President, JCH Properties+
Tara serves as President of JCH Properties+, a real estate investment, consulting and development company that specializes in delivering urban lifestyle experiences through the conversion of underutilized real estate into “cool”, creative spaces.
The company develops multi-family, commercial mixed-use, and special-use projects. Tara has been directly responsible for and/or participated in the development of residential, mixed-use, mixed-income, and commercial development projects throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. The firm is a part of a team currently developing a new neighborhood on the New Orleans riverfront known as the River District.
Tara is also actively involved in the technology investment community, as an investor and Fund Manager of Reform Ventures, LLC, a member of First Round Capital’s Angel Track 6 cohort, a member of NOLAAN (New Orleans LA Angel Network), and board member of the Idea Village, a New Orleans technology accelerator program. She was named as one of “100 rising-star VC’s in 2020, who represent the future of venture capital” by Business Insider.
She spearheaded a regional initiative, NOME-New Orleans Music Economy, to attract the business side of the music industry to New Orleans, while Chair of Greater New Orleans, Inc, and remains a member of the Steering Committee.
Tara is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, with a Master of Science Degree in Real Estate Development and a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in Finance. She is a Louisiana Real Estate Broker, a member of the Business Council of New Orleans, and in leadership positions on several not for profit boards, including Past Chair Emeritus of Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO,Inc), President of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation, and a Board Member of Ochsner’s Health Foundation. She recently completed her five-year appointment, by Gov. John Bel Edwards, as a Commissioner of the PORT of New Orleans and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.
She is also Past Chair of the 2016 Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) National Hines Competition Jury and a Former Trustee of ULI. She received the 2018 Torchbearer Award for Economic Development from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW), was selected as one of the 2017 New Orleans City Business’ Women of the Year, as a 2017 Business Hall of Fame Laureate by Junior Achievement, and a 2017 Women of Color Honoree by 100 National Black Men of Metro New Orleans. She is a member of Alpha, Kappa, Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.