NEW IBERIA, La. --- The National Trust is thrilled to announce that John Warner Smith has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Shadows-on-the-Teche Trust Stewardship Site.

Smith is a seasoned executive who has worked in the non-profit, government, art and culture, and banking sectors. He is a strong advocate for public education.

After serving as Louisiana's Secretary of Labor, he became the founding chief executive officer of Education’s Next Horizon, a statewide non-profit organization that focused on framing the debate for comprehensive, system-wide PreK-12 education reform and connecting education, business, and community leaders as a force supporting school improvement.

Most recently, Smith has served as the Education Policy Director for the Urban League Louisiana. In this role he was responsible for leading the Urban League’s statewide education equity initiative, including planning and facilitating equity research and engaging community partners to advance equity in large school districts of Louisiana.

Smith was also the State Poet Laureate of Louisiana from 2019-2021. He is the first African American male to serve in this position. In this role, he served as the state’s ambassador to encourage residents to explore and engage with poetry. In November 2019, Smith memorialized a violent racial incident in the state's history by appearing at a historical symposium and debuting a new poem about the events. The poem was read at a public program hosted by The Iberia African American Historical Society. 

John Warner Smith is no stranger to Iberia Parish. He is a native of Louisiana and has close family members who live in New Iberia. The National Trust looks forward to bringing his rich skill set and leadership to the Shadows-on-the-Teche starting on March 1.

About the Shadows-on-the-Teche:



The Shadows-on-the-Teche, National Trust for Historic Preservation site, opened to the public in 1961 with the mission to preserve the buildings, landscape, collections, and historical integrity of the site; to research and interpret through education programs a 19th century southern Louisiana plantation economy and community and their evolution; and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in historic preservation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns and operates the Shadows-on-the-Teche, is a private, non-profit organization. The Shadows does not receive funding from federal, state, parish, or city government. The site supports itself through admissions, special programs and events, and donations to the Friends of the Shadows. For more information, visit ShadowsOnTheTeche.org.

For more information please contact Jayd Buteaux at (337) 369-6446 or JButeaux@savingplaces.org.