John Georges

John Georges
Georges in January 2010
Born	October 16, 1960
Alma mater	Tulane University
Occupation	businessman who formerly served on the Louisiana Board of Regents

John Georges (born October 16, 1960) is a New Orleans, Louisiana, businessman who formerly served on the Louisiana Board of Regents, the body which supervises higher education in his native state.

He is a commissioner of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and the chairman of Georges Enterprises. In 2007, Georges ran for governor as an Independent. He received 186,000 votes and procured a plurality in Orleans Parish. In 2010 he sought the office of mayor of New Orleans, running as a Democrat; he finished a distant third behind two other Democrats.

In 1992, Georges was appointed by the governor to the Board of Regents, which has budgetary responsibility for Louisiana’s public higher education, including nineteen public colleges, universities, and professional schools. He has served as a member of the University of New Orleans Foundation, LSU Medical Foundation, and Tulane President’s Council. He is in his second term on the Public Belt Commission, which exerts management of the publicly owned terminal-switching railroad in New Orleans and maintains the railroad portion of the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River. In 2008, the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad celebrated the opening of its refurbished main facility.

Georges is known for his philanthropic work and for the millions of dollars he has contributed to non-profits, universities, museums and civic groups. He supports a diverse group of charities, with an emphasis on education, the arts, preservation, and faith-based initiatives. He played a significant role in recovery efforts for the University of New Orleans and its Arena after Hurricane Katrina. John, who is fluent in Greek, was the President of the New Orleans Greek Community during Hurricane Katrina. He is an active member of his church, The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on Bayou St. John. He was instrumental in rebuilding his own and other churches after Hurricane Katrina. In October 2009, he hosted Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in New Orleans. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world.

Early life

John Georges was born in New Orleans to Dennis and Anita Georges. His father was a Greek immigrant who put John to work at the age of 11 sweeping the warehouse for the family business. At age 15, John began making deliveries in a truck. John maintained leadership roles throughout his education, ranging from high school class president and student body president to president of his fraternity in college. He continued working throughout college and graduated in 1983 on the dean's list from Tulane University.

Family

John met his wife, the former Dathel Coleman, on a blind date set up by their best friends. They have two daughters Zana, 18, and Liza, 17, and a son Nike, 14. His mother Anita, and siblings Pam, Alexa and Constantine, all live in New Orleans.

Career

John Georges is now Chairman of Georges Enterprises. Georges Enterprises comprises several types of businesses, including grocery distribution, offshore marine services, video and arcade entertainment, food services and investments. Georges Enterprises began as Imperial Trading Company in 1916. Imperial Trading is a wholesale grocery company that distributes goods ranging from candy to health and beauty products. When John joined Imperial it was a $29 million dollar business; today, John claims the estimated sales are almost $1 billion.

2007 campaign for governor

John Georges came in third place in the 2007 Louisiana gubernatorial election, despite having never run for public office previously. As an Independent, he finished third in the balloting with 186,800 votes (14 percent). He achieved a plurality in his hometown of New Orleans. Republican Bobby Jindal, making his second bid for governor, won outright in the primary with 54 percent of the vote. Democrats Walter Boasso, a departing state senator from St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans, and Foster Campbell, a Louisiana Public Service Commissioner from Bossier Parish, finished second and fourth, respectively. Jindal prevailed in sixty parishes. Georges won 36 percent of the vote in Orleans Parish; that was his only plurality showing among the state's sixty-four parishes.

Attention from the press

Georges began running television ads for his campaign the last week in July. Georges candidacy has attracted the attention of the Greek press in the United States. Baton Baton Rouge Morning Advocate reported that Georges would tout himself as a political outsider and newcomer to state politics.

Campaign finance

Georges contributed around $5 million of his own money into his campaign account. Georges reports that he has over $7 million as of late July. About $120,000 came from donations from others to his campaign. Jindal, by comparison, reports around $7.5 million. However, Jindal has raised money from a greater number of donors. Georges spent almost $12 million dollars on his campaign and garnered 186,800 votes. His spending amounted to $64 per vote, which represents the highest spending per vote for a gubernatorial candidate in any state in 2007.

Veteran Louisiana political reporter John Hill notes that Georges made the largest known buy of television ads in the 2007 election. He purchased $2 million in advertising in August. The next largest known expenditure in this election was Walter Boasso's $1.3 million purchase for June. Jindal's campaign did not disclose its media expenditures.

When Georges failed to place in the Governor's race against Jindal, he considered running for Lt. Governor if Jindal would support him, but failing that, stayed in the Governor's race and ran last.

2010 campaign for mayor

Georges announced his candidacy in the New Orleans mayoral election, 2010 on 4 November 2009. [1] Despite spending more on his campaign the any other candidate [2], Georges finished a distant 3rd with 9.21% of the vote [3] in the election which saw a victory by Mitch Landrieu in the first round of voting [4].