergraduate degree and MBA from LSU and completed her Doctorate in Higher Education Administration at Louisiana Tech. She is involved in numerous civic activities at the community level including the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Rotary Club of Alexandria, and the United Way of Central Louisiana. She was recognized as a Central Louisiana YMCA Decades of Women recipient and is a 2007 graduate of CABL’s Leadership Louisiana program. She and her husband Scott have four children.
Poole will lead the CABL Board along with Chair-elect Robert Schneckenburger, Senior Regional President, Hancock Whitney Bank, of Baton Rouge; Vice Chair, William “Bill” Fontenot, President & CEO, Cleco, of Alexandria; Treasurer Spencer Martin, Vice President of Information Services, RoyOMartin, of Alexandria; Secretary Gwen Hamilton, Director of Community Affairs, New Schools for Baton Rouge, of Baton Rouge; and Immediate-Past-Chair Malcolm Murchison, founding member, Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea, law firm, of Shreveport.
CABL is a statewide, nonpartisan organization founded in 1962. It works on public policy issues at the state level with a focus on state fiscal policies, governmental ethics, education, and workforce development.