Kelsey Foster serves as the deputy director for We Work the Waterways. Kelsey previously held the position of executive director of the Algiers Economic Development Foundation. Her career has focused on civic engagement, public finance, and economic policy. Ms. Foster also worked as a staff member of the Committee for a Better New Orleans from 2013 to 2019 where she led the organization’s municipal budgeting program and previously worked as the communications coordinator for the New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College, a professional certificate in public finance from the University of Chicago and is completing a Masters of Public Service at the University of Arkansas.

Ms. Foster is a resident of Algiers Point and has served on the boards of the Algiers Point Association, Old Algiers Main Street the Committee for a Better New Orleans, the Westbank Business & Industry Association, and as a Commissioner with the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West. She currently serves on the board of Trustees for the BK House and the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

She is a graduate of the Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum, New Leaders Council, Delta Leadership Institute, and in the current cohort of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute. Ms. Foster is originally from Franklin, PA but now living almost 20 years between the levees, enjoys calling Louisiana “home”.