“I love bossy women. I could be around them all day. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.”
–Amy Poehler
In her second time on the Junior League of New Orleans Board of Directors, Jessie Schott Haynes is serving as the Nominating Committee Chair. In accordance with JLNO’s Bylaws and Standing Rules, the Nominating Committee matches organizational needs and individual strengths to produce a leadership team which will most effectively forward the organization’s mission, goals and strategic plan. Jessie’s capacity for teambuilding, forward-thinking, analysis and social awareness enables her to guide the committee in discovering those in JLNO’s membership that can best fill each position while collaborating with others on the Board.
Jessie has focused her 10 years of JLNO membership within the Planning and Development and Communications Councils. Within Planning and Development, she was the Chair of the Project Development committee, which examines potential community projects of the organization. Her volunteer efforts within the Communications Council included being a Lagniappe writer, Marketing Chair and Social Media Chair, culminating in her serving as the Communications Council Director in 2014-2015. As a 2014-2015 Board Member, she led her team with the enormous responsibility of handling communications for the launch of the Diaper Bank and the new focus area of “Advancing the Wellbeing of Women,” as well as celebrating JLNO’s 90th anniversary. She appreciates the diligence of her team and thoroughly enjoyed working with them.
Making philanthropy part of her professional life, Jessie works for The Helis Foundation, a private family foundation which primarily funds arts-related initiatives throughout New Orleans. The most recent large-scale project she has managed is the building of The Helis Foundation Enrique Alferez Sculpture Garden in the Botanical Garden at City Park. Prior to her time with Helis, she was the Program Director for Louisiana Appleseed, a statewide pro bono policy organization, an attorney at the law firm of Galloway Johnson Tompkins Burr and Smith, and law clerk to the Hon. Madeleine M. Landrieu. Outside of her work with JLNO, Jessie also volunteers on the Ogden Museum of Southern Art Board of Trustees and Tulane University Chi Omega Board of Advisors.
Jessie is a New Orleans native, and graduated from Tulane University and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. She lives Uptown with her husband David “Beau” Haynes, a healthcare attorney at DeBruhl Haynes – The Health Law Group and their two sons Miller (5), a student at Stuart Hall School for Boys, and George (6 months). Jessie is inspired by collaboration. Understanding the nuances of teamwork is something she does on a daily basis in her professional life by bringing exciting and inspiring art projects to the New Orleans community. This is a skill Jessie attributes wholly to her many years of JLNO training.
