Get to Know Your Elected Officials Series
By KAREN LAGRANGE COX
After relocating often and attending fourteen different schools while growing up due to his father’s military and law enforcement career, Jesse Regan decided that when he had a family, he wanted his children to have one place to live, grow up, and thrive. That place for his family is Broussard, Louisiana.
When Regan, an only child, was in junior high school, the family settled in Broussard, where Regan attended Broussard Middle School and graduated from Comeaux High School.
As an adult, Regan has owned several homes in Broussard, which is part of his commitment to his children having one city to call home.
Regan’s commitment to providing his family a place they can call home has led him to become involved in civic and community activities. After getting involved in his community, he decided to pursue public service.
In 2018, he campaigned for Broussard’s City Council for District 3, won the race, and began his first term in office in January 2019. He is currently serving a second term. He serves on the city council’s finance committee, where he helped oversee the passage of the city’s largest budget, which totals $45 million for the fiscal year 2024/2025
Regan said the council’s primary focus is on essential services such as police, fire, and infrastructure, which include water, drainage, and sewage systems. It also addresses quality-of-life projects, such as the Broussard Sports Complex located in St Julien Park.
Earlier this year, the city council approved the City of Broussard’s purchase of buildings at Highway 90 and Mayor Charles Langlinais Lane (formerly Bercegeay Road) for the Broussard Service Complex. One of the buildings in the complex is currently undergoing renovations for the Broussard Police Department (BPD).
Since joining the city council, Regan has been involved in initiatives such as long-term infrastructure and beautification projects designed to benefit the city over the next fifty years.
Since 2004, Regan has worked as a mortgage broker and owns Preferred Lending Solutions in Lafayette, Louisiana. The company is licensed in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, and Arizona.
Regan and his father, Dwayne, own The Madison Banquet and Event Centre in Broussard. The Madison, initially built in the 1930s as a school gym, was transformed into an event center by the Regans in 2008.
Pelican Premium Finance, a company Regan has owned for the past four years, offers commercial insurance financing for small businesses.
Regan has been a partner in developing commercial and residential real estate for over a decade. His current development is Modera Place, which features nineteen townhomes on Heart D Farm Road in Broussard.
Regan has served on the Lafayette Industrial Development Board (IDB) for the last seven years and is currently chairman. IDB operates with the guidance of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA). Before Regan’s tenure, IDB was responsible for the pilot programs for Costco and the Louisiana Avenue development, both of which came to fruition.
He is a member of the Krewe of Andalusia in New Iberia and was King of the Krewe in 2017 and is a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA),
Regan was previously the chairman of the Broussard Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and the Broussard Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) when it was resurrected around 2015. When the City of Broussard established a Civil Service Board for the BPD, Regan was the original chairman of that board. Serving on the BCC, BEDC, and BPD Civil Service Boards is what inspired him to enter public service.
He is a past board chairman of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. At that time, he was recruited to run for Man of the Year, which resulted in him raising $50,000 in ten weeks for the organization. This allowed him to have a grant named in whoever’s name he desired; he chose to have the grant named after Daniel Allemond, a leukemia survivor whom Regan got to know.
Regan is a 2018 graduate of Leadership Iberia, which is a program to inspire and renew leadership commitment.
In 2009, Regan, Toby Armentor, Millicent Norbert, and Ivan Landry launched the le Festival du Bon Temps á Broussard.
His hobbies include golfing, fishing, and hunting. He also loves to cook and is the chef of the house.
Regan and his wife, Kyla, have been married for twenty years. They have three teenage sons, one 16 and twins 13.
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If any elected official serving Broussard or Youngsville, Louisiana, would like to participate in the Get to Know Your Elected Officials series, please email info@bylocalnews.com.