One big question: What’s at the top of your 2026 to-do list? | Business News

The midpoint of the year is upon us. The days are at their longest, the heat index is rising and thunderstorms are falling.  

For some, the start of the third quarter marks the beginning of a new fiscal year. For others, it signals the season for summer vacations. And for many, it’s an opportunity to reassess New Year’s resolutions, take stock of what the previous six months have brought and make plans to finish the year strong. 

So for this month’s One Big Question feature, we asked business and nonprofit leaders from across south Louisiana: What’s at the top priority of your to-do list for the rest of 2026?

Trey Godfrey, acting co-CEO, Baton Rouge Economic Partnership

The biggest priority I have is finishing the year with real momentum at the partnership. We’re navigating an important leadership transition. It’s incumbent upon our board to put together a process that nets us a leader — and that could take two months, or it could be nine months. So with Jason Newell, the other co-CEO, the top focus is keeping our team aligned and very disciplined on executing our plan for the year, strengthening investor confidence and ensuring that our core work continues with excellence so that we’re in a great position for a handoff to the permanent CEO, whenever that might be. 

Ann Edelman, vice president, Zehnder Communications, Baton Rouge

The No. 1 goal is getting all of my clients straight on artificial intelligence. What are the new emerging risks? What are the advantages and all the minefields that go along with it? What is our policy on HR usage? Do we use it for fact-checking, social media, marketing, all internal and external comms? How do we balance transparency about how we’re using it? Priority one for my clients is to have those questions answered and added to their process and messaging playbooks, which will help save time as a crisis hits or a potential crisis emerges. What we may have done a few years ago to increase mentions or increase reach for earned media has changed because of GEO — generative engine optimization. Companies need to understand what that means and how to amplify their message through AI. You need to communicate with the different platforms, just like what we used to look at SEO, search engine optimization, the evolution is GEO.

Lauren Gibbs, CEO and owner of Gibbs Construction, New Orleans

Lately, we’ve added a larger-than-normal pool of outside hires. Many of our employees stay with us for over 10 years — something I’m very proud of — but a few retirements created opportunities for our team to bring on new hires who are one to five years into their construction careers. So with these changes, for the second half of 2026, I’m focused on investing more in our employee trainings, especially around AI use, and mentoring our newest hires. I’m spending a lot of time thinking about how we can continue to develop our 65-person team and foster the next generation of leaders, especially since we’re currently celebrating 50 years in business. I’m excited about what the next generation is shaping up to look like because, as a business owner, I’m always looking at succession planning: Who is going to be the next president? Who’s going to be the next vice president? 

Walt Leger III, president and CEO of New Orleans & Company, New Orleans

We have a really strong meeting calendar in the fourth quarter. Now it’s time for us to execute. In December, we’ll host an international meeting for the American Society of Hematology, the largest of the events we’re hosting during the second half of this year. The event is so big and influential in the medical field that it brings in two Air France charter flights filled with hematologists and exhibitors. In the fall, we’re also hosting FICP, an annual financial and insurance professionals conference that will draw around 1,500 attendees to the city — all of whom represent corporations that could bring future meetings to our city. Our team is always focused on what’s next, booking meetings into the 2030s and 2040s, and how do we continue to build this meeting calendar to provide opportunity for the broader community for years to come?

Jared Quoyeser, co-founder and managing partner, Louisiana Impact Fund, Lafayette

Our top priority is the launch of the cXo Leadership Program. It’s the Louisiana Impact Fund’s new business leader initiative and it’s designed to identify and develop the next generation of executives across the state. The inaugural cohort kicks off at a face-to-face retreat in September in Lafayette and there’s a follow-up session in Shreveport in December. We’re also focused on facilitating the second close of the Louisiana Impact Fund, targeted for the fourth quarter, which will expand our pool of in‑state capital and strengthen our ability to back Louisiana-based businesses through growth, recapitalization and succession. And our third focus is executing on that strategy by actively closing new deals in the second half of this year, deploying capital into established Louisiana companies so ownership, jobs and long-term economic value stay rooted in communities across the state.