Cowart Confirmed As Parish Government’s New Director Of Finance

AMITE—Team Tangipahoa has a new Director of Finance.

Missy Cowart, CPA, was nominated by Parish President Robby Miller and confirmed by the Tangipahoa Parish Council to assume the leadership role.

She succeeds longtime finance director Jeff McKneely, who has been hired as CFO for the Tangipahoa Parish School System.

Cowart is a longtime Tangipahoa Parish resident who has served in Parish Government since 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Southeastern Louisiana University and has been a Certified Public Accountant for more than 20 years.

Since 2017, she has served as the Parish’s Director of Accounting and Grants. In that capacity, she has handled day-to-day financial operations for the parish. She oversees spending of public funds and ensures they are handled according to local, state, and federal guidelines. She also leads the parish’s grants team, which actively searches for funding opportunities from private, state, and federal partnerships.

“We are proud to announce the promotion of one of our own with the appointment of Missy Cowart to Director of Finance,” Miller said. “Not only has Missy been an exceptional accounting department leader, but she has also been instrumental on the grants side in helping our parish recover from two major floods events, a national shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hurricane Ida. We are proud to promote her to this new role.”

“Tangipahoa is my home, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve the people of our parish in this capacity within Tangipahoa Parish Government,” Cowart said.

Cowart is married to John Cowart, and they are the proud parents of two sons, Joshua, who is an SLU Lion Legacy Student, and Jacob, a junior high school student at Oak Forest Academy.

She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association. She is a member of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, National Association of County Officials, and Office of Public Administrative Officials of Louisiana.