“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
– Winston Churchill
In her second consecutive year on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of New Orleans, Jennifer “Jen” Bernard-Allen has now stepped into the role of Treasurer. Her expertise in the financial processes allows her to make recommendations to the Board on fiscal planning, accounting policies and sound governance, and then to assist in their implementation. She hopes to build a financial strategic initiative that makes JLNO’s 100th anniversary the most impactful year in JLNO history.
Since 2012, Jen’s JLNO positions have included Provisional Advisor, Council Treasurer, and Kitchen Tour Planning & Assessment Chair. She has most recently chaired JLNO’s Woman Entrepreneur Fellowship program, which promotes professional success and improving economic opportunities for women by providing in-kind services, mentoring and a financial grant to a local woman-owned business (see page 14). Jen joined the Junior League because she believes a group of women coming together with the common goal to build a better community for all women is incredibly empowering. She appreciates being part of an organization that has served as an incubator for some of New Orleans most treasured resources. The fact that JLNO has birthed the Preservation Resource Center, The Parenting Center, Rebuilding Together and many others proves the League has both a rich history and a promising future. From her service in the Junior League, she has learned one of the greatest feelings in the world is sitting around a table with strong, capable women determined to create change.
Jen graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance from Loyola University New Orleans and a Master of Science in accounting from University of New Orleans. She is also a graduate of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute. Jen is employed as the Tax Director and co-leader of the Real Estate Industry Group for LaPorte CPAs and Business Advisors. Her clients have included corporations, S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and high wealth individuals, among others. She has also filled leadership roles as the Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network Co-Programming Chair and Delta Gamma Sorority Member Education Advisor.
Jen is a native New Orleanian and believes it is essential to who she is. New Orleans has a connectivity that isn’t duplicated in other places, and that sense of connectivity is the foundation for the JLNO’s work to lead for a greater New Orleans. Residing in Uptown, Jennifer and her husband Mark are parents to two children — Jane (7) and Charlie (4). Her family inspires her; her husband demonstrates every day what it means to be someone’s partner; her daughter’s empathy has no bounds, and her son is the living embodiment of love.
