Joseph Orgeron was raised on the bayous of south Louisiana during the era of the ‘Rise of the Cajun Mariner’. Graduating from South Lafourche High School in the slump of the 1980’s oil-downturn, he opted to pursue an education in something OTHER than the family business of offshore oilfield service vessels.
Opting to study physics at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, he went on to earn his doctorate in Applied Experimental Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.
His first 8 years of employment was with M&M/Mars in New Jersey as a Commodity Scientist where he ran artificial-intelligence models to predict crop forecasts, currency pairs, and advertising effectiveness models for commercial buyers & brand managers. But, by 2001 he yearned to move his young family back to the bayou and into the family-owned offshore vessel business at Montco Offshore. As Special Projects Manager, he focused on projects utilizing their fleet of offshore liftboats outside of the normal oil & gas industry, such as specialty offshore construction, scientific coring jobs and ultimately into the burgeoning US offshore windfarm market, which he continues to stay abreast of.
In 2013, he assisted in developing the Concentration in Maritime Management within Nicholls’ College of Business & Management and still serves as an adjunct professor – now for his 10th year.
In July 2020, he was elected as Louisiana State Representative for District 54 representing the people and maritime industries along Bayou Lafourche from Hwy-90 down to Port Fourchon & Grand Isle. He serves on the House Natural Resources, Ways & Mean, & Judiciary committees.
In his current role as the Executive Director of Restore or Retreat, he continues the 20-year mission of advocating and promoting large-scale restoration and resiliency projects for the sake of preserving our coast, community, and culture within the Barataria and Terrebonne estuaries.
Lastly & most importantly, his various positions have strategically placed him at the intersection of promoting an ‘All of the Above’ energy strategy for the Bayou Region and allowing him to work on coastal restoration and resiliency improvement projects for our area that ultimately get funded by our state’s revenue mostly received from offshore energy.