Mike Harper attended Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. He and his wife, Ronna, are proud of their three children, Danyelle, Victoria, and Andrew.
He began his public service as Police Juror for Beauregard Parish knowing that “It Takes a Village”. That requires everyone working together for a common good. He served as a board member of the Beauregard Community Actions Agency. Mike was elected to the Beauregard Parish Fair Association and later elected to the Executive board of the Fair Association. He is a past member of the Deridder chapter of Rotary Club International. He previously served on the Resource Advisory Committee for Kisatchie National Forest. In focusing on Jobs Creation, Mike represents Beauregard Parish on the Regional Planning Commission of Southwest Louisiana and was elected Chairman of that Board in 2023. Mike has been appointed to several board positions for NACO (National Association of Counties) as a representative of Beauregard Parish.
Mike had previously been a volunteer for the American Red Cross of Southwest Louisiana prior to serving as a Police Juror where he was trained in Mass Care, Shelter Operations, Damage Assessment and Emergency Response Vehicle training which was excellent preparation for the housing of Hurricane Katrina victims in August of 2005 and the Beauregard Parish damage in September (a month later) from Hurricane Rita.
He had surveyed the parish schools as possible Red Cross Shelters as a volunteer and managed Shelter Operations for the Red Cross during hurricane Lily evacuations in 2003 and Shelter Operations at Merryville during Sabine river flooding.
Mike was President when COVID-19, Hurricanes Laura and Delta affected the Parish in 2020 then the Recovery efforts. As President, he was involved in attracting CANFOR to the area then was welcoming of the reopening of the previously closed Mill in the southern part of the Parish by INTERFOR. These two projects netted those “Family Supporting” jobs that he longed to see.
He believes in government by the people and for the people. Although the regular management of the parish is what he was elected to do, Mike believes in involving the public in long term, major decisions. He spends much of his spare time building working relationships across various public agencies. This effort was proven successful in Beauregard Parishes response to the hurricane related events and Economic Development.
His continuous effort as a public servant is to create “Family Supporting” jobs and improving Quality of Life for Beauregard Parish residents.