Jodee Daroca

President and CEO Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana

Last Reviewed: September 29, 2026

Executive Summary

Jodee Daroca is President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, the New Orleans non-profit that funds job training, education and placement for people facing barriers to employment largely through its network of donated-goods stores. She is a long-serving insider and a certified public accountant: she became Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina, and is credited by the organisation with bringing it back from that disaster. The board made her interim chief executive in January 2020 and permanent President and CEO in June 2020.

Career Highlights

• President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana since June 2020, after serving as interim chief executive from January 2020.
• Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2005, credited with bringing the organisation back after Hurricane Katrina.
• Twice named a Woman of the Year by New Orleans CityBusiness.
• Named an Outstanding CPA in Business and Industry by the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants.
• Completed the Goodwill Industries International Executive Development Program and Senior Leadership Program.

Professional Journey

Daroca, a lifelong New Orleans resident, trained in accounting at Louisiana State University and qualified as a certified public accountant. She joined Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana in 2005 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. That year Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and the organisation credits her with bringing it back from the disaster in the years that followed.

She spent fifteen years as CFO before the board asked her to lead the organisation on an interim basis in January 2020. In June 2020, a few months into the pandemic, it appointed her President and CEO. At the time of her appointment Goodwill described the job as overseeing a 23-parish service area with 23 retail locations, eight community programmes serving about 3,000 clients, the Goodwill Technical College, 38 custodial and grounds maintenance contracts, and a $35 million budget. Along the way she completed Goodwill Industries International’s Executive Development Program and Senior Leadership Program.

Founded in 1947, the organisation combines retail with social services: donations stock its thrift stores, and the proceeds support employment training, education and job placement, including disability employment, re-entry programmes for people leaving prison, services for veterans and a technical college. A 2024 Biz New Orleans feature lists New Orleans CityBusiness Nonprofit of the Year among the organisation’s recent honours, which also records her own recognition as a two-time CityBusiness Woman of the Year and as an Outstanding CPA in Business and Industry.

Outside Goodwill, as of her 2020 appointment, she served on the Board of Trustees of St. Paul’s Episcopal School and was a member and financial director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans.

Education

Louisiana State University

BS, Accounting