Ryan Bordenave joined the Downtown Development District in 2008 and serves as the Retail Attraction Specialist for the DDD. His role is responsible for attracting local, regional and national retail, dining and entertainment concepts to the Downtown retail corridor of Canal Street. Ryan also spends a significant amount of time on real-estate development, property research, architectural history, demographics, pedestrian traffic and co-managing the DDD’s Façade Improvement Program. During his 11 years with the DDD, he has worked with numerous national brands including: Neiman-Marcus, Nordstom, Tiffany & Co., H&M, True Religion, M.A.C., The Art of Shaving, Williams-Sonoma, RH and Arhaus.
Before he joined the DDD’s staff, he worked for General Growth Properties (GGP), which at that time owned and managed Riverwalk Marketplace. During that time, he landed several major events to Riverwalk including: the Allstate Sugar Bowl Fan Fest, a live production of 106&Park, the Netflix Live on Location event with Golden Globe award winning actor Dennis Quaid, and the Arena Football League’s Extravaganza Concert with recording artist STYX. At the start of his professional career, he worked for Zehnder Communications, which at that time served as the marketing agency of record for the DDD.
A graduate of Brother Martin High School and the University of New Orleans, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Advertising. Outside of his work with the DDD, he is a media consultant for NPR member station WWNO 89.9 FM and has renovated two century-old houses in New Orleans. Ryan is a member of the Preservation Resource Center, is a 2013 graduate of Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans, a 2014 graduate of the CBNO Brian Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum and a 2017 graduate of the New Orleans Ambassadorship program. He is a past vice-chair for the Friends of Lafitte Greenway. He currently serves on the Alumni Board for Brother Martin High School. Ryan is a life-long resident of New Orleans and resides in the City Park neighborhood.