Donna D. Fraiche

Donna D. Fraiche is a shareholder and member of the health care and public policy departments in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge offices of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz (“BDBCB”), one of the 100 largest firms in the U.S.  She serves on the Firm’s nominating committee and chairs its Women’s Initiative.  BDBCB has been recognized as having one of the top two largest health law practices in the nation with offices in a number of states and Washington, DC.

Ms. Fraiche was appointed the Honorary Consul-General of Japan for New Orleans in 2009 and re-appointed in 2013.  She was the guest of the Japan Foundation for a special tour and tutorial of Japan.  After the Great Earthquake of East Japan, she chaired a fundraising effort named The NOLAJapan Quake Fund and A Night for Nippon gala which raised substantial contributions for the disaster recovery efforts.  She also chaired an effort with the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation called “Japan – US  Reconstruction Symposium, Business Leaders for Reconstruction in Eastern Japan” and hosted honored guests from Kamaishi City.  She helped to host numerous official delegations from Japan to New Orleans to share best practices in disaster response and recovery.

She served as President and Chair of the Board of the World Trade Center, and led a Louisiana delegation on a trade mission to Costa Rica.  In 2003, the World Trade Center of New Orleans conferred upon her the prestigious Order of the Mark.  She is Chair of the Louisiana Health Care Commission and first woman President of the organization now known as the American Health Lawyers Association.  She was named Best Lawyers’ 2011 New Orleans Health Care Lawyer of the Year and is one of two Louisiana delegates to Vision 2020.  Ms. Fraiche is a former member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority; was chair of the Long Term Community Planning effort, and a member of the Health Care Committee and the Health Care Redesign Collaborative.  She appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and testified during a hearing entitled, “GAO’s Analysis of the Gulf Coast Recovery:  A Dialogue on Removing Obstacles to the Recovery Effort.”  She is a member of Women on Boards and serves as a Board member of two public companies.

Ms. Fraiche has received The Baton Rouge Business Report’s designation as an Influential Women in Business; the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planners Association; the Louisiana Association of Non-Profit Organizations’ Heroine Award; and was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.  Loyola University New Orleans presented her with its Integritas Vitae award, the University’s highest honor.  She served on the Board of The Academy of the Sacred Heart and received the St. Phillipine Duschene award, its highest honor.  Ms. Fraiche served as President of the Louisiana Bar Foundation.  She served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University and delivered the commencement address at the Law School graduation in 2001.   She is on the Board of the New Orleans Pro Bono Project and President of the Louisiana Chapter of Appleseed and on the Board of the Japanese Garden Foundation and the New Orleans Opera.

In 2003, Ms. Fraiche received an Elliot Fellow for serving as a delegate to the Conference, “Governing in the Global Age” at George Washington University, The Elliot School.  She served as Chair of the Women Rainmaker Division of the American Bar Association.  She is a member of the prestigious International Woman’s Forum (Louisiana Chapter), whose goal is to advance leadership across careers, cultures and continents by connecting the world’s most preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement.  Ms. Fraiche was honored by New Orleans CityBusiness as a “La Grande Executive” and as a Woman of the Year in 2003 and 2005.  She received the Young Leadership Council’s Role Model award and she was named by New Orleans Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in New Orleans.  Ms. Fraiche was the 2002 recipient of the New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce’s highest honor, the Joseph W. Simon, Jr. Memorial Award when she has served as Vice Chair for Public Policy for a number of years.