John Spain

John Spain is Senior Advisor to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit community foundation with assets of over $700 million dollars. The Foundation seeks to unite human and financial resources to enhance Southern Louisiana.

John also serves on the Executive Committee of the Southern Rail Commission, a federally created entity working closely to restore and launch passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast. In this capacity, John has collaborated with members of Congress, the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak to restore passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast from New Orleans, Louisiana to Orlando, Florida, which was suspended in 2005. He has used this platform to advocate for establishing service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, among other critical rail links in the gulf south.

Prior to moving to the Foundation, John was the Managing Director of The Powell Group, a private holding company with thirteen diverse subsidiary companies. These included seven radio stations located in three different states, commercial timber, rice milling, real-estate development including home construction, subdivision development, and condominium construction along the Gulf coast. Other companies included a statewide network of travel agencies, commercial rice farming and the design and construction of biomass electrical power generating systems in the United States, South America and Asia.

John started his professional career in the field of broadcasting and worked at WBRZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge for 23 years. He served in various capacities including investigative reporter, News Director and Station Manager. Under his leadership the station’s news operations received every major broadcast journalism award including two George F. Peabody awards, considered the Pulitzer prize of broadcasting.