Renee Aragon Dolese, an experienced strategic communications leader and former journalist, joined the Water Institute in 2024 as the Director of Marketing and Communications. Her mission, along with the talented Marketing and Communications team, is to convey the Water Institute’s value and impact by delivering powerful mission-driven campaigns. Aragon Dolese previously served at the Port of New Orleans where she was instrumental in building an award-winning strategic communications framework and team that continues to tell the Port’s stories to a variety of stakeholders.

Originally from Colorado and a graduate of Colorado State University, Aragon Dolese moved to New Orleans in 2005 with her husband, a New Orleans native, just ahead of Hurricane Katrina. Having covered the impacts of several storms and the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill as an editor at New Orleans City Business newspaper, she experienced firsthand the importance of resilient and equitable communities, sustainable environments, and thriving economies.

Aragon Dolese stays active in professional organizations and within her local community. She is a former board member for Hands On New Orleans, a volunteer action center and disaster response organization, and is outgoing Chair of the Communications and Public Relations Committee for the American Association of Port Authorities. She is also a member of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute Class of 2020, and the Public Relations Society of America. Aragon Dolese lives in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans with her husband and two children.