Speakers

Deanna Rodriguez is president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, an electric and gas utility that serves more than 211,000 customers in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is responsible for the company’s safe and reliable service, financial performance, customer service, regulatory and public affairs, resource planning, economic development programs and charitable contributions.

Before assuming her current role in 2021, Rodriguez served as vice president of regulatory and public affairs for Entergy Texas. She previously served as vice president of regulatory affairs for Entergy New Orleans, where she worked closely with the New Orleans City Council to launch the first Energy Smart program. The comprehensive energy efficiency plan was developed in collaboration with the New Orleans City Council and continues assisting customers today.

As vice president of corporate contributions for Entergy from 1999 to 2003, Rodriguez oversaw the creation of the Entergy Charitable Foundation and the company’s volunteer program, Community Connectors. Earlier, she served as director of external affairs, where she led the effort to secure $200 million in community development block grant funding to help Entergy’s Louisiana, Mississippi and New Orleans operating companies rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Before joining Entergy in 1994, Rodriguez was the minority affairs liaison for the State Bar of Texas, where she created the Texas Minority Counsel Program, a corporate partnership responsible for increasing participation of minority and women lawyers in the State Bar of Texas.

She serves on the boards of directors for the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana’s International Women’s Forum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Youth Empowerment Project.

Rodriguez received a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in government from The University of Texas at Austin.