Fest Co-Chairs & Staff

Gayle Benson

2024 Honorary Festival Co-Chair

The 2024 festival will feature New Orleans Saints Owner and Pelicans Governor, Gayle Benson, as the honorary co-chair. The New Orleans native is an accomplished business professional and philanthropist who has strong ties to the local community and is dedicated to contributing to the growth and enhancement of the Gulf South region.

Community investment and giving back have been hallmarks of Mr. and Mrs. Benson’s ownership of the Saints and Pelicans. Since Mr. Benson’s passing on March 15, 2018, this tradition has continued under Mrs. Benson’s stewardship, sharing Tom’s vision and passion for helping others. She has further enriched the New Orleans community through her support to causes in the health and wellness, cancer care, education, arts and faith-based sectors.

As dedicated corporate citizens, the Saints and Pelicans annually put millions of dollars back into the community in financial support, in-kind donations, charitable appearances and donations of goods and services. Mrs. Benson’s philanthropic leadership has been recognized far and wide since becoming Owner.

Mrs. Benson was born in New Orleans and grew up in Old Algiers, graduating from Martin Behrman High School in 1966. After serving as keynote speaker at their respective commencement ceremonies, Mrs. Benson has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Holy Cross (2015), Southern University of New Orleans (2021), and Delgado Community College (2022). Mrs. Benson has also received a Doctorate of Letters from Notre Dame Seminary in 2014 and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Loyola University New Orleans (2019).

Cheryl Landrieu

Co-Chair

A New Orleans native, Cheryl Landrieu is a lawyer, author and founder of the New Orleans Book Festival. Cheryl has a long history supporting strategic community initiatives in New Orleans, most recently focused on literacy and advocacy for the advancement of women and girls.

Recognizing her passion for children and reading, Cheryl partnered with civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges in 2010 to found the New Orleans Children’s Book Festival, now the New Orleans Book Festival, an annual event that has hosted over 80 authors and 5,000 readers. Shortly thereafter, Cheryl founded GirlUpNOLA in partnership with the City of New Orleans to promote the importance of all girls and young women in the community. The initiative provided opportunities for girls to explore their passions and created networks of support as they worked to achieve successful futures.

In 2017, in commemoration of the Tricentennial of the City of New Orleans, Cheryl raised capital and managed an extensive renovation of Gallier Hall, the former City Hall of New Orleans and a national historic landmark. In conjunction with this project, she published a historical work detailing the building’s notable presence in city history.

Cheryl started her career in the law, first in private practice, then at the Louisiana state appellate courts for over 25 years and finally as the Clerk of Court for the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.

She graduated from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in Sociology and later earned a Juris Doctor from Loyola College of Law. Cheryl is wife to Mitch Landrieu and mother to five grown children.

Walter Isaacson

Co-Chair

Walter Isaacson is the Leonard A. Lauder Professor of American History and Values in Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts and an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City. He is the past CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, and has been the chairman of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine.

Isaacson’s most recent biography, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race (2021), is a gripping account of how Nobel prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and improve the human species. He is also the author of Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Steve Jobs (2011), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).

He is a host of the show “Amanpour and Company” on PBS and CNN, a contributor to CNBC, and host of the podcast “Trailblazers, from Dell Technologies.”

Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of the Isidore Newman School, Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He began his career at The Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He joined TIME in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of digital media before becoming the magazine’s 14th editor in 1996. He became chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.

He is chair emeritus of Teach for America. From 2005-2007 he was the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which oversaw the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States, a position he held from 2009 to 2012.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of the Arts, and the American Philosophical Society. He  serves on the board of United Airlines, the New Orleans City Planning Commission, the New Orleans Tricentennial Commission, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Society of American Historians, the U.S. Defense Department Innovation Board, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.