Arnold B. Baker, is a maritime and logistics entrepreneur, who before the launch of Black Marlin Marine, LLC, served as the CEO of MEL Consulting Engineers, the oldest Black owned engineering firm in the South. 

After college, Baker began a career in regional mall management and development with Simon Mall Management, Homart Mall Development and then General Growth Properties.  After such he served as Assistant to the Mayor for Policy, Planning & Development where he managed over two billion dollars in public private projects that included the Ritz Carlton and the Sports Arena. 

He left the City to take over as Managing Member of Centergy Development Group, an inclusion program compliance consultancy before he and his Brother Whitney started  opening and operating concrete plants and material logistic companies in New Orleans, Louisiana and Houston, Texas. 

Arnold’s maritime experience includes a recent Chairmanship of the headquarter port of the largest portal system in the world, the Port of New Orleans.  This was preceded by a host of similar leadership positions at the US Chamber of Commerce, the New Orleans Public Belt Rail Road, The Louisiana State Airport Commission, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, The New Orleans Start Up Fund, The New Orleans Board of Trade, Powermovesnola Fund, the New Orleans Sports Foundation/New Orleans Bowl Commission and the South East Louisiana Concrete Association to name a few.  

Currently while serving as the Chairman of the Southern Black Chamber of Commerce, he is very active in a host of offshore, mariner, and oil & gas trade and business associations.

Mr. Davillier also represents a number of professional athletes in the NBA and NFL concerning commercial transactions throughout the United States, including the acquisition of businesses, the establishment of 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations and the recovery of funds from third parties.

Mr. Davillier holds a Bachelor of Science degree in General Business from the University of New Orleans. He graduated cum laude from Tulane University Law School in 1994. While attending Tulane, Mr. Davilliar served as President of the Black Law Students Association and served on the Moot Court Board. He was inducted into the international legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, and won American Jurisprudence Awards for Security Rights and Obligations II. He is a recipient of the 2011 Leadership in Law Award from the New Orleans Business publication and the 2021 Multicultural Leadership Award from the Louisiana Diversity Council.

Mr. Davillier is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, New Orleans Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, American Bar Association, National Bar Association, the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, and the All State Sugar Bowl Committee. He is also a graduate of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute and has served on the boards of the Louisiana Children’s Museum, the National Conference for Community and Justice, the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce, and St. Augustine High School.

During his career he participated in EARNEST WILL Escort Operations of reflagged Kuwaiti Tankers; Operation PRAYING MANTIS, President Reagan's measured response to the Iranian mining of the USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS; Operation SOUTHERN WATCH enforcing the no-fly zone over Southern Iraq; Operation RESTORE HOPE in Mogadishu, Somalia among others.

"The Commander" rose through the ranks in the Navy and held critical leadership positions ashore and at sea including Fleet Support Officer for the Navy Center for Tactical Systems Interoperability, Deputy Director of the Policy and Strategy Deputy Directorate of the U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND where he worked for the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace, Deputy Director of Character Education at the United States Naval Academy, Executive Officer and Second in Command of the USS LASALLE(AGF 3), and Executive Officer of the Navy ROTC Unit at Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge.

Damon spent a good portion of his career formulating ocean temperature versus pressure gradients used to determine the most effective way to utilize sonar systems to detect submarines. His degree in Meteorology is from the University Of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He also holds a Master's Degree from the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Prior to joining the Black Marlin Marine team, Leland was missioned with identifying small, minority and gender specific business opportunities and creating diverse teams to optimize them.

This was being accomplished by teaming historically underutilized businesses and individuals with best of class and industry leading executives and corporations to structure minority program compliant firms in fulfilling public and private sector procurement and contracting commitments.

Leland received his undergraduate education at Cal State Northridge and the American Public University before obtaining a graduate certification in supply chain management from Duke University. His professional experience began as a B2B lead energy generation specialists using a practical data-driven approach to seamlessly integrate crew on site dotted line management of the logistics to facilitate last mile shipment and storage solutions from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

Leland is also a principal at the impact fund “Forty Acres Fund” that invests in small minority owned startups around the world.

Prior to joining Black Marline Marine as the lead visionary for their strategic approaches and initiatives, L.J. Falgout III was the Chief Strategy Officer for M.I.R International, a certified WBE firm providing project and program management for a host of regional and national top 100 firms.

While attending Louisiana State University obtaining a degree in political science, Mr. Falgout was at the same time a management trainee at Sub Sea International and a formal fundraiser for the Louisiana State Republican Party.

It was not long  after graduation before the sea salt in his DNA called him back to open waters. Falgout reentered the Maritime community, but this time working side by side with his iconic mariner Father.  They lead several divisions at United Tugs managing maritime, port and energy sector transportation projects globally.

Kelisha currently holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and after a brief career in nursing and medical consulting, transitioned to finance working as a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch and Thomas Waddell, Kelisha worked as Director of Public Relations for Kristin Palmer, New Orleans City Councilmember District “C”. 

Most recently, Kelisha lead the Supplier Diversity management team for Caesars Entertainment overseeing the Gulf South region and the DBE Regulatory Compliance for Harrahs New Orleans Casino & Hotel before becoming the executive director for the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce co-founded by Arnold Baker & Daniel Davillier.

Kelisha has participated in numerous leadership institutes as she fulfills her professional focus of  fostering economic development and sustainability by utilizing methods of opportunity awareness, education, and policy development that will organically stimulate the inclusion of local, small, minority and diverse business organizations throughout our region.

He is an industry leader, who utilizes data from diverse financial and information systems to shape and build forecasting tools to effectively improve organizational decision-making capability, resulting in increased profitability. 

After the receipt of a finance degree and a host of athletic honors from Hardin-Simmons University, Marcus garnered his MBA in Accounting from the University of St. Thomas - Houston.

Mr. Smith’s keen understanding of financial forecasting, planning and analytics fostered his strong ability to lead cross-functional teams at Salt & Light Energy as their CFO.

At Deloitte Consulting where he regularly exceeded financial and performance objectives, he was responsible for managing a performance programming portfolio that spanned Hong Kong, London and New York.   

Prior to such, Marcus served on special projects teams while still managing accounting and finance offices at Service Corporation International, United Technologies, and Penair Valves & Controls.

BMF is also a member/co-owner of IPREX, a corporation comprised more than 80 firms around the world that provides local expertise and an international brain trust for leading corporations globally. 

Virginia’s Public Relations clients and client–related initiatives in New Orleans have ranged from full communications responsibilities for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right organization and projects to strategy for Shell’s “Coming Home” campaign post Hurricane Katrina, which was designed to bolster New Orleans’ foundering economy and to reinforce much of what Shell’s 1100 plus employees loved about the City.

No other agency in the region has the depth, reach and diversity of experience in crisis management and in managing corporate, and institutional reputations than BMF. Clients are national and global, including many Fortune 500's.