Lorna is co-founder of SMHA with 50 years’ experience organizing in Louisiana’s rural communities. She is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Louisiana Advisory Committee, MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Fannie Mae Foundation James A. Johnson Fellow, a graduate of the J. F. Kennedy School of Government’s program for Senior Leaders at Harvard University and is featured in the Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement by Peggy Frankland (2013).

Lorna co-founded the Sustained Excellence Alliance Corporation Inc. (SEACorp), founded and serves as Treasurer of Southern Mutual Financial Services, Inc. (SMFS), the first rural not-for-profit U. S. Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in rural Louisiana. She has extensive experience in investments, fund development, management, budgeting and rural community development program design and implementation.

Portfolio of Service: President, appoints Board committees, reports on alignment of programs and activities to core mission, responsible for corporate well-being and risk mitigation, serves as corporate voice to media.