BATON ROUGE--Tommy Darensbourg, the longtime director of communications and education services at the Louisiana Municipal Association, will retire on Dec. 31, 2012, after 28 years of dedicated service to the state’s cities, towns, and villages.

Serving Louisiana’s municipalities under three executive directors – (the late) Charles J. Pasqua, L. Gordon King and Tom Ed McHugh – Darensbourg has been responsible for directing the association’s public relations efforts, publications management, and serving as editor of the weekly LMA Legislative Report during regular sessions of the Louisiana Legislature as well as managing editor of the association’s monthly news journal, the Louisiana Municipal Review.

Darensbourg also has worked with state and federal agencies and departments, consultants to local governments, representatives of nonprofit organizations, and staff colleagues to produce and moderate monthly training webinars on a broad variety of topics of interest to elected municipal officials, administrators and public employees.

The association’s officers, executive board and membership honored Darensbourg at the conclusion of their 75th annual convention on Aug. 4 in Lake Charles.

Darensbourg plans to assume a full-time career as a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Red Stick Partners in Baton Rouge and engage in public relations consulting.

Ashley Porche, MPA, of Baton Rouge, previously a quality specialist with the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, will succeed Darensbourg and assume the LMA communications director’s role, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Ironically, before joining the LMA staff in October 1984, Darensbourg served four years as a public relations assistant in the community relations department of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, one of the health care facilities in the FMOL Health System.