S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
THE
ROUNDTABLE Connections, Solutions, Ideas
S P O N S O R E D B Y:
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GENESIS 360 TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS. Managed IT Services • Call Center Operations • Staff Augmentation • Reseller Services • Cyber Security Web Services Cloud Backup Services • Data Analytics • Office 360/Email Support • Social/Video Medial Services President Craig Stevens has a degree in IT and as an as a officer in the Air Force, he was responsible for implementing IT systems across several platforms. Craig guarantees your technology needs will be handled with precision and attention to detail like no other. Craig and Genesis 360’s commitment to excellence are reflected in their being named Business Awards company of the Year 2022, SBA’s Louisiana Firm of the Year 2022, SBA’s 2022 Business Person of the Year 2022, SBA Veteran Owned Firm of the Year 2023, and INC 5000 fastest growing company in America 2022 & 2023.
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• GROUND MAINTENANCE • BUILDING MAINTENANCE • CONSTRUCTION • IT SERVICES
S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
MEET THE ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS Steve Webb
President/CEO Neighbors Federal Credit Union
Craig Stevens Owner/Founder Genesis 360, LLC
Kathy Trahan
President/CEO Alliance Safety Council
Lionel Johnson Jr. Mayor St. Gabriel, LA
Clay Young Moderator
Chuck Daigle (not pictured), CEO, Ochsner Baton Rouge & Lake Charles
Trends and Topics
FOR THE PAST six years, Business Report has invited influential thought leaders to a unique Roundtable to gather their opinions on some of the most critical issues facing our community. 2024 topics include
the economy, artificial intelligence, workforce issues, healthcare and more. In these pages, leaders share their thoughts on the trends that are transforming our businesses, impacting our work, and reshaping our society.
Comments made during the Roundtable have been edited and condensed for clarity and for space. Read and share the online version at businessreport. com/2024Roundtable.
Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024
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S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
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ased on previous experiences, I really don’t want to skim over the issue of regional flooding. I think it is something that we all need to keep on our radar. But probably our most pressing issue for the region will be transportation. As we talk about subjects such as a new Mississippi River bridge, the expansion of Highway 30, LA 415 Connector, improving congestion on Airline Highway and Florida Boulevard, more people moving into Ascension and Livingston while working in other parishes … transportation is a real concern. The construction on I-10 that is happening now and will continue for the next few years, will also be one of the most pressing subjects for our region in the coming year. —Lionel Johnson
M
y response is quality of life. Our communities are not growing in population. We have to talk about things like infrastructure and transportation and beautification of our cities. If we want to be proud of our community and see it grow and flourish, we have got to focus on all the key items that really impact the quality of life as a whole. It’s easy to list the top three—traffic, education, and crime. Just this morning, there was a wreck on the Mississippi Bridge. Traffic was snarled. We are building a new bridge, but it will not resolve the issue we had this morning whatsoever. —Steve Webb
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ith the tremendous amount of work on the horizon, two of the biggest challenges our industries are facing are permitting requirements and skilled labor shortages. For the work to progress, we must quell the misinformation circulated by out-of-state, anti-industry activists coming to our region and often usurping the needs of the local community to further their own agenda. Local projects can be stalled at local permit hearings when “concerned citizens” from other states outnumber local industry representatives. So with so much work on the horizon and the limited skilled workforce available, not only do we have to do more with less people, but we must make sure our industrial workforce rallies in support of these projects by showing up at events like permit hearings. Decisions at these hearings will impact our citizens’ livelihoods and cannot be left to chance. I also believe the 2024 elections are going to be huge for our industry in terms of whether the state climate remains amenable to our industry and to our local contractors and their need to work as well. —Kathy Trahan
O
What do you see as the most pressing issue for the Baton Rouge area in 2024?
ne thing that stands out to me personally and professionally is the rising cost of insurance. I have an example on a personal level … for my home, my insurance policy was renewed last year and I got a notice a couple of months prior that the insurance company was pulling out so I had to go and search for a new insurance company. My rate went up $400 a month. That is a lot of disposable income for the average consumer. Professionally, with my business, the same thing happened on our general liability this year. Our general liability insurance carrier decided to pull out of Louisiana, so we had to search and find other general carriers. To be able to fix the rising cost of personal and professional insurance is a big challenge. I don’t have the answer, but I am hopeful that our new insurance commissioner, Tim Temple, will. —Craig Stevens
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orkforce development is, without question, one of the biggest issues facing our state. According to BRAC, the Baton Rouge region has $17 billion in new business projects being considered in the feasibility stage. We must develop and recruit a skilled workforce in order to ensure these projects come to fruition. It’s critical that we find a way to retain the bulk of the 20,000+ students who graduate every year from one of our local universities and colleges, and our vocational and trade schools. This is our future. We need all levels of government and business working with these schools—and the individual graduates—to create a sustainable pipeline for jobs. We also need education to partner with students and young people to develop an understanding of career paths and opportunities. Crime is another major issue facing our community. Economic development and opportunity for all is one of the key solutions to reducing crime and building a place where people can be productive and more harmonious. At the very basic level, humans need economic security, respect and self-esteem. They need to feel valued and have the opportunity to contribute to our society and to one another.
—Chuck Daigle Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024
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S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
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e have a tendency to group with people who look and act like us. This is a conversation I had with my 14-year-old daughter: I understand you’ll have your group and you don’t have to be friends with everybody else, but at least establish a rapport or relationship and have respect for every other group out there. I think the same thing should happen in the workforce. As managers, we need to come to the point where we hire the best person regardless of whatever. It should come to the point where we have respect for that individual and their professional capacities. So one of the things we have done is reformat our open enrollment. For government, by law, we have to do ethics and sexual harassment awareness, but this year we included diversity, equality, and inclusion just to have that conversation about respecting everyone. I don’t have to like you or be your best friend, but on a professional level I will respect you and we will get the job done. —Lionel Johnson
I
am thrilled to say we started a conversation with my board to create diversity and that definition is going to mean something different to everyone and what we are trying to achieve. You might think of race and gender, but there’s also age and professional experience. Most boards are made up of people my age or older, so we’ve been really trying to attract a younger person for a more diverse experience in the industry. We talk about a culture and a workplace full of respect. Respect is a mutual term that people do understand. I have lunch with every new employee to discuss this. We deal with people all day long from all walks of life. People walk in the door and they might have $10 or $10 million. It’s not for you to judge the person. Just respect them and thank them for choosing to do business with us. Unfortunately, the DEI conversations have gotten very polarized. It means this to one person, and something else to another. Let’s not judge people. Let’s just respect them. —Steve Webb
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e refined our focus on a diversity and inclusion strategy at Ochsner Health in 2020. We hired a system vice president and chief diversity officer, and created a division partnered with human resources to educate our team and raise awareness of our different and unique perspectives, and the strengths of our team through our differences. Our goal is to ensure that all patients and visitors feel welcomed, comfortable and are able to give the needed input on the care they receive. In addition, it’s important that each member of our team, regardless of their role, background or differences, feels valued and understands their role is equally important as other roles when it comes to ensuring the highest quality of care for our patients. Our training, education and onboarding of new team members also focuses on Ochsner’s values of patients first, integrity, compassion, teamwork, excellence and inclusion. I can tell you from a firsthand perspective how these programs have made a difference with communication and understanding among our individual teams.
—Chuck Daigle
What steps are you taking to achieve diversity and inclusivity in your workforce?
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M
y background is in corporate America and the Air Force. In the military, we were “purple,” meaning we were a blended group of people with different backgrounds, but one mission which was to serve and protect our country. When I was in corporate America as Director of Operations for Circle K, my store staff consisted of 95% women and that’s when I got the chance to see the resiliency of women in the workforce. So I started to evolve and ask, “How do I bring women into the construction (male-dominated) space? How do I find that quality female who can do the work?” I am not asking her to pick up 100 pounds or anything like that. I am asking her, ‘Can you do QA, quality assurance? Can you handle safety compliance?’ Making sure that person can handle those specific roles is optimum for me because again, the resiliency that women bring to the table can’t be matched. Just the thought of being pregnant for nine months blows my mind. But that just puts it into perspective; the resiliency of women. —Craig Stevens
veryone should have the opportunity to earn a living so they can support themselves and their loved ones. Ensuring every student comprehends the intricacies of safety protocols in their preferred language is one way that we help support a diverse workforce. Historically, we have worked alongside industry personnel to develop site-specific orientations in multiple languages. This year, we really dug in our heels to support workforce diversity in our region by hiring a fluent Spanish instructor with industry experience. We are now able to offer Basic Orientation Plus® (the reciprocal contractor safety awareness training program) in Spanish at our Gonzales location weekly. Over the next year, we will be translating several more of our flagship courses to Spanish. Meeting people where they are is important—especially when it comes to safety training. —Kathy Trahan
BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024 | BusinessReport.com
S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
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hen my daughter graduated Baton Rouge High 8 or 9 years ago, I encouraged her to leave the state. She ultimately chose to go to University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which was fine, but my intention was for her to experience what I got when I was in the military. I traveled the world. I spent time in Europe and Asia, and I got a chance to see a different perspective on life. Well, a month ago she got accepted into a chiropractic school in Dallas, but I think she will come back to Louisiana at some point because of our unparalleled culture, just as I did. I think you are able to attract and retain people with the culture. Additionally, keeping your core values and ensuring that all the employees embrace it, coupled with the vision, will continue to drive them to stay with the company. —Craig Stevens
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emote and hybrid work has opened the door to a new approach to hiring, where companies can tap into a larger and more diverse pool of talent, regardless of their location. However, when employees work remotely, there is not an immediate connection or understanding of exactly what the organization does and how they fit in with everyone else’s roles. So on the front end, you have to spend a lot more time orienting new team members—not just on your company, but on your members, your stakeholders and your industry. One way we support this is by incorporating daily standups. Everyone has varying workstyles, and some thrive with more peer-topeer interactions while others may consider that a distraction. Hybrid work environments allow people to work in ways that are most effective and efficient for them, but it must also align with what the organization needs to thrive. —Kathy Trahan
How do you manage hybrid work environments, and how do you retain native talent and recruit outside talent?
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ne concern with remote and hybrid work is how do you maintain a sense of belonging to something when you are not there? We now have employees working in California, Florida … five years ago, I would have said, “Nah, good luck. Call me if you come home to Louisiana.” But we’ve learned that we can maintain a relationship with them (remotely). My son is in Boston right now. At least he picked a place I want to go visit. I have convinced my wife that I can fly to Boston quicker than I can drive to Houston so it’s a good thing. After all, how do you understand what the rest of the world has to offer if you never go see it? You need to experience that yourself. We are a community of good, compassionate, caring people, and when you come to other places and you don’t see that as much, it makes you want to go home. —Steve Webb
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t boils down to messaging. We have to figure it out as a region. Maybe it is a combination of things. Maybe it is our hospitality, our industries, or our universities. We need to do a better job of branding the region. We have to find a way as leaders to help people understand all the great things we are doing in our culture and in our industries. —Lionel Johnson
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s far as attracting talent, the entire Ochsner system has worked very hard over the past several years to build a culture of appreciation, trust and respect. We also have a strong commitment to workforce development. Over the past two years alone, Ochsner has invested several million dollars to fund about 30 separate workforce pathways with partnering programs and academic institutions that serve more than 1,200 individuals in Louisiana and Mississippi. These programs focus on increasing the number of nurses, making it easier for high school and college students interested in healthcare to enter training programs, and helping our existing employees advance. —Chuck Daigle
Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024
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S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
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chsner is growing a robust AI program that’s focused on making our clinicians more efficient and our response times quicker. It’s amazing to hear from our team how the technology is already impacting our delivery and quality of care. Healthcare involves massive amounts of information in nearly every aspect of what we do—patient treatment, research, medication, community health. AI is an incredible tool for organizing data, recognizing patterns and helping point out things much quicker. In one of our latest pilot projects, we’re using AI to manage patients’ messages to their care teams. Last year alone, we handled several million messages from patients across the Ochsner system. We’ve also seen an impact with imaging. AI can look at a brain scan or X-rays for signs of a possible stroke, for example. If something shows up, the program flags the image so doctors can perform an expedited review and plan for care. —Chuck Daigle
Artificial Intelligence has become an essential technology in the business world. How are you incorporating it into your own industry?
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e have a couple of AI projects that will go live next year. We have not been hesitant to invest in the technology. It doesn’t mean we are anti-people. I love my people and we have a great team, but we are trying to make sure that we can leverage the technology to take care of more of the mundane, transactional items that are repetitive and kind of mindnumbing so that our people can have more critical conversations with our membership. We are making sure that we are being efficient and that we are the modern organization that the future community expects in banking. —Steve Webb
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e offer an AI-driven remote proctoring solution that allows workers to complete training 24/7/365. The AI software flags anomalies and forwards them to human reviewers to assess whether any infractions occurred during the session. This allows discretion to be applied when necessary. This AI technology allows us to scale up quickly for unplanned outages and large turnarounds, unlike online human-proctoring services that can get bottlenecked by the availability of trained personnel. Using AI responsibly requires forethought. Early adopters need to know the source of the AI and understand the terms of using the software. Proprietary information can be inadvertently shared or forfeited when being placed into AI applications. Overall, however you intend to use AI, it must make sense. Using AI just for the sake of AI is like using automation for the sake of automation. At Alliance, we are intentional about how we use AI … we identify where AI applications make the most sense and provide the most value. We do this by thinking about how it can accelerate our business processes and our team’s productivity. —Kathy Trahan
INFRASTRUCTURE
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f our infrastructure in this state is not dramatically different from today in 10 to 15 years, shame on us. If we don’t have rail from major city to major city, or if we haven’t built up the river to accommodate the things happening in the chemical facilities, shame on us. If we don’t have broadband in every nook and cranny of this state, shame on us. The same goes for updating our roads, our interstates and replacing our bridges that are failing … the money is there. If we don’t look drastically different in 10 to 15 years in terms of infrastructure, shame on us. — Lionel Johnson
OPPORTUNITY
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ake for example the CHIPS Act … we are in talks with the US Department of Commerce on this issue, and the president has set aside billions of dollars for it. The CHIPS Act would bring semiconductor manufacturing to the states rather than having China do it. It’s a lot of money and there are so many companies that can be a part of that, so we are trying to figure out how do we scale. How do I help other businesses participate? What I am really trying to do is bring opportunities to Louisiana and then be able to share a piece of the pie.
—Craig Stevens
Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024
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S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
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uring times of tragedy or disaster, we come together and have those conversations, but once the problem appears to be solved, we go right back into our silos. We need to do a better job of branding the region and not just those things that we as a particular industry, governing entity, or private business do well. Build up and support other people and organizations even if there is no direct benefit to you. I like the term “facilitative leadership.” Being leaders among leaders … coming together and having the discussion on ways to benefit the region. —Lionel Johnson
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think the brand in this community is that we are caring and compassionate people. People will give up their time, their talent, or their financial resources more than any place I have ever been. We can create a better way to communicate our opportunities to do good work. We have a number of nonprofit organizations that do amazing work in Baton Rouge, but how do we make sure we are not duplicating services? That is a little bit of a frustration. And it’s easy to talk about the bad things. Criminals make up a very small percentage of the problem in Baton Rouge, but it’s not a ‘50% of the population’ problem. It’s 5%. So let’s focus on the 95% that really do great things in Baton Rouge. Let’s highlight the amazing nonprofit work that is being done in this community and maybe we can fire up some people and create some passion for all the good things that are happening here. —Steve Webb
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e know there are challenges we face in Louisiana, but we also know we’ve made progress, and there’s an opportunity to make even more progress. There’s a willingness to work together, and there’s an understanding that we’ll need creativity and innovation in how we try to meet this state’s needs, especially healthcare. And it’s absolutely critical that we address these issues. Healthcare touches on so many aspects of our lives in terms of public safety, economic development, a strong workforce and any number of other socioeconomic issues. —Chuck Daigle
Compared to other markets, are we speaking as one cohesive voice … government, business, industry … to promote our “brand?”
T
A
fter participating in a True Alignment® workshop, we determined that although we had components of a participative and authentic culture in some areas of our organization … for the most part, we are an expert culture. Our services and training are regulatory and compliance driven. Our members expect us to provide them with accurate information. Working in your area of expertise is how we add the most value internally and to our members. Everyone doesn’t need to participate in every meeting. It’s okay to have silos. When you need to collaborate, you meet, you co-create, and then you go back to your area of expertise. Our expertise is creating quality content and delivering it in ways that save time and resources. We encourage our teams to stand in their area of expertise and, when needed, we assemble the appropriate experts from across the organization to solve the regulatory and compliance training and reporting issues our industries face. —Kathy Trahan
here is so much growth opportunity here in the state. I think the branding piece is tied to the quality of life. Louisiana has the lowest cost of living among most states and that’s an attraction. The problem is that companies don’t want to move here because of the crime, for instance, or the high insurance costs. So we have to figure out … how do we brand a quality of life that may be mirrored around the cost of living? And then promote the great things that Louisiana has to offer, the unique culture, for example. —Craig Stevens
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Expert Cancer Care
Close to Home
Tyesha Taylor, NP Hematology Oncology Baton Rouge
Ochsner Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center have clinically integrated to provide advanced cancer care, right here in Louisiana. That means access to life-saving clinical trials for innovative therapies, more specialists and more resources for our patients. Through this collaboration, Ochsner is the first and only provider in Louisiana with a fully integrated cancer program based on MD Anderson’s standards and treatment plans. Learn more at ochsner.org/EndCancer. Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Ochsner Cancer Center – Baton Rouge
Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Ochsner Medical Complex – The Grove
S P O N S O RED C O N TEN T
RECESSION & INTEREST RATES
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think we are going to be in a period of high interest rates for some time … at least the next 24 to 36 months. You know, it is shocking to us today to see interest rates staying around 7% … we got spoiled for more than 20 years when it stayed around 3%. I am actually old enough to remember that my first mortgage was double digits, and I was happy to get it. In some households, life is going to get more expensive. A car costs a little more than it used to, and the interest rate makes that car cost even more, and then there are the insurance rates. We have to adjust our habits. About 75% of the GNP is based on consumer spending, not on government spending, not on inventories. It’s based on you and I going to Walmart and Costco and wherever else we go out to eat and so forth. The consumer has been pretty resilient so far, but I am curious to see how we are able to maintain that going forward. As for the economy, the Baton Rouge community is pretty resilient and we have a lot of safety nets between state government, the university systems here, the medical complexes … those industries are pretty much recession-proof. Everyone thinks the petrochemical industry is all we have. It’s not, but I’m glad we have it. So being in the Greater Baton Rouge area is actually a good place to be. We don’t ever quite see the highest of the highs in the economic good times, but we rarely see the lowest of the lows in the economic down times. —Steve Webb
Participants offer their opinions and expertise on targeted topics.
HIGH-TECH, HIGH-TOUCH HEALTHCARE
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oft skills and human touch is really the bottom line for our entire industry, especially because healthcare can be so fast paced and filled with high-pressure situations. We remind ourselves every day that everything we do at Ochsner is for the patient. It doesn’t matter what your job title is … if you’re employed by Ochsner, you’re ultimately here for our patients. We are a high-touch, high-tech industry, and we interact with patients and families at their most vulnerable times. We have very complex technology, advanced pharmaceuticals, and our team has incredible training and skill sets. But our patients and our community are why we’re here, and it’s important that they know we care about them. We have training programs in just about every discipline of care delivery. These can range from training in aspects of customer service to clinical protocols, to interpretation of clinical results. As an organization, Ochsner is constantly learning. The Ochsner Learning Network is our internal online training and continuing education system that enables us to deliver ongoing training for the growth and education of our colleagues. And because it’s online, it’s much more convenient for everyone.
—Chuck Daigle
STRONGER COMMUNITIES
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believe my administration has worked well trying to reposition our relationships with local industry in St. Gabriel. We have been very supportive of them, particularly if they are looking to modernize their facilities. They are bringing in new products that are environmentally friendly and we have been very encouraged by that. I feel like we are doing really well at fostering relationships, talking the same language, trying to be more efficient and more effective. We are just putting it out there that there are some good actors in environmental and chemical fields, and we support them. Another priority is residential growth … we’ve had very little pushback because there is a real desire to grow. Also, investment in electric vehicles and bringing a grocery and other retail to St. Gabriel. What’s essential for me is sound policy, open communication, helping people understand the pros and cons of the issues that affect us, and why we decide to go in a certain directions. We try to stay above the noise, but we know it will always be there. —Lionel Johnson
GROWTH AND CONSTRUCTION
WELLNESS BEYOND SAFETY
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e must spend extra time and effort reaching out to people, whether they are working remotely or not, making sure they stay and feel connected. There’s been a lot of publicity about the high rate of suicide in the construction industry. It’s critical that we foster human connection and educate our members on what they should pay attention to—disengagement, tardiness or other out-ofcharacter acts. There is a lot that has to happen in terms of mental health education. We have to ensure that workers are aware of the resources and the opportunity to receive the support they need. Most companies offer an EAP, but there is nothing like having someone who notices when you are out of sorts, particularly when you are a remote worker. It’s very difficult to get a pulse on that, but it’s important from the safety perspective of our industry. —Kathy Trahan
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e are pretty broad and diverse, but if you take the construction division which consists of commercial, industrial, and federal, we are expecting massive growth. You know, Dr. Loren Scott said a few weeks ago that the metro area is getting $12 billion dollars’ worth of industrial projects with $19 million in the queue. That is exciting news for us. We learned at a recent conference in San Antonio that there are more coastal restoration projects in the next two years than in the last five combined, and many of them are in South Louisiana. In fact, we just finished a project in Grand Isle which is a few million dollars. The IT sector is going to be the same. I have said for a long time that our IT division is going to be bigger than all the divisions combined because 99% of businesses use IT services. So whether it’s as simple as managed services or as intricate as AI or cybersecurity, we have to position ourselves to go after those opportunities. And part of the growth model for us is how do we marry the two? How do we create a product or service for the average construction company? I just see continuous massive growth. I think it will come to the point that we can cherry-pick which opportunities we want. —Craig Stevens Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, January 2024
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