Judy Reese Morse
2021 State of Black America
Judy Reese Morse
Judy Reese Morse is President & CEO of Urban League of Louisiana. She is the former Deputy Mayor for the City of New Orleans. Morse brings to the Urban League of Louisiana vast executive-level experience in the government, not-for-profit and media sectors. She has served at all three levels of government, working early in her career in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill for Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. She would later work in the Louisiana Lieutenant Governor’s Office as Chief of Staff for Mitch Landrieu and then as a Deputy Mayor in the Landrieu Administration. During her time in Washington, DC, Morse worked at National Public Radio as Director of New Audience Development and Director of Corporate Communications. Prior to her time at NPR, she worked at WWL-TV New Orleans gaining experience in production and management.
Morse, born and raised in New Orleans, attended St. Mary’s Dominican High School and Loyola University of New Orleans, earning an undergraduate degree in Communications. She received a master’s degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington, DC. and was selected as a U.S. Presidential Management Fellow. She is married to Chuck Morse, who serves as the Executive Director of Launch NOLA, an incubator for new and emerging small businesses. They have two children, Grace, 18 and Trey, 16. She is also the daughter of Claude Reese, a Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights Movement and a member of the New Orleans Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).