Mayor Helena Moreno announced Thursday that Susannah Kirby, the Sewerage and Water Board’s chief of customer service, will be the next director of the city’s Department of Safety and Permits.
Kirby will lead a department whose dysfunction Moreno has called the biggest barrier to businesses trying to open in New Orleans.
“New Orleanians deserve a Safety and Permits Office that works for everyone, and we’re expecting excellence,” Moreno said in a statement. “Susannah Kirby’s experience overseeing a 150-member team at the Sewerage and Water Board, multimillion dollar financial operations and leading modernization initiatives will allow us to stop putting up barriers to new businesses in New Orleans and become a partner in their success and our own economic development.”
Prior to working at the S&WB, Kirby held positions at Sodexo Live, Tulane University, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences…