Landry announces Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto as first cabinet sercretary appointment

Posted: Nov 15, 2023 / 09:59 AM CST

Updated: Nov 15, 2023 / 04:56 PM CST

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Governor-elect Jeff Landry announced his first cabinet secretary appointment at his weekly press conference Wednesday.

Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto is nominated for Secretary of Environmental Quality. Giacometto is an attorney, businesswoman and biologist who served as the director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from 2019 to 2021 during the Trump administration. She was the first black director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

In addition to her work in government Giacometto has had a long work history in the private sector. She began her career at Monsanto, whose best known product was the herbicide Roundup. In addition to Monsanto, Giametto has been employed at Alltech and co-founded AVC Global, and agricultural supply block-chain company.

“This is an absolutely historic appointment, for a number of reasons,” Landry said. “I think most importantly, the exciting part is we’re already showing that we can attract people with the caliber that Aurelia has to the State of Louisiana. And we hope to, at some point in time, attract them in the tens of thousands.”

Landry also announced that his Inaugural Ball will be open to the public, first 5,000 people who buy tickets. Tickets are availablke on a first-come, first-served basis at oneteam.la, at the button labeled “Inauguration.”