Biography
Taylor F. Barras
Taylor Barras has over four decades of financial management, accounting and governmental experience.
Prior to him becoming Louisiana’s Commissioner of Administration, he served as the Assessor of Iberia Parish and the Speaker for the Louisiana House of Representatives. He served as a State Representative for 12 years until the end of his term as Speaker of the House.
In his professional life, Taylor enjoyed a 40 year commercial banking career. He served as the Market President for Louisiana based IBERIABANK for 21 of those years.
During his time in the Louisiana Legislature, he was a member of the House Ways and Means committee and authored several key pieces of legislation directed at fiscal reform and improved tax policy. He was active in a number of legislative initiatives for business and industry.
In his time as Speaker of the House, he was elected Chairman of the Council of State Government’s Southern Legislative Conference. He was also selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. His colleagues in the House recognized him as the “Gentleman of the Louisiana House” for his extraordinary work and leadership.
Taylor is a graduate of LSU with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a graduate of the LSU Graduate School of Banking. He has also attained the designation of Certified Louisiana Assessor as designated by the International Assessors Association.
Early in his career, he was recognized by the Times of Acadiana and Junior Achievement as the “Rising Young Business Leader in Acadiana”. Taylor’s involvement in the Acadiana community runs deep with many organizations including the Community Foundation of Acadiana’s Iberia Advisory Board, the United Way of Iberia, and was founder of the Leadership Iberia program with the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce awarded him the “Outstanding Civic Service Award” for his work across the Iberia Parish community. He served on the board of the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival Association and currently serves as the Captain of the Krewe of Andalusia. He also served as Chair for the Shadows on the Teche Advisory Council. His financial expertise also lent itself to the school advisory boards of St. Edward Catholic School and Catholic High School in New Iberia.
On the statewide level, Taylor served as a board member for the Council for a Better Louisiana. He was a 2000 graduate of the Leadership Louisiana program. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Upstream Life Insurance Company.
Taylor F. Barras
Commissioner of Administration
