Some of Jeb Bruneau’s earliest memories are of his father–long-time state legislator Peppi Bruneau–standing up for right-to-work legislation in the 1970s.
It was a critical moment in time for the Louisiana business community, and it thrust his family into the middle of an embittered fight between organized labor and the right-to-work movement.
“Good, bad or indifferent, when you’re a politician’s son, you get it all,” says Bruneau, president & CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors New Orleans/Bayou Chapter. “It got pretty nasty. I remember my mom never letting us go outside because someone had shot through one of our windows.”
Bruneau is a New Orleanian to his core. He grew up and attended school in the Lakeview area After graduating from LSU with a degree in political science in 1992, he briefly flirted with the idea of entering law school, then possibly a career in politics himself, but his father encouraged him to enter the workforce instead.
Bruneau worked as a salesman for a liquor distribution company for more than a decade, but in the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina his path took on a decidedly different direction. “I was the head of our neighborhood civic group at the time, and I got a lot of national exposure because of that,” he says. “It was weird. I’d be working in some grocery store somewhere and I’d have to go out and do an interview with CNN.”
Not long after, Bruneau made an unsuccessful run for the state legislature, then later worked a two-year stint for the Pelican Institute, a public policy think tank. He then took a job in business development at a Baton Rouge-based consulting firm, where he gained invaluable experience as a lobbyist over some eight years.
Along the way, he made numerous connections in industry, one of whom was John Walters, who was at the time vice president of governmental relations with Louisiana ABC, who suggested Bruneau apply for the position (in 2019).
“It was an interesting jump,” he says. Other than being president of the civic association, I had never been in an executive role. Now, some five years later, I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
SHARE KEY MILESTONES IN YOUR CAREER.
Two big things happened while I was a relatively new executive. I had been here only a little more than a year when the world changed. I found myself in the office alone during COVID, and a lot of the things we do are public facing.
The big push was to get Gov. John Bel Edwards to make construction an essential job. I had owners calling me because they were very concerned about the city of New Orleans, the state and the construction industry.
We got through that, then got slammed by Hurricane Ida. Our buildings here in St. Rose all got water in them, and we went through a major fight with the insurance company. Through both events, we found a way to keep our craft training going. Construction was deemed essential, so neither the plants nor the industrial contractors ever quit working.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AHEAD FOR INDUSTRY?
It’s going to be extremely important for us to address the worsening worker shortage.
We’ve got the largest construction project in the world going on right now in Plaquemines Parish at Venture Global. That one project, alone, is sucking up a lot of the workforce not just from Louisiana, but Texas and all over the place.
And there are some other huge investments coming up in St. Charles Parish, so there’s going to be a big demand on the industrial side. We need people to go to work, from laborers to helpers and skilled crafts, as well as management, from foremen all the way up the chain.
At ABC, we plan to expand and grow to meet those needs. It’s still in the pilot stage right now, but we’re conducting a pipefitting class at a satellite location in Port Sulphur, with Performance Contractors as our partner. We’re also working with two high schools on the Northshore … where we’re piloting some welding classes.
While we have this beautiful facility here in St. Rose, in today’s world you must go where the people are, so I think we’ll continue to see the expansion of satellite locations.
WHAT ARE YOUR PASSIONS OUTSIDE OF WORK?
Mardis Gras and the carnival culture are important to me. My dad has been involved with the Krewe of Endymion since I was a child, and I’ve been a member since I was in high school. Next year, both my boys will be riding on the float with me.
And I’m a huge LSU and Saints football fan. I think when we came back during that Atlanta Falcons game after Katrina, it symbolized the City of New Orleans coming back and showed to the world that it was alive and vibrant. There’s also nothing like a Saturday night in Tiger Station. It’s a special place.
However, it’s family and friends that are most important to me; it sounds hokey, but they’re very much a part of who I am.
