Director's Biography

Ben Berthelot, Director of Community Development
Phone: (337) 291-8402
Email: bberthelot@LafayetteLA.gov

Ben Berthelot began his career in the private sector, working for Lafayette Coca-Cola Bottling, where he started as Business Analyst before being promoted to Youth Market Manager.

He was appointed Assistant to the City-Parish President by City-Parish President Joey Durel when Durel took office for his first term. Berthelot served in that position for six years before being appointed Director of Community Development in 2010.

He is very active in the community and currently serves on numerous boards and commissions, including: United Way of Acadiana, Leadership Institute of Acadiana Board of Directors, Acadiana Regional Development District Board, Downtown Lafayette Unlimited (DLU), and the Junior League Advisory Board. He was a founding member and served as the charter President of the705, Acadiana’s Emerging Leaders Group. He is a past board member of Junior Achievement, Faith House, and the Juvenile Justice Children & Youth Planning Board. Early in his career, he was the recipient of Chase Bank & The Daily Advertiser’s 20 Under 40 award.

Since he began working for Lafayette Consolidated Government, he has been tapped to Chair several committees, including the Parks and Recreation Exploratory Committee, which oversaw the possibility of removing Parks and Recreation from government control and placing it in the hands of the community with a model similar to BREC in Baton Rouge. He now Chairs the Arts and Culture Collaboration Group, which meets on a regular basis and is currently planning Lafayette’s 2012 Bicentennial Celebration.

Berthelot is a graduate of Leadership Lafayette and Council for a Better Louisiana’s (CABL) Leadership Louisiana program, and is a charter member of the Acadiana Regional Board of CABL. He has also coached basketball at Our Lady of Fatima School since 1994.

Berthelot is a graduate of St. Thomas More Catholic High School and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations.

He and his wife Ashley live in Downtown Lafayette.