District 3 Metro Council member Rowdy Gaudet is an experienced executive with a reputation for consistently delivering results in adverse conditions. His professional background encompasses organizational and people leadership, strategic decision-making, effective communications, government and community relations, and implementing operational efficiencies. 

Professionally, Rowdy works as a Managing Director for Emergent Method, a Baton Rouge-based management and communications consulting firm. In this position, he uses his 20 years of experience to lead the firm’s public sector practice and expand the Emergent Method’s strategic and crisis communication, community resilience, infrastructure, and disaster recovery practices. 

Before joining the firm, Rowdy served as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer in the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, developing and implementing strategic policies and programs to achieve the administration’s goals and overseeing the management teams for several city-parish departments. Notably, he worked to secure over $2 billion in transportation and drainage infrastructure investments and developed the parish’s All-Hazards Recovery Plan. He also served as an appointee to the Restore Louisiana Task Force. Rowdy has previously worked for the Louisiana Office of Community Development serving as its Chief of Staff and as the Infrastructure Director for the Disaster Recovery Unit. At OCD, he provided strategic leadership on matters of policy, planning, and communication for the state’s $14 billion recovery efforts.

Rowdy is a graduate of McNeese State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Communications, and Louisiana State University, where he earned his Master of Business Administration. He also completed the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State & Local Government Executive Education Program. 

In 2020, Rowdy was elected without opposition to the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council to serve as the District 3 representative. He is also active on several boards and commissions, including the Capital Area YMCA, the University Laboratory School Foundation, and as a member of the Real Estate Committee for the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. Gaudet was recognized by the Baton Rouge Business Report as a 2014 Forty Under 40 honoree and by the Boys & Girls Club as a 2018 Great Futures honoree. In his free time, Rowdy enjoys coaching youth sports, and spending time with his wife and four children.