Karyn Kearney, Commissioner

Karyn Kearney is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Audubon Nature Institute’s Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Entergy IMAX® Theatre and Woldenberg Riverfront Park in New Orleans and is responsible for both the operations and programming at those facilities. Ms. Noles is also the Managing Director of the soon-to-open Audubon Insectarium, where she is responsible for guiding the opening, and development and implementation of staffing, operations and programming for the new facility. Additionally, Ms. Noles works on a number of special projects at Audubon including strategic planning, facility and program development, IMAX® film production and master planning process for the organization.

Active in the community, she has worked as a volunteer for Bridge House, the Neighborhood Development Foundation, the Young Leadership Council, the Junior League of New Orleans and the United Way. Ms. Kearney is co-founder of the successful “New Orleans Proud to call it home” campaign. As the leader of the “New Orleans Proud to call it home” campaign she was responsible for fundraising, administration, public relations, market research and advertising related to the campaign. She was named Marketing Director of the Year in New Orleans. Both Audubon Nature Institute and the Young Leadership Council (YLC) recognized Karyn with their President’s Award. The YLC also recognized her with the Mentor Award. She is a graduate of the Metropolitan Leadership Forum sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Committee. Ms. Kearney was featured as a “Woman of the Year” in New Orleans City Business Magazine and was listed as one of “40 under 40” to watch by Gambit Magazine. The Women Business Owners Association recognized her as an Achiever.

Karyn has served on the French Quarter Business Association Board of Directors and the French Quarter Festivals, Inc. governing board. Ms. Kearney serves as a member of the Leadership Team of Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, a grassroots effort dedicated to the renewal of New Orleans post-Katrina. Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans has been active in the reform of levee management of Southeast Louisiana, consolidation of the tax assessor offices in Orleans Parish and reform of the Criminal Justice system in New Orleans. She served on the Marketing Advisory Committee of the Downtown Development Committee. She currently serves as a member of the MacGillivray Freeman Education Foundation Advisory Committee and as an advisor to the Strategic Marketing Committee of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In 2004, she served as co-chair of the national meeting of AZA in New Orleans.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and lives in New Orleans with her husband and two sons, Jackson and Pierce.