Innovation Management director selected for regional leadership academy

The Delta Regional Authority has selected Chad M. LaComb, director of the Office of Innovation Management at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as one of 33 community leaders to participate in the 2026 Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy, a premier regional leadership program.

LaComb was chosen through a competitive application process overseen by DRA’s Board of Governors and federal co-chairman. He joins leaders from across the authority’s eight-state region — Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee — who are committed to advancing economic opportunity and community resilience in the Delta.

As director of UL Lafayette’s Office of Innovation Management, LaComb oversees technology transfer, intellectual property, research commercialization and strategic partnerships. He previously served as the University’s director of Economic and Community Development.

Before joining UL Lafayette, he spent nearly a decade with the Acadiana Planning Commission, where he helped secure major federal investments and advance regional redevelopment. His work included co-authoring proposals that brought more than $100 million in broadband funding to Acadiana, shaping the InvestAcadiana Opportunity Zone Initiative, authoring a $3.1 million U.S. Economic Development Administration grant supporting the $1.1 billion First Solar facility in Iberia Parish and securing the region’s first EPA Brownfields Assessment grant.

LaComb has received national recognition for his work, including the NADO Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award and multiple International Economic Development Council awards. 

Since 2005, the Delta Leadership Institute Executive Academy has trained leaders across the region through sessions focused on regional planning, economic development and community resilience.

Photo caption: Chad M. LaComb is director of the Office of Innovation Management at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. (Photo credit: Doug Dugas / UL Lafayette)