Jindal names 4 to LSU board
Rolfe McCollister gets second term
Gov. Bobby Jindal on Thursday appointed four members to the LSU Board of Supervisors, including the campaign treasurer from his first run for governor in 2007.
Baton Rouge appointee Rolfe McCollister is the president and founder of Louisiana Business, Inc., publisher of The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.
This will be McCollister’s second time on the LSU board. Gov. Buddy Roemer picked him to serve in 1988.
He previously organized the “Believe in Louisiana” nonprofit group formed to promote Jindal’s policies. He served as campaign treasurer and transition leader for the governor.
McCollister on Thursday described himself as a Jindal supporter and friend but said he did not reach out to the governor for the appointment.
“They knew I’d served before. I agreed to do what I could do to help,” he said.
McCollister will join the board about six weeks after it fired System President John Lombardi on a 12-4 vote, and about two weeks after Chancellor Michael Martin announced he was leaving the Baton Rouge campus to take the same position at Colorado State University.
The board is expected to adopt a resolution during their Friday meeting to accept Martin’s resignation and to install interim System President William Jenkins as the interim chancellor of LSU’s main campus.
McCollister called this “a time of opportunity” at LSU.
“Obviously there are very important decisions to be made ... The right person is out there. I see this as an opportunity to find someone to lead LSU into the future.”
McCollister will replace Gov. Kathleen Blanco appointee Alvin Kimble, of Baton Rouge.
Jindal, on Thursday, also appointed Ann Duplessis, a former state senator and the current deputy chief administrative officer for the New Orleans to the LSU board. She will replace Rod West, of New Orleans.
The Senate, last year, rejected Duplessis’ appointment without publicly offering a reason.
However, her successor in the Senate, State Sen. Cynthia Willard-Lewis, said at the time: “It was quite simple — she never asked me.”
Jindal reappointed two members to the board on Thursday. They are: Stanley Jacobs, of New Orleans, and John George, of Shreveport.