Speaking at Business Report’s Power Breakfast in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois described a state that has staged an impressive comeback over the past two years.
“Louisiana really has set a new standard for itself,” Bourgeois told the audience of Baton Rouge business leaders.
To illustrate that point, she cited record-setting 2025 economic development figures. Last year, Louisiana saw $61 billion in new capital investment announced, investments tied to 9,300 direct new jobs with an average salary of $91,000.
“We had the largest year of investment and job creation in Louisiana’s history,” Bourgeois said.
And while 2025 was historic in many respects, Bourgeois contends the momentum began picking up the year prior. Since Gov. Jeff Landry took office in early 2024 and asked her to lead LED, Louisiana has landed almost $77 billion in capital investment.
She highlighted the fact that Louisiana has won back-to-back Platinum Deal of the Year awards from Business Facilities, a feat she said no other state has accomplished. Meta’s $10 billion data center in Richland Parish won the award in 2024, and Hyundai’s $5.8 billion steel plant in Ascension Parish won the award in 2025.
Hyundai, she noted, started with “100 sites” nationwide before ultimately landing in the Capital Region. That outcome, in her view, reflects the success of recent cultural and structural upheavals within LED, changes meant to make the state faster, more coordinated and easier to do business with.
“The reason we’ve been able to do this is because we’ve made fundamental changes in everything we do,” Bourgeois said.
Bourgeois also credited recent policy changes as key factors in Louisiana’s momentum, particularly the tax reform measures passed early on in Landry’s administration.
She closed by challenging Louisiana’s business community to help spread the state’s success story, arguing that changing Louisiana’s narrative can’t be LED’s job alone.
“For far too long in Louisiana, we’ve wrung our hands,” she said. “Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies. Sometimes we’re the loudest perpetuators of the story we don’t want to tell.”
