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State
Treasurer - Louisiana
John
Neely Kennedy
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John
Neely Kennedy was elected Louisiana State Treasurer on
October 23, 1999, defeating the sitting incumbent with 56
percent of the vote. Since his first day in office, Kennedy
has vowed to treat taxpayers' money with the respect it
deserves, using good judgment in every decision he makes as
the chief investment officer of the state.
Kennedy has taken several initiatives
to prepare Louisiana fiscally for the new millennium. He
continues to help the public recover millions in unclaimed
property and money from state and federal governments. He
works with other state officials, professionals and the
Legislature in improving Louisiana's bond rating. Kennedy
also maximizes the investment return on state money and
ensures that state agencies use prudent cash management
strategies to save taxpayers money.
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Prior
to his position as state treasurer, Kennedy served as secretary
of the Louisiana Department of Revenue from 1996-1999, under the
appointment of Governor Mike Foster. As secretary, he was
responsible for returning more than $22 million in unclaimed
property to over 50,000 Louisiana citizens. He also made tax time
easier for all Louisiana citizens by reducing the number of forms
that small businesses must file and by returning state tax
refunds faster than ever before.
Kennedy served as special counsel to Governor Buddy Roemer from
1988-1992. During this time he was a member of the governor's
commission on medical malpractice and the secretary of state's
commission on corporations. He is also a past member of the board
of directors of the Council for a Better Louisiana and the
Friends of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
In the private sector, Kennedy has worked as a partner in the
Baton Rouge and New Orleans law firm of Chaffe, McCall, Phillips,
Toler and Sarpy, L.L.P., where he practiced civil litigation. He
received his Juris Doctorate in 1977 from the University of
Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Law
Review and inducted into the Order of the Coif. He is a first
class honors graduate of Oxford University in Oxford, England,
where he received a B.C.L. degree in 1979.
Kennedy completed his undergraduate work at Vanderbilt
University. At Vanderbilt, he was president of his senior class,
elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated magna cum laude in
political science, philosophy and economics. He is a native of
Zachary, Louisiana, and is an alumnus of Zachary High School,
where he earned co-valedictorian honors in 1969.
As state treasurer, Kennedy is chairman of the State Bond
Commission, which oversees and approves all state and local
governmental debt. He is chairman of the Public Retirement System
Actuarial Committee and President of the Louisiana Asset
Management Pool, a non-profit corporation that works to give
local governments higher returns on their money.
Kennedy serves on the Interim Emergency Board, the Louisiana Tax
Free Shopping Commission, the Louisiana Tuition Trust Authority,
and the Louisiana Lottery Corporation. He also serves as chairman
of the Old State Capitol Advisory Board and as a member of the
Board of Directors of the Louisiana Workers' Compensation
Corporation.
Kennedy resides in Madisonville, Louisiana, with his wife,
Rebecca Ann Stulb Kennedy, who is also an attorney, and their
son, Preston, who is five years old. They are members of the
North Cross United Methodist Church.
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