Board of Commissioners

Former President New Orleans City Council and District B Councilmember

President, The Hackett Group

Partner, The Berger Group

President, Circular Consulting, LLC

Senior Pastor & CEO of Abundant Life Ministries

Managing Partner, Le & Le Consulting

Partner, Leger & Shaw Attorneys and Counselors

Chief Executive Officer, Green Pastures Unlimited, LLC

Business Attorney, Chehardy Sherman Williams

Derrick Muse

Derrick A. Muse serves as the Chief Financial Officer for New Orleans Redevelopment Authority where he is responsible for all financial and compliance matters for the organization. Derrick previously served as the Deputy Director of Finance for the City of New Orleans, with responsibility for the accounting functions, purchasing operations, treasury cash management, tax collection enforcement and accounts receivable billing efforts. Prior to joining the City of New Orleans, Derrick worked as the Executive Director over Budget and Finance for Orleans Parish School Board where he managed the budget operations and preparation of the annual financial audit.

Derrick holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and received his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

Brenda M. Breaux

Brenda M. Breaux is the Executive Director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), where she leads strategic initiatives to foster community revitalization, organizational stability, and growth. With over two decades of legal and executive experience, Brenda has played a pivotal role in shaping housing and redevelopment policy and projects in New Orleans.

Before her current role, she served as NORA’s Chief Operating Officer, overseeing operations, legal strategy, and key departments including Human Resources, Land Management, and Real Estate Development. Her public service career also includes serving as Senior Chief Deputy City Attorney for the City of New Orleans, where she managed a legal team and led major housing and development initiatives, including the Mayor’s Blight Initiative and intergovernmental negotiations for the downtown medical complex.

Brenda also held the role of Deputy Executive Director at the Housing Authority of New Orleans, managing development, construction, Section 8, and administrative services. Her leadership guided complex real estate and affordable housing projects across New Orleans and Biloxi, MS.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Spelman College and a Juris Doctor from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Seth Knudsen

Seth Knudsen is the Chief of Strategy, Programs, and Projects, for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. Seth leads development of the agency’s strategy as well as the design and implementation of NORA's Residential Development, Commercial Revitalization, and Land Stewardship programs and projects.

Seth previously served NORA as the Director of Real Estate Development and Planning, in which he advanced and leveraged NORA's partnerships, property dispositions and investments in hundreds of affordable housing, catalytic community economic development, and green infrastructure projects across the city. Prior to his tenure at NORA, Seth held various roles in local government which included managing planning and development initiatives at the Housing Authority (HANO), City Planning Commission, Office of Recovery Management and in the CAO's office, as well as the non-profit City-Works.

Seth holds a Bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from Tulane University, a Master's degree in City Planning and Graduate Certificate in Urban Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Graduate Certificate in Urban Redevelopment from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP), Green Infrastructure Practitioner (GIP), and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Associate.