Preston Castille is president and CEO at Helix Community Schools, an innovative network of elementary and secondary public charter schools serving students in south Louisiana. In Baton Rouge, the network includes Helix Mentorship & Maritime Academy, Helix Aviation Academy, and Helix Legal Academy. In Opelousas, Helix is now building and developing Helix Artificial Intelligence & Medical Academy and Helix Energy & Agriculture Academy. Helix AI & Medical will open in 2025 and Helix Energy & Ag is scheduled to open in 2026. 

Castille is also an elected member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE). He previously served as board vice president, chair of the Academic Goals Committee, and chair of the School Innovation and Turnaround Committee. Elected in 2019 and reelected in 2023, his district includes 14 parishes.

Castille has been a Southern University Law Center adjunct law professor for more than 20 years, where he currently teaches Education Law and Policy. He previously taught at the LSU Law School for eight years. He is a member of the board of trustees and general counsel for the Southern University System Foundation and a former national president and general counsel of the Southern University Alumni Federation. A Tulane alum, Castille also served on the Tulane Law School Dean’s Advisory Board for five years.  Prior to law school, Castille worked as an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.

In 2009, the Louisiana Supreme Court appointed him as Judge Pro Tempore, and he presided over hundreds of civil and criminal trials and hearings. Castille retired as a partner and executive committee member of the Taylor Porter law firm in 2020, after 25 years of practice with the firm. Castille is a former president of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and president of the Baton Rouge Chapter of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society. Castille also served as a Louisiana delegate to the American Bar Association, a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Governors, and member of the Louisiana Law Institute.

A St. Landry Parish native, Castille graduated valedictorian of Plaisance High School where he was captain of the school’s marching and concert band.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Southern University and A&M College.  While at Southern, he served as student body president, was a student member of the Louisiana Board of Regents, and participated in the Meharry Medical College Biomedical Sciences Program.  Castille earned his juris doctor degree from Tulane University Law School. While at Tulane, he served on the Tulane Moot Court Board and was selected as a National Member of the The Order of the Barristers.  He is married and the father of three children.