Betty A. Wilson | Chairman Emeritus
George H. Wilson, Jr. | Chairman/President
Peter A. Wilson | Sr. Vice President
Bertrand A. Wilson | Sr. Vice President
John B. Elstrott | Director
George H. Wilson is president and chief executive officer of Barriere Construction. He graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1975 and received a master’s degree in business administration from Tulane in 1986. George currently serves as vice president of the New Orleans District of the Louisiana Associated General Contractors and as an executive committee member of the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region. George is also a board member of the New Orleans Startup Fund.
Peter A. Wilson is president of Barriere’s North Shore divisions. Peter is a graduate of Louisiana State University and attended the Families in Business Program at Harvard University. After joining Barriere as an estimator in 1978, he was promoted to project and division manager before being named president of the division. PETER HAS SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF THE LOUISIANA ASPHALT PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION. IN 2003, HE SERVED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASPHALT PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
Bertrand A. Wilson is president of Barriere’s South Shore divisions. He attended Louisiana State University and began his career with Barriere in 1979. Bert currently serves as president of the Louisiana Asphalt Paving Association and has served on the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. He is a past president of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Bayou Chapter (ABC), and remains a member of its national board.
Brian J. Cooney, CCIFP, joined Barriere in 1988 and currently serves as the company’s vice president and chief financial officer. His extensive involvement in the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) led him to past positions as national director, national secretary, and national committee chairman. Brian was a founding member of the CFMA Southeast Louisiana Chapter, where he served as president, vice president, and as a member of its board of directors. Brian has received both the CFMA’s Debra Hahn Memorial Award and the Danny B. Parrish Outstanding Leadership Award.
A graduate of Spring Hill College, Brian received his master’s degree in business administration from Tulane University. He remains a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and currently serves on the board of directors of New Orleans’ Mount Carmel High School.
Bart J. Breland, Heavy Civil Construction Division Vice President, joined Barriere in 1978 as a laborer before rising through the ranks to his current position in 1999.
Bart has served on the board of directors of the Plaquemines Parish Association of Business and Industry since 2005, and currently serves as chairman of the board. He maintains longstanding involvement with Louisiana Associated General Contractors, and has attended construction leadership and development classes at the University of New Orleans and the Wharton School of Business.
Douglas G. Olson currently serves as manager of the company’s Alternative Delivery Project Team, where he seeks out public and private civil, infrastructure, highway and drainage projects that are awarded through the alternative delivery process. With more than 20 years of experience as a project manager, chief estimator, and division manager at Barriere, Doug leads the company’s pursuit of design-build, best value, and joint venture projects. Doug holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in business administration from Tulane University.
James M. Breland has served as North Shore Asphalt Division manager since 2008. He first joined Barriere in 1983 as a laborer and equipment operator before leaving the company to pursue a successful career in the music industry. Jim returned to Barriere in 2002 to work in aggregate sales before being promoted to his current position.
Active in several construction trade associations, Jim served for three years as an Association of Builders and Contractors board member, and currently serves on the Franklinton, La. Economic Development Foundation.
Matthew D. Woods has served as Barriere’s South Shore Asphalt Division manager since 2007. He joined Barriere in 1998 as a project manager after earning a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of New Orleans.
Matt Woods is an active member in many construction trade associations, and currently serves on the Associated Builders and Contractors – Bayou Chapter board of directors. He participates in the Louisiana Asphalt Paving Association and the National Asphalt Paving Association Young Leaders Conference, and promotes the construction industry throughout New Orleans by educating local agencies on new asphalt industry technologies.
As manager of Barriere’s Concrete Paving Division, Rene Duplantis leads this business unit in bidding and building new main-line concrete paving, concrete road rehabilitation, panel replacement, concrete roadway and parking lot construction, and petro-chem paving services. Rene began his Barriere career as a college intern, and after graduating from Louisiana State University with a degree in construction management was hired as a field engineer. He later was promoted to project manager and estimator in the Heavy Civil Construction Division before accepting his newest assignment.
