Women United About

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Women United works in our community to attract women at the leadership level who recognize the importance of results-oriented philanthropy as a key to addressing critical challenges in local communities. Your membership will provide opportunities to network in educational and social settings, including membership events and public policy briefings.

Michelle Delery, Chairwoman

Michelle Johnson Delery is the director of customer, employee and communications services at Entergy, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New Orleans that powers life for 3 million customers across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. 

In her current role, she advises senior leaders on customer and employee communications strategy, brand, reputation, crisis communications and issue management. She has direct oversight of nearly 20 professionals who use creative storytelling, design, video and multimedia production, and special events to create goodwill, increase message penetration, and drive better business outcomes in the company’s efforts to create sustainable value for its customers, employees, communities and owners.

She joined Entergy in 1999 as a communications specialist handling internal and external communications for the company’s New Orleans subsidiary. Since moving to the parent company in 2001 as part of the employee communications team, she has served in different roles with increasing responsibility, including senior communications specialist, manager of internal communications, and senior manager, employee communications.   

During her career at Entergy, she has played a critical role in directing customer and employee communications strategy during major crises and companywide change initiatives including storm events like hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2005 implementation of the company’s long-term healthcare strategy, various mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, cyber events, companywide reorganizations, and the successful launch of a revised company brand identity and platform in 2022.

Prior to joining Entergy, she was a communications and events coordinator at Hibernia National Bank. She also previously served as an adjunct professor and curriculum committee member for the Media Arts program at Tulane University’s School of Continuing Studies. 

She is a New Orleans native and holds an MBA from Tulane University, M.A. in Mass Communications from Loyola University, and a B.A. in Advertising/Journalism from Louisiana State University. 

She is a member of the Ragan Communications Leadership Council and sits on the boards of Dress for Success New Orleans, The Donnelly Center for Nonprofit Communications at Loyola University and the PR Daily Communications Week Advisory Board. In addition to serving on the board of trustees of the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, she is also the 2023 chair of that organization’s Women United group. 

In 2021, she was named to the Communications Hall of Fame by Ragan Communications and PR Daily. She has also received numerous awards during her career for PR excellence from the Public Relations Society of America, PR Week Magazine and MarComm. 

She is the co-owner of UpLIFT NOLA, a yoga, meditation, art and wellness studio in Algiers Point New Orleans, and she holds a 200-hour RYT certification from the Shanti Yoga Training School, as well as specialty yoga certifications in inclusive and chair yoga focused on populations with limited mobility.  

Michelle has been married to Alan Delery since 1995 and they have three adult sons: Adam, Seth and Shane, and one granddaughter Audrey Rose. 
 

The Founders

United Way of Southeast Louisiana's Women's Leadership Council was founded in 2002 by the passionate women below, who united with the mission to improve the lives of women and children in our region.