Business Alliance Welcomes New Business Development Leaders

NEW ORLEANS—The New Orleans Business Alliance welcomed two new team members to the local economic development organization, to help grow the city’s growing millennial professional talent base and the area’s bioinnovation industry. The organization made the announcement in a press release.

“We are delighted to welcome professionals of Victoria Adams Phipps’s and Jeanette Weiland’s caliber to our team,” said Quentin Messer, Jr., CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance.

“The vast experiences they possess enhance our efforts to make New Orleans the most attractive city for financial investment and population growth. In Victoria, we expand significantly our capacity to conceptualize and execute innovative programing that more compellingly delivers the message that New Orleans is open for business," he added. "With Jeanette’s arrival, NOLABA continues to be the only economic development organization in the state with a dedicated bioinnovation business professional focused on business attraction in this industry. We have great confidence that Victoria and Jeanette will help us accelerate NOLABA’s efforts in diversifying the local economy and making that diversified economy work for more New Orleanians.”

Victoria Adams Phipps joins the New Orleans Business Alliance as the new vice president of programs and executive director of 504ward. 504ward was established to attract and retain young professional talent in New Orleans.

In 10 years, 504ward connected more than 22,500 individuals to institutions and local leaders. Recently, it found a new home in the New Orleans Business Alliance’s growing portfolio of programs directed at economic growth and talent development.

As executive director, Phipps will build on 504ward’s success to attract the next generation of talent to the city. Phipps brings seven years of business and talent development experience as the former executive producer and program manager of the The Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. As executive producer, she worked created events that benefited the growing young professional and tech community here. In addition, she served as spokesperson of the NOEW brand and oversaw all logistics for event production, delivering a suite of programs valued at over $2 million. Under her direction, NOEW grew to a peak attendance of more than 14,000 in 2017. 

Phipps was recognized as New Orleans Magazine’s Top Female Achievers (2018); featured as the Biz New Orleans Cover Story (June 2018); a Global Entrepreneurship Summit United States Delegate in Hyderabad, India (2018); and Gambit’s 40 Under 40 Award Winner (2016). She is a board member of Junior Achievement and the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center. Phipps earned a bachelor of science in music industry studies from Loyola University and completed a certificate in diversity and inclusion from Cornell University.

Jeanette Weiland joins NOLABA as the senior director of bio business & strategy, having recently served from 2015-2018 as a financial operations manager with Ochsner Health System’s retail division and as a system-wide administrative finance fellow. From 2009 to 2015, she was executive vice president of CIC Wealth, a Washington, D.C. investment advisory firm. Weiland began her finance career with the wealth advisory team at Capital One and USB Financial Services in New Orleans from 2006 to 2009 as a Series 7 and 66 license holder.

Her strong background in healthcare finance, financial management and business development allows her to step into the new role with deep-seated knowledge of the health and business community in New Orleans.

As the senior director of Bio Business & Strategy, Weiland will spearhead efforts to attract, retain, and expand businesses and investment while spurring job creation in the BioInnovation cluster in New Orleans.

Weiland is a certified Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt and has served on the board of several local nonprofits, including her current board position on the New Orleans Garden District Association. She earned a bachelor of science degree in International Trade and Finance at Louisiana State University. Additionally, Weiland holds a Masters of Arts in Arts Administration and a masters of business administration from The University of New Orleans.