Randy Hayman, who took the helm of the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board more than two months ago, has a lot on his plate. He’s got dilapidated infrastructure to fix, monumental funding challenges to solve and political relationships to cultivate.

None of it fazes him, he said in a recent interview.

A lawyer by trade, the 62-year-old Missouri native has helped lead municipal water systems around the country, as general counsel in St. Louis and Washington, D.C., and most recently as the Philadelphia Water Department’s top executive. New Orleans’ complex challenges, he said, aren’t so different from those he’s encountered elsewhere.

“I wanted to come here because there are problems,” Hayman said. “I’m a problem solver.”

Problem-solving is part of the job description for leading a u

See Full Page