Board of Directors

Susanne Cambre has been practicing law since 1987 and is a founding member of the Dwyer, Cambre & Suffern law firm.  Her practice focuses on commercial transactions, commercial lending, real estate development, construction, and financing.  Ms. Cambre is admitted to practice in Louisiana and Texas, is a licensed title insurance agent, and a certified real estate lecturer. She has a Martindale-Hubble AV peer rating and is a member of the New Orleans Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women.

Ms. Cambre holds a B.S. degree from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from Loyola University, both in New Orleans, LA. 

She has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2009 and has served as Chairman since 2011.

Kemper W. Brown, Sr. is a 4th-generation Burguières, a native of New Orleans, and currently resides in Asheville, NC. Mr. Brown has over 40 years of experience creating businesses in technology, real estate, and construction. 

In 1981, Mr. Brown founded Electronic Office, an integrated specialty IT services firm focused on protecting electronic health records and enhancing end-user experiences for companies that utilize technology to drive business objectives. He retired from management in 2022 and remains as the Board Chair. 

Mr. Brown has served on the Boards of several companies and non-profits. He currently serves as Chair of Finance on the Board of Givens Communities.

Mr. Brown holds a BA from the University of the South and an MBA from Tulane University. 

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2015.

Leigh M. Ferguson has over 45 years of experience in real estate development, management, and finance. He previously served as the Director of Economic Development for the Downtown Development District in New Orleans, Louisiana. During his career, Mr. Ferguson has been the Chairman, President, or Senior Executive of real estate development and operating companies in Washington, D.C., Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama. Additionally, he has served on the boards of numerous publicly and privately held companies, as well as the Boards of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and the Cincinnati Federal Home Loan Bank.

Mr. Ferguson is a long-time member of the Urban Land Institute, where he has chaired over ten of their national Advisory Service Panels across the country.

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2015.

Robert Gorman has over 30 years of experience in the commercial and residential real estate business in the Memphis, Tennessee area. Mr. Gorman is currently a licensed Broker with Crye-Leike Real Estate Services and previously served as Chairman of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors MLS, MSSA, Inc., and Board Director/Chairman of the NRA Foundation, Friends of NRA, Tennessee. He was the founder of multiple land-holding companies, including West Land Co., LLC, Hill Top Farms, LLC, and Gorman Equipment LLC. Mr. Gorman is also a developer of commercial and residential communities in and around the Memphis metro area. 

Mr. Gorman holds a B.S. degree from the University of Memphis and attended Tennessee Academy. 

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2010.

Harry J. Smith has over 50 years of experience working with closely held and family businesses and was a former partner with Ernst & Young. Mr. Smith became a Family Business Consultant in 1992, and before joining the Board, was actively involved in the management of the J. M. Burguières Companies since 1998. He maintains retired status as a CPA, Certified Management Accountant, and Certified Fraud Examiner. He holds a Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status from the Family Firm Institute and was named Financial Executive of the Year by the Institute of Management Accountants. 

Mr. Smith has served in senior management, dealing with financial management, reporting, and operations across a range of industries, including construction, industrial fabrication, technology startups, chemical process manufacturing, lumber, real estate, mineral rights, and restaurants.  He also served for two years on the faculty of the Management Department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as an adjunct faculty member at Tulane University and the University of New Orleans. 

Mr. Smith holds an MBA from Tulane University.

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2015.

Kevin Reed has over 40 years of experience working in the trust, investments, banking, and property tax consulting industries, where he focused on building new lines of business, product development, growing assets under management, and increasing the return on investment.  He specializes in budgeting, banking, credit analysis, financial asset management, asset liability management, capital expansion, mergers and acquisitions, real estate property management, mineral interests, property tax consulting, and economic incentives. 

Mr. Reed has held senior positions, including Partner, Market President, EVP, and Director, at well-known financial institutions and financial service providers, such as Argent Financial Group, First Commerce Corporation, Hancock Whitney, and Real Estate Tax Group LLC. Most recently, he served as the Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer of the Louisiana State Police Retirement System. He also previously served as President for both the CFA Society of Louisiana and The New Orleans Estate Planning Council, and has been a guest lecturer at Loyola University, University of New Orleans, and Tulane University. 

Mr. Reed holds a B.S. degree from the University of New Orleans.

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2023.

Emily Dalicandro, a native of Houston, Texas, built her early career in finance, having worked in investment banking with Merrill Lynch, and in various financial support roles at DaimlerChrysler, Delta Airlines, and DataCert. In 2013, she became Managing Partner for EMC Texans, Ltd. and co-director for the Burguières Family Foundation, a charitable fund focused on mental healthcare, family services, and Catholic education.

Ms. Dalicandro has served as a trustee for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, a member of the board of directors of Mental Health America of Greater Houston, and as a trustee for Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. She currently serves on the Community Foundation Council of the Greater Houston Community Foundation, the Advisory Board of re:MIND, and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Houston.

Ms. Dalicandro holds a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. 

She has served on the Board of The J.M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2012.

Martial Burguières has over 25 years of experience in Oil and Gas with unique expertise in well intervention, plug and abandonment, and subsea operations. Mr.  Burguières founded Profunda Subsea LLC and currently serves as the Managing Partner of StaticFlo LLC. He has held senior positions as Vice President, Director, and Manager at numerous leaders in the O&G space, such as AFGlobal, Wild Well Control, Weatherford, and Oceaneering.

Mr. Burguières holds a B.S. from Texas Christian University and an MBA from Rice University.

He has served on the Board of The J. M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2023.

Adam Zylman is the founder of Grey Owl Partners, which invests capital in and provides strategic advisory services to privately-owned businesses. Prior to forming and funding Grey Owl in 2019, Mr. Zylman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunland Capital, a privately-owned holding company investing in energy, industrial, and infrastructure service companies, which Mr. Zylman co-founded in 2009.  Prior to co-founding Sunland Capital, Mr. Zylman spent more than a decade in private equity and investment banking at SCF Partners and Merrill Lynch’s Global Energy & Power Group, respectively. Mr. Zylman currently serves on the Board of Directors of several privately owned businesses and is a member of the Houston Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization (Gold).

Mr. Zylman graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Managerial Studies from Rice University. 

He has served on the Board of The J.M. Burguières Co. Ltd. since 2022 and was an Advisory Board Member for a year preceding his election.