FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2023
Justin Centanni Announces Run for Lafayette Parish Tax Assessor
BROUSSARD, LA (Jan 4, 2023) – Lafayette Parish School Board Member Justin Centanni announced he is running for parish tax assessor in the October 14, 2023 election. Centanni made the announcement Wednesday evening at a family home in Broussard, LA, amid a gathering of family, friends and community leaders from across Lafayette Parish. Centanni, a Republican, has spent more than two decades as a data analyst and architect for federal government contractors and financial institutions and is currently serving his second term representing District 6 on the school board. During his time on the board, he served as President in 2019, and has worked to bring transparency, fiscal responsibility and accountability to the school system and to taxpayers. He hopes to continue that work as assessor.
“I’m grateful to those who have encouraged me to seek this office and who are joining me in this campaign – they tell me I’m just the nerd for the job,” Centanni said. “My professional career in data analytics and public service on a tax collecting body give me keen insight into the tax assessor’s role and greater potential. Lafayette Parish is a robust and growing community, and our taxpayers deserve to know their investment in that community is being accurately and appropriately put to work, with the highest level of professionalism, diligence and accountability, just as our parish and municipal leaders deserve an innovative partner in that investment. I look forward to this campaign, which will reach every inch of Lafayette Parish, and I hope to earn your support and your vote on October 14.”
During Centanni’s tenure on the school board, he worked closely with his fellow board members and district leaders on a strategic financing plan for growth that anticipated capacity needs. As a result, LPSS built or began construction on six completely new schools, with additions and expansions for a dozen more, allowing the eventual elimination of 75 percent of the parish’s portable buildings by the time the new Lafayette High School opens – all without any new taxes. He also spearheaded the effort to create LafayetteCheckbook.com, an online tool for taxpayers and the general public to view every dollar the school system spends, the first of its kind in Louisiana.
Centanni, 45, is Vice President, Manager of Enterprise Data Integration for First Horizon Bank, and has made a career of solving critical problems leveraging technology and data. He spent time living in Washington, DC working for a Department of Defense contractor, developing the software behind the military’s Smart ID cards, and worked for a major manufacturer on the lower Mississippi River, using data to manage multimodal shipment of product. Most of his career has been spent with financial institutions, most notably IberiaBank, where he worked for 12 years prior to the bank’s merger with First Horizon.
Centanni met his wife, Marie DesOrmeaux, while studying at UL-Lafayette, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems with a Minor in Mathematics from Nicholls State University. He is a first degree Knight of Columbus, and was honored as one of the Top 20 Under 40 in 2015. The Centannis live in Lafayette and have three children whom they proudly enrolled in Lafayette’s French Immersion Program during their elementary school years. They are parishioners of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.
