We are excited to announce Jeff Hébert’s appointment as HR&A’s new CEO.
Meet our CEO
Jeff has spent the past twenty years leading and developing strategies that adapt and respond to changing economies and environments. As a senior city and state leader, nonprofit executive, and Partner at HR&A, he has diverse experience spanning the civic, philanthropic, and private sectors on issues of public policy, economic development, and climate resilience.
Jeff was named HR&A’s President in 2020, and he has been critical to HR&A’s historic growth since joining the company in 2019. He has supported the development of the firm’s largest business lines, including Broadband and Digital Equity, Inclusive Cities and Equitable Governance, and Housing Affordability. He has also led the company’s ADEI initiatives, which resulted in HR&A being named a 2023 New York Urban League Champion for Recruitment, Retention, and Belonging.
While Jeff’s management and strategic oversight have been invaluable to the company’s success, HR&A is a firm of action, and Jeff is no different. In addition to his responsibilities as HR&A’s President, he has also been a leader in the firm’s economic development and climate resilience practices with recent projects in New York City, Newark, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Dallas, Tulsa, and Washington, DC.
In this next chapter for the company, Jeff plans to continue evolving HR&A to meet the needs of cities and the people who live in them: “At a time when cities are navigating unprecedented circumstances, especially in downtowns, I’m excited to lead the company as we help to advance our clients’ aspirations. HR&A is uniquely equipped to meet the challenges facing cities now and into the future. That means rethinking the systems that make our cities function and understanding how they work together. It means looking back at how cities have changed over time and anticipating the forces that will shape them moving forward, like climate change, AI, and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. We remain at the center of conversations about the cities of tomorrow.”
Eric Rothman, who has served as President and later CEO of the firm since 2007, was elected to serve as Co-Chair of the HR&A Board of Directors alongside Candace Damon. During Eric’s tenure as CEO and President, he oversaw the growth of the company from 20 people to over 180 today. Eric decided to transition out of executive management in order to focus more of his time as an HR&A Partner with a continued focus on public-private real estate projects, transit-oriented development, sustainable mobility, and economic development.
“For several years, HR&A Advisors has been in a time of exciting and meaningful transition. I am grateful and proud that over the last year, I have worked very closely with Candace Damon and Jeff Hébert, with our Board, and with Partners to plan and implement a transition that will result in Jeff becoming the fourth CEO in HR&A history, following Ed Hamilton, John Alschuler, and myself,” said Rothman. “Serving as HR&A’s President and CEO has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. I am so proud of what our firm has become, the impact we have, and the community we are.
As Eric shifts his primary focus back to his practice, the thoughtful transition he, Candace, Jeff, and company leadership have planned is underway, and Jeff is helping the firm chart its course for the next chapter of its growth.
“Jeff Hébert’s appointment is the next step in an intentional effort to evolve from HR&A’s origins as a boutique real estate advisory firm into the company we are becoming: a consultancy that serves a broad spectrum of community needs and aspirations with the capacity to take on big challenges.” said Candace Damon, Board Co-Chair. “From his time as First Deputy Mayor of New Orleans to his proven track record addressing the great existential threat of our time — climate change — Jeff embodies the kind of diverse talent we want at every level of our company. He understands the connectedness of the issues facing our cities, and he knows how to build integrated solutions.”
Prior to joining HR&A, Jeff served Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City of New Orleans in multiple capacities, including as the First Deputy Mayor & Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Resilience Officer, and as Executive Director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority in the years following Hurricane Katrina. He has been an adjunct faculty member at the Tulane University School of Architecture, is Chairman of FUSE Corps, and serves on the Policy Advisory Board of The Reinvestment Fund, the Advisory Board of the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, and the Boards of Climate Mayors, the Urban Design Forum, New Hope Housing, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. He was selected for the Future Leaders program (PIPA) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France in 2018, where he studied the country’s climate change policy in Paris.
Learn more about HR&A’s New CEO here.
