Louisiana’s former labor secretary lands job with Biden administration

Wesley Muller/Louisiana Illuminator

Ava Cates, former secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, is taking a job in President Joe Biden’s administration as a regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The SBA announced Cates’ appointment in a news release Thursday. She will oversee SBA’s Region 6, which encompasses Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Cates’ role was previously held by Ted James, who vacated the position to run for mayor of Baton Rouge. That election will take place on Nov. 5.

Cates headed the Louisiana Workforce Commission under Gov. John Bel Edwards from 2016 through 2023. The Louisiana Workforce Commission is a state-level labor department that  regulates policies such as overtime rules and processes unemployment and worker compensation claims.

The biggest challenges Cates faced during her tenure were the distribution of a record amount of jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and leading the same process through major hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.

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