Sandra Smith "Sandy" Thompson Herman is a former Louisiana state administrator, who retired in 2007 from the directorship of the Atchafalaya Basin Program.
Biography
Thompson's roots are in north Louisiana; her father's family was from Jena in Lasalle Parish; her mother's family was from Baskin in Franklin Parish. Her father, Homer Smith, became a Church of Christ minister and the family moved every few years, from Pineville to Houma, Patterson, New Iberia, back to Pineville and then West Monroe. She graduated in 1964 from Neville High School in Monroe and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond in 1984. She procured a Master of Business Administration from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Her career in state government began in the 1970s when she worked in the office of then Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr. She was named director of the Atchafalaya Basin Division of the Department of Public Works in 1972. The Atchafalaya project, which encompassing a million acres, is the largest bottomland swamp in North America. Thompson designed the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and served as the first Cabinet-level Secretary in 1976. She left the project in 1979 to run unsuccessfully as a Democrat for secretary of state. The position became open when incumbent Paul J. Hardy, then of St. Martinville, who had succeeded Martin in 1976, ran unsuccessfully for governor. Thompson went into a general election with fellow Democrat, then State Senator James H. "Jim" Brown of Ferriday in Concordia Parish. She had a considerable lead in the nonpartisan blanket primary but fell unexpectedly short in the second round of balloting. In the primary, Thompson polled 504,808 votes to Brown's 391,849 ballots. An African-American candidate, Ben Jeffers, received 253,764 votes. Republican candidate Dick Bruce, a New Orleans advertising executive who stressed tourism and international trade, polled 85,870 votes. In 1971, Bruce ran unsuccessfully in the race to succeed Lieutenant C. C. "Taddy" Aycock. Therefore, Jim Brown secured nearly all of the votes obtained by Jeffers, and most of Bruce's supporters are believed to have switched to Thompson. Brown won the general election with 665,608 votes to Thompson's 617,907. The percent for Brown and Jeffers from the primary was a combined 52.2 percent, or 1.1 percentage points more than what Brown finally received in the final phase of the race. Thompson and Bruce in the first round of balloting had a combined 47.7 percent, or 1.2 percentage points below what Thompson finally received. In 1983, she attempted to unseat East Baton Rouge ParishClerk of Court Mike Cannon. Though she ran well enough to make the general election, she again was defeated. After the secretary of state's race, Thompson owned and operated an oilfield trucking company in Baton Rouge. Republican Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., called her back to state government in 1996 to work in his new administration. She was named director of the Atchafalaya Basin Program, when it was re-established in 1998 by state law as a 15-year plan to work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and other entities for the federally sponsored Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System. Thompson has been active in many conservation endeavors, including the Louisiana Sierra Club. She has twice secured the Professional Conservationist of the Year award from the Wildlife and Fisheries Department, most recently in 1999. She also won the Lyndon B. Johnson National Award for excellence in the field of the environment. In the Atchafalaya project, Thompson worked under Natural Resources Secretary Jack Caldwell for 8 years and built a number of projects including the Butte LaRoseWelcome Center, boat ramps, RV sites and water management projects. She retired in 2007, married RUSS M Herman in 2008 and has been active in civic, cultural and philanthropic endeavors for the past 11 years. Thompson describes her management style as one of macromanagement: "Most successful leaders don't micromanage. What we tried to do with the Atchafalaya Program is hire the very best architects, engineers, and designers and tell them, 'Give me your best. I’m not going to micromanage you.'" Thompson has two grown children.
