Business Report July 16 2019 by Baton Rouge Business Report

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COVER STORY - PAGE 39

PUBLISHER’S VIEW

6 Gov. Edwards is no conservative

STARTUP

25 Top 10 reasons why employees leave their jobs 26 The bottom line of BREC golf and zoo operations

8 Executive Spotlight: Al Moreau III

28 Beer money: Brewing industry economic impact

14 Entrepreneur: Natalie Ourso, Chad and Heather Carter

31 Public perceptions: 2019 Louisiana Survey highlights

17 Business Lunch: Sullivan’s Steakhouse

33 Design: Red Stick Social at Electric Depot

19 Evolution of an Idea: Pranam Superfoods

34 Real Estate Ticker

22 3 ways to improve your company’s onboarding process

36 Renter migration report

35 Cook

23 How to design a TED-caliber presentation

37 Top priced homes on the market

NEWS

119 Dom Peré stays true to his roots Determined to make it in Baton Rouge, Dom Peré is building Marex Services Group into a force in the international shipping sector. 122 Hitting the RESET button Good government groups are teaming up to get lawmakers behind good policy—but without big money, how successful will they really be? 124 The million dollar question A growing number of spec homes in the high-end residential market is creating a glut of inventory in some areas of Baton Rouge, tilting the scales toward buyers.

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EDITORIAL

Editorial director: Penny Font Executive editor: JR Ball Managing editor: Steve Sanoski Editor: Stephanie Riegel Online news editor: Deanna B. Narveson Staff writers: Caitie Burkes, Holly Duchmann, Annie Ourso Landry Digital content editor: Mark Clements Contributing writers: Gabrielle Braud, Tom Cook, David Jacobs, April Capochino Myers, Maggie Heyn Richardson, Meredith Whitten Contributing photographers: Brian Baiamonte, Marie Constantin, Don Kadair, Tim Mueller, Collin Richie

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Publisher: Rolfe H. McCollister Jr.

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Sales director: Kerrie Richmond Senior account executives: Marielle Land-Howard, Kelly Lewis Account executives: Mary Katherine Bernard, Lauren Jarreau Advertising coordinator: Brittany Nieto

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Editor: Lisa Tramontana Content strategist: Allyson Guay Account executives: Morgan Galvin, Judith LaDousa, Angie LaPorte, Dixie Roberts

CUSTOM PUBLISHING

Sales director: Erin Palmintier-Pou

MARKETING

Chief marketing officer: Elizabeth McCollister Hebert Marketing & events coordinator: Katelyn Oglesby Events: Abby Hamilton Community liaison: Jeanne McCollister McNeil

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Controller: Jessica F. Sharp Digital manager: James Hume Business associate: Kirsten Milano Business associate: Tiffany Durocher Office coordinator: Tara Lane Receptionist: Cathy Varnado Brown

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AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Audience development director: Benjamin Gallagher Audience development coordinator: Ivana Oubre A publication of Louisiana Business Inc. Chairman: Rolfe H. McCollister Jr. President & CEO: Julio A. Melara Executive assistant: Millie Coon Subscriptions/Customer Service 9029 Jefferson Highway, Suite 300 Baton Rouge, LA 70809 225-421-8181 BusinessReport.com email: subscriptions@businessreport.com Volume 37 - Number 23 ©Copyright 2019 by Louisiana Business Incorporated. All rights reserved by LBI. The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report (USPS 721-890 ISSN 0747-4652) is published biweekly by Louisiana Business Inc. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Business address: 9029 Jefferson Hwy., Ste. 300, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. Telephone (225) 928-1700. Periodicals postage is paid at Baton Rouge, La. Subscription rate is $59.00 for 25 issues, with 3 additional issues published annually in April, June and December. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, 9029 Jefferson Hwy. Ste. 300, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report cannot be responsible for the return of unsolicited material—manuscripts or photographs, with or without the inclusion of a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. Information in this publication is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. No information expressed here constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities.

CONTENTS

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126 Why layoff when you can ‘upskill’? Baton Rouge companies facing disruption are finding that retraining existing employees is often a better option than laying off the old and hiring the new. 128 Virtually the real thing ExxonMobil is partnering with LED and local IT firms to launch a virtual reality training initiative designed to boost Baton Rouge’s nascent tech sector. 131 Too good to be true Apprenti Louisiana is expanding the Baton Rouge tech workforce, opportunities. 135 Where is this shrimp from? Now you’ll know. A new Louisiana law requires restaurants to spell out where it gets its shrimp and crawfish. 138 Delivery on hold Louisiana-based Waitr rolls out new partnership terms, which some Baton Rouge restaurants say are hard to swallow.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

140 Want retail in your village? It takes an incentive Absent the density of residential rooftops to lure businesses, Livingston Parish turned to TIFs— and it’s working. 142 The business of real-world education Companies are partnering with area schools, like Walker High, to provide services and give students business experience. 144 Role reversal It starts with listening, but men must also have a voice when the topic is empowering women. 147 Diversity matters With inclusivity-demanding millennials taking over the workforce, here’s some advice on making your company more diverse. 151 Building a digital campus LSU is launching an ambitious distance learning initiative with the long-term goal of enrolling 30,000 students in online programs.

155 Bringing hope to low-income employees HOPE Ministries is working with companies to improve worker retention while helping employees break the cycle of poverty.

VIEWPOINT 159 The Big Picture 160 Random Thoughts 162 Inbox

YOUR BUSINESS 165 Company News 170 Moving Up 177 Flashback: 1984 178 Passion: Michael Hogstrom

• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

CELEBRATING

20 YEARS

WITH TIME COMES EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE.

“

Our partnership has allowed us to be totally focused on providing our patients with the best physical therapy

services available. From back when we had fewer than 50 employees, to our current 262, Spectrum Employee Services has been with us every step of the way. CHRIS PURVIS, Co-owner, Peak Performance Physical Therapy

“

”

John and Chad have been great to work with. From employee benefits to the management of Human Resources, they have far exceeded our expectations.

”

JOSHUA DAVIS, Owner, Accutemp

John Davis & Chadwick Cole

PAYROLL

TIME & LABOR

HUMAN RESOURCES

BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

SpectrumEmployeeServices.com 2762 Continental Dr, Ste 201 | Baton Rouge | BR: 225.755.8822 | NO: 504.533.8787

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

PUBLISHER’S VIEW

Gov. Edwards is no conservative

ROLFE MCCOLLISTER JR. IF YOU LOOK up John Bel Edwards on Wikipedia, it describes the governor as a “conservative Democrat.” Someone should correct that. Sure, as we know from the last election—as he endlessly told voters—the governor is prolife (due to his devout Catholic faith and a personal family experience) and he supports the Second Amendment. (What country boy in Louisiana doesn’t hunt and own a gun?) I respect that. While I admit those two positions conflict with the new socialist Democratic Party we see espoused in the presidential primary, Edwards’ conservative credentials end there. Other than that, he has a family tradition as a Yellow Dog Democrat. Like the liberal presidential candidates, he loves the unions, thinks big government should take care of folks, and believes there’s nothing wrong with raising taxes to “put a chicken in every pot.” He would make former populist Democratic governors like Huey Long and Edwin Edwards proud. But those old politics of the past are taking Louisiana backwards, not forward. Let’s be honest, Louisiana voters didn’t choose Edwards to lead. He won as the default “other guy” to former Sen. David Vitter, who was unelectable. Folks didn’t even know who Edwards was or that he was a Democrat for that matter. But they knew a lot about Vitter and a majority were not voting for him. After the way he trashed fellow Republicans Scott Angelle and Jay Dardenne, even they wouldn’t support him. I can’t blame them. Gov. Edwards had no real platform except to expand Medicaid. He did that. We saw other signs 8

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

of the yellow dog wagging his tail. In his first post-election speech, before the annual meeting of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, Edwards said, “You’re going to have a partner in the governor’s office.” He also told them he wanted to get rid of state Superintendent of Education John White. Just like his Democratic predecessors, Edwards was determined to take care of the unions that helped put him in office. Thank goodness he never had the votes on the BESE Board or in the House Education Committee. In 2015, the governor spoke at the CABL luncheon and was asked about new taxes. He coyly replied, “Have I proposed higher taxes?” You noticed he was hedging and didn’t say, “No, I will not raise taxes.” But there was another time just weeks before, during the campaign in a televised debate between Edwards and Vitter. The moderator asked both very directly, “Will you raise taxes on individuals or businesses?” Then candidate John Bel Edwards answered without hesitation, “No.” His subsequent actions made his statement and pledge untrue. Voters didn’t know it then. They were counting on that “West Point honor code.” It was just a matter of time and he started raising taxes. Edwards speaks about the deficit, blaming former Gov. Bobby Jindal and saying he had no choice but to raise over a billion dollars in taxes on business and individuals (giving us the highest sales tax in the nation). But many point to the repeal of Stelly Plan tax increase in 2008 as a leading cause of the deficit. And you know who voted for that repeal? Rep. John Bel Edwards, head of the minority party. While he voted for the repeal of Stelly, he and his Democratic Party friends voted against most other fiscal reforms proposed by Jindal to reduce spending—like pension reform (cost is insane) and the merging of SUNO and UNO (14 four-year universities is unsustainable). Jindal did manage to cut 20,000 positions in government and closed the archaic Charity Hospital system run by the state. If Gov. Edwards were really a

“conservative” he would be continuing to trim jobs. One of our former Yellow Dog Democratic governors was Edwin Edwards. He was a disaster for this state and did more harm in our past to multiple generations than anyone I can think of in my 63 years. It is shameful what this excon did to benefit himself and his friends—but especially pitiful is what he didn’t do for those in poverty who counted on him most. Edwin Edwards was convicted by the feds on 17 counts of racketeering, extortion, fraud and conspiracy to award state riverboat casino licenses. He got a 10-year sentence. Our current Gov. Edwards has whined often over the past three years, criticizing Jindal for all his problems. But on his own election night in 2015, he thanked Edwin Edwards, who was in attendance, for his help on the victory. He also attended a 2017 gala for Edwin Edwards’ 90th birthday as the “guest speaker.” And as Tyler Bridges reported this year in The Advocate, for “the hottest Superdome ticket in 10 years: Saints vs. Rams, among the select group of elected officials and political insiders who got their wishes realized, for free, in the governor’s state-provided suite” was ex-con Edwin Edwards and his wife. That speaks volumes. If Gov. Edwards is not embarrassed by the company he keeps, then he may have ignored recent reports and rankings that show our state is struggling and not going in a good direction. Louisiana, in finishing last in the U.S. News rankings, performed the worst among all states in the areas of economic opportunity, pollution, and crime and corrections. The state was also near the bottom in terms of economy (49th in economic growth) as well as education and infrastructure (both at 48th). This is the third year in a row Louisiana has finished 50th. In addition, from 2017 to 2018, Louisiana is one of only nine states that had a net loss of population—the fourth largest, with 27,914 people moving to other states. That is not good. If that ranking wasn’t bad

enough, last week a new one came out from CNBC and the headline read, “Louisiana finds itself in the bottom 10 of ‘Top States For Business.’” Louisiana was ranked 46th this year. “The good times are not rolling in a state with one of the nation’s weakest economies. Falling energy prices do not help,” CNBC wrote of Louisiana, citing poor ratings in the workforce, economy, infrastructure, quality of life, technology, business friendliness, cost of living and access to capital categories. In fact, Louisiana received either a grade of D or F in every category except for “cost of doing business,” where it received an A-. I decided to look back at the two previous rankings to see the cost of doing business. In 2017, we had a 44 ranking and the cost of doing business was ranked 4th-best. In 2018, our ranking remained at 44, but the cost of doing business rose to 7th. And now in 2019, our ranking dropped to 46th and the cost of doing business is now 13th. This is not moving in the right direction. Governor, higher taxes raise the cost of doing business. It may have helped you in the shortterm to create a surplus, but if you lose companies and jobs that surplus goes away quickly. Of course, Edwards’ solution is to change the constitution, embracing a $9 minimum wage that would just raise the cost of doing business even more. So as this election for governor is now underway—and with less than 90 days before we vote—you have to figure out which direction is Louisiana going. Are you happy with the present and optimistic about the future? What has Edwards really accomplished in his term? Are his views in sync with the people of Louisiana and will he even be able to work with a more conservative Legislature due to term limits? Study the candidates and look at their records. Listen to the debates. But get involved and vote. Your future is at stake. I believe we have seen the real John Bel Edwards over past 3 1/2 years, and his politics and populism reminds me too much of the last Edwards. No thanks.

Helping you face your future with confidence What will tomorrow bring? How will you face it? And most importantly, what can you do today to make sure you’re positioned for success? At Gallagher, we believe that providing the insurance, risk management and business consulting services that position you for success means being there to see you through every challenge, every decision, every step of the way. Let’s talk about where your journey is leading.

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Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

STARTUP EXECUTIVE S POTLIG HT

THEHeadliners

AL MOREAU III

Buzzing with anticipation

PRESIDENT/ CEO and PHYSICAL THERAPIST, MOREAU PHYSICAL THERAPY

“Our strategy is to continually look for ways that we can expand our services to grow within the areas we serve. Change is inevitable, and we are constantly seeking to ensure we are providing the services that fit the needs of the communities we serve.”

WITH THE STATE Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control working to finalize a permitting process, Louisiana businesses should be able to begin delivering alcohol to homes in the next month or so. Several Baton Rouge businesses and delivery services— including Alexander’s Highland Market and Waitr—have already expressed interest. Two bills signed into law in June by Gov. John Bel Edwards establish a number of rules for home alcohol delivery service. For one, all sales must be in factory-sealed containers. Delivery drivers will also have to verify customers are of legal age to purchase alcohol, and they’ll have to complete the same training as bartenders and waiters to ensure they’re not serving to intoxicated people. Among the rules still being hashed out: Whether or not food will need to be ordered with booze, and potential volume limits on sales.

THE BIG PICTURE

Living life fat, drunk and stupid

STEPHANIE RIEGEL COVE RSTO

ON THE SAME late February day that economic development officials from across Louisiana were gathering at L’Auberge Casino for the third annual Statewide Economic Development Summit, U.S. News & World Report was issuing its annual ranking of the 50 states. The timing could not have been more ironic. While the crowd at the summit was patting itself on the back for its economic development wins, and ruminating on such topics as how mayors can make better cities and the lessons we can learn from great corporate citizens like CenturyLink in Monroe and Sasol in Westlake, the U.S. News & World cial commer Report list was suggesting to the of select gests a rest of America that Louisiana is s Report Parish sug ing potentially a pretty awful place to live, work Busines Rouge leav ysis by t Baton T that is table. and do business. An anal s in Eas One can question the validESS MEN revenue on the propertie ER-ASS ity of such lists, which crowd our tax N OF UND dollars in lost email inboxes and find their way of PATTER onto the home pages of otherwise millions tens of respectable news sites with increasing frequency. But U.S. News & World Report is no Buzzfeed or Yahoo News. As list-making

E RIEGE L BY STEP HANICOLLIN RICHIE Y BY PHOTOGRAPH

REFLECTIONS

SPIRITUAL IRAS This feature is a tribute by our publisher in honor of Business Report founder, Rolfe H. McCollister Sr.

organizations go, it’s about as credible as they come. In fact, the data for the rankings came from McKinsey and Co., one of the foremost management consulting firms in the world, among other sources. Altogether, it measured the 50 states across 77 different metrics and crunched the numbers into seven categories. The Bayou State fared poorly in every one of them. Indeed, in no category did we even make it out of the bottom 10. The rankings, from best to worst, were as follows: quality of life, 42nd; economy, 44th; infrastructure, 44th; health care, 47th; crime, 48th; fiscal stability, 48th; education, 49th; and opportunity, 50th. Overall ranking: Dead last. “Zero … point … zero,” is the line that keeps running through my head, as I can’t help but recall the classic scene from “Animal House” when Dean Wormer reads John Belushi and his fellow fraternity brothers their abysmal, midterm GPAs. It’s the same scene where he warns them that “fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.” It was funny in the movie. It’s not so funny in real life. But that hasn’t seemed to bother us here in Louisiana, and there are plenty who still make light of our perennial also-ran status. Indeed, at the summit, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson seemed oblivious to the significance of the 50-state ranking. When asked about it, he struck a tone that was at once sarcastic and defensive. “If you’re going to put us on a

scale and talk about the birthsocial services and infrastructure weight of our babies, our mortality because we don’t have the money rate, a number of factors that are and refuse to raise taxes to genernot in our economic development ate it. lane, then maybe you’re going to Is it really because we don’t trust arrive in a place like that,” he said. government with our money? Or IN-DEPTH “We would want you to look at a because we don’t really believe the : list of how many projects we land, poor, the needy and the disabled how much foreign capital we have deserve the level of public assisinvested here … we’re proud to be tance they receive? in Louisiana.” Either way, the answer is trouThat last line about home state bling and it’s holding us back in pride earned an appreciative many areas—especially economic round of applause from many in development. Site selectors will the audience. After all, why admit tell you that all the tax breaks and to uncomfortable truths when it giveaways in the world won’t atmight spoil the perception that tract a major company to a marwe’re doing things right, especially ket that doesn’t have good schools, with so many people in the room? adequate capacity on its roads Not everyone was clapping, and bridges, a clean environment though. and safe neighborhoods with side“Did he really say that about low walks and bike paths. birthweight babies not being in The incentives may tip the our economic development lane?” scales in one direction or another, an incredulous woman asked me. but only among contenders that “How do they not get it?” are otherwise equal in the categoBy “they” she meant not ries that savvy professionals and Pierson, per se, but so many of the the companies that employ them state’s elected officials and polidemand: education, infrastruccymakers who have failed to unture, environment, health care. derstand the direct connection Which is why low birthweight bathat exists between education, bies and mortality rates matter in healthcare, the environment and connection with economic develinfrastructure on one hand and opment. The health and welfare economic development on the of a city or state as a whole affects other. the quality of life for everyone who Indeed, we tend to still think of lives there. You can only build so economic development only in many gated communities and sinterms of incentive packages, and gle-entry subdivisions. You can’t we’re pretty good crafting deals block out the systemic problems. that include tax exemptions and But why dwell on the negative, credits, shiny new office buildespecially in a state that has such ings built on the public dime, and great food and so many festicommitments to train workers— vals? Maybe fat, drunk and stupid none of which are bad, by the isn’t such a bad way to go through way. But we stop short of making life. meaningful investments in our

DUDLEY HALL has a father-son weekend at his ranch on the Brazos River near Mineral Wells, Texas. During this “right of passage” weekend where fathers call young men-sons into manhood, Dudley puts forth the IRA of manhood: Integrity, Responsibility and Accountability. Integrity is being true to yourself by having Biblical values or convictions at your core heart. As David expressed in Psalms 51:6, “behold, You desire truth in the innermost being and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Integrity is having what’s on the outside match what’s on the inside. Responsibility is not making excuses or blaming others for one’s shortcomings, but actually

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using them as opportunities to grow and mature—which is a lifetime journey. Accountability has at its heart what I John 1:7 expresses, “if walk in the Light as He (Father God) Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” True manhood, realizes that left to ourselves we are dangerous. We need to walk in community with other men, where we are honest, real, and authentic with each other. In other words, “walk in the Light” with one another. To find out more about this father-son weekend go to kerygmaadventures.com —COL Jeff Mitchell, State Chaplain, Louisiana National Guard

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, March 13, 2018

INSIDE

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• MARKET TRENDS • HOT RES IDENTIAL • AWARD-W AREAS INNING DESIGNS

BUSINESS REPORT,

July 3, 2018

eport.com | BusinessR

Bringing home the

GOLD

BUSINESS REPORT RECENTLY BROUGHT home three Editorial Excellence awards from The Alliance of Area Business Publishers for its work in 2018. The editorial team’s efforts on the 2018 Real Estate Report earned a gold award in the best auxiliary publication category, with the judges saying: “Written with authority and designed with the reader in mind, it’s an amazingly detailed and helpful publication.” Also, Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel won two awards, a gold in the best bylined commentary category, and a silver in the best body of work by a single writer category. Of Riegel’s editorials, the judges said her “commentary is lively and pointed. It explores big picture local concerns with clarity and wit.” Twenty-four judges from the University of Missouri School of Journalism reviewed 511 entries from 41 publications in the U.S., Canada and Australia for this year’s AABP awards.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

AL SECT ORS

Since its founding in Baton Rouge in 1977 by Al Moreau Jr., Moreau Physical Therapy has grown to include 14 locations in the Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans areas, while services have expanded to provide for aquatic therapy, pediatric therapy, neurological rehabilitation, wellness, weight loss, occupational health and preventative services. As for continued growth, Moreau III says “an area that we see great opportunities is in our loss prevention services working with industry and municipalities.”

NOT ON THE RESUME:

• He’s typically up at 5 a.m. on workdays. “I either spend an hour exercising or catching up on emails to prepare for my workday. After that I like to get breakfast going so I can spend some time with my family before everyone goes their own way with work, school, etc.” • He was inspired to follow his father and company founder, Al Moreau Jr., into the family business at an early age. “I remember following him around the clinic or sports events he covered as a young child and loving what he did to help people. I first consciously remember saying I wanted to be a physical therapist in the eighth grade and went from there.” • He enjoys “hunting, fishing, cooking, and spending time with family and friends” in his free time. • His first job was working as a lifeguard at Fennwood Hills Country Club in Zachary when he was 13 years old. “It taught me to put the safety and care of others first, and it was nice to earn my own money to use when I wanted.” • Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a top priority for the husband and father of three children aged 11, 14 and 16. “Starting my day early and exercising to stay focused has helped me. It’s important to me to be home in the afternoons and at my kids’ events, and to ensure that Charlotte and I take the time to have quick getaways or date nights together.” Read the full Q&A at businessreport.com.

DON KADAIR

VIEWPOINT

IN THE NEWS:

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #2

• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

I N BRIEF

The robots are coming SINCE 2010, THE global stock of robots in industry has more than doubled, and as many robots were installed in the past four years as over the eight previous. That’s according to a new report from global forecasting and quantitative analysis firm Oxford Economics. And while foreign countries such as China, Korea and Taiwan are accounting for the bulk of automation— as well as the human jobs they’re taking—the U.S. has lost some 260,000 jobs to robots since 2000. “This era

of automation presents significant opportunities for businesses to boost productivity,” reads the report. “But there will be winners and losers in the labour market as these opportunities are seized. Millions of workers around the world, across all sectors of the economy, will see many of the functions they were once paid to perform handled instead by new technology.” And in the U.S., the report says Louisiana is the most susceptible state to job losses due to automation.

CUMULATIVE JOBS LOST TO AUTOMATION SINCE 2000

340,000

260,000

100,000

(28 c ount ries)

550,000

400,000

MOST VULNERABLE IN THE U.S.

LEAST VULNERABLE IN THE U.S.

1 Louisiana

1 Hawaii

2 Oregon

3 Texas

3 Nevada

4 Indiana

4 Florida

5 NorthCarolina

5 Vermont

District of Columbia

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CORRECTION Brown and Root should have been included in the top engineering firms list that appeared in 2019 Real Estate Report issue. Business Report regrets the error.

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STARTUP

ENTREPRENEUR

“Our business is about giving people a better quality of life. We’ve been down the road of despair—we understand it. It’s our duty as humans to help other humans, and we try to do that by giving people a quality product that’s not going to break the bank.” —NATALIE OURSO

NatalieOurso, Chad and Heather Carter Owners and co-founders, Mountain Pure CBD

WHAT THEY DO

CBD products retailer

WEBSITE

mountainpurecbd.com

NEXT GOALS

Expand into wholesaling

DRIVEN BY PAIN AFTER SERVING IN Iraq, Army veteran Natalie Ourso struggled with PTSD and found herself on a plethora of medications. Struggling with unwanted side effects, she joined her best friend, Heather Carter, and her husband, Chad, on a holistic journey that introduced her to CBD, a compound found in marijuana and hemp plants known for relieving pain, anxiety and depression. Heather began experimenting with hemp-extracted CBD from Colorado, and found it started helping alleviate symptoms within a week. In late 2017, after a year of testing recipes, the trio launched Mountain Pure CBD, the first CBD retailer in Louisiana.

SCALING SALES BECAUSE OF CBD’S connection to cannabis, the fledgling company couldn’t secure a business loan, and initially struggled to garner support and sales. Using their personal savings and an American Express card, the trio focused on educational outreach to gain the community’s trust in the company and CBD products in general. Their first products were oil tinctures, a muscle rub and Vitalize, a CBD and moringa pill. To build the initial customer base, they gave away $40,000 worth of product samples. Nearly two years after a rocky start, the company’s products can now be found in more than 50 stores nationwide and they’ve grown enough to support two full-time employees.

CONTINUING TO CLIMB TWO MONTHS AGO, Mountain Pure launched its most ambitious product expansion yet, rolling out CBDinfused pet treats, bath bombs, lotions and soaps. They expect sales growth to come from health and nutrition shops. Despite the growth of the company, the trio still faces a handful of challenges that come with operating a CBD business in Louisiana. New regulations approved in this year’s legislative session banned CBD-infused beverages and edibles, causing them to abandon plans for an expanded vape line and gummies. They’re currently pursuing the permits that are now required to operate in the state. The three still consider themselves educators first, salespeople second. In the future, they’d like to begin wholesaling and launch a consulting branch of the company to help other entrepreneurs enter the CBD industry. “I know the potential for this industry,” Chad says, “and if we’re the first, we definitely won’t be last.” —Holly Duchmann • Photography by Brian Baiamonte

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Proudly powering Louisiana for nearly 100 years and counting. For nearly 100 years, Entergy has helped power Louisiana’s communities, families and businesses. And we’re committed to building a bright future for generations to come. So we’re building a stronger, more reliable power grid – and equipping it with smarter technology to detect and restore outages more quickly. We’re diversifying fuel sources to deliver the sustainable, affordable energy our customers need. And we’re investing millions in educational programs to provide Louisianans with the skills needed to fulfill the jobs of the future. We’re proud to power communities throughout our state. This is our home, and together, we power life.

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6/7/19 9:22 AM

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

We believe in amazing kids.

Nick Rauber and Tricia Hollis

with Swollfest Fishing Rodeo, an annual fishing tournament in Grand Isle, stand proudly in the Swollfest Café at the new Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital. Because of their generous $500,000 gift, the café is named in their honor.

To learn more or to make a gift to the new hospital, visit letsbuildamazing.com

STARTUP

TASTE

SULLIVAN’S STEAKHOUSE

BUSINESS

Lunch

EARLIER THIS YEAR, Sullivan’s Steakhouse’s corporate office decided to bring back lunch service to several locations across the country where it had previously been eliminated, including Baton Rouge. “We’re so well suited for business entertaining,” says Holly Wagstaff-Bellomo, Sullivan’s vice president of marketing. “It just made sense to add this daypart back into our operations.” The restaurant chain’s new lunch menu targets two markets: Diners in the mood for lengthy conversations or celebrations, and those who want an upscale lunch but need to hustle back to work. Aimed squarely at the latter, the fixed price Business Lunch lineup includes a starter, entrée and side dish for $19.50. There’s also a larger a la carte menu with more salads, sandwiches and entrees. The Business Lunch entree options include an intentionally straightforward lineup that allows diners to quickly select a protein of Delmonico steak, broiled salmon or the popular herb brick chicken. Starter options include a wedge or caesar salad, market fresh greens, or shrimp and lobster bisque. Side dishes include steakhouse classics like parmesan fries, garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach and thin green beans that have been trimmed, sliced down the middle, blanched and sauteed in clarified butter.

BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON • PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLLIN RICHIE

The herb brick chicken on the Business Lunch menu features a double breast of chicken coated with flour, baking soda, salt, rosemary and red pepper flakes, and pan seared in a hot skillet until crisp.

ADDRESS: 5252 Corporate Boulevard

Jeremiah Cornell pours a cocktail at the bar.

CUISINE: Steak-centric menu with seafood, salads and a la carte sides

Sullivan’s has three dining areas—the Martini Room, Ringside and Library rooms—with total seating of about 225. Private dining options are also available.

GENERAL MANAGER: Leighton Carbo

PHONE/WEBSITE: (225) 925-1161 sullivanssteakhouse.com/baton-rouge

MOOD: American steakhouse and cocktail bar PRICING: $$$-$$$$

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

SPONSORED BY:

Beyond T&E: Manage your commercial expenses the smarter way

o keep control of expenses, most companies have a business credit card for employees who travel, purchase inventory supplies, or have other responsibilities requiring them to spend company money. The right card can do much more than just aid in travel and day-to-day purchases. The best business credit card for you will depend on a number of factors, such as the size of your company and your priorities: cash back, rewards, travel, and, of course the amount of credit limit that you need. Business First Bank has a reputation for providing custom banking solutions, including personal and commercial banking, treasury management and wealth solutions. We checked in with Executive Vice President Alicia Robertson, chief treasury management, private banking and wealth solutions officer, to learn how a business can benefit beyond

paying travel and expenses from today’s commercial cards. Ample cash flow is a key priority for business owners, regardless of the size of the company, and having a business credit card makes it much more convenient to keep your expenses in check. Robertson says, “A commercial card is a more robust solution—not just your typical business credit card. They have evolved into a payables management tool providing many more features and benefits to companies.” Business First Bank’s commercial card provides owners with analytics to evaluate potential opportunities to save and drive more expenses to the card and achieve automation and efficiency. For information on commercial credit opportunities, contact your local Business First Bank at 1.877.614.7600 or visit b1BANK.com.

TAKE CHARGE Find the credit structure to fit your company’s unique needs. Some of the benefits a Business First Bank card holder enjoys are: Commercial cards are seen as a safer payment method than checks Faster method for paying invoices Extended cash flow Growing vendor acceptance More buying power

Looking for alternative options for a credit card? Business First Bank can help with: Working capital lines of credit Equipment financing Interim construction and commercial mortgage loans Mergers and acquisition loans Asset-based lending

STARTUP

PEOPLE

EVOLUTION of an idea Pranam Superfoods

GROWING UP in India, Joseph Francis watched his father concoct home remedies for ailments by combining plants and spices, which he then provided to impoverished communities. Years later, those memories would inspire Francis, a neuroscientist at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, to continue his father’s work unlocking the health benefits of foods. Francis, with the help of the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator and his family, has developed four antioxidant snack bars, called Pranam Superfoods, now sold in 40 stores across south Louisiana. The bars contain quinoa rather than oats, along with a mixture of antioxidant-rich fruits and nuts, and sweetened only with honey. All ingredients are organic and gluten free. Here’s how Francis developed and brought the product to market over the last 10 years. —Annie Ourso Landry

TE UR

2008: A professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Don Ingram, who knew about Francis’ interest in alternative medicine, reached out and suggested Francis work with blueberries. He began researching the fruit, learning that antioxidants in blueberries could play a role in reducing brain inflammation in people and animals with depression and other health conditions, according to studies.

SY LS

2017: Wanting to tap into the benefits

of blueberries after years of research, Francis initially set out to make a drink, using blueberries and spices from his home, which he says was “really tasty.” He reached out to the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator for help with bottling but ran into challenges trying to extend the shelf life of the drink.

TE UR

Early 2018: Francis didn’t want to give up on the work he’d done developing a drink, so he switched gears to a new product—antioxidant bars, which could hold a longer shelf life. Francis tested the bars with a group of students and found it didn’t spike their blood sugar levels, though he’s waiting to conduct a clinical trial to support the results. “It might have a lot of health benefits,” Francis says, “but I don’t want to claim anything before a clinical trial.”

SY U LS

In the works: Francis hopes to generate

enough proceeds from the Pranam bars to fund clinical trials on his product. He also plans to launch breakfast items next, including an assortment of fat-free spreads and an antioxidant bread. Francis is also working with Hydra-Guard founder Joseph Tucker at the incubator to bring back the drink with a new bottle design.

COURTE

SY LSU

Late 2018: The Pranam

Superfood bars, as Francis dubbed them, hit the market in December, making their way onto the shelves of several local grocery stores such as Calandro’s, Matherne’s and Calvin’s Bocage. The name Pranam comes from a Sanskrit word meaning lifegiving energy.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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Bernhard Normand Construction builds exceptional homes in Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes. We are dedicated to creating a streamlined construction processs for our clients. From budgeting and planning to installation and deliver, our custom homes ensure 100% satisfaction. Call us today to make your dream home a reality.

STARTUP ADVICE

3 WAYS

to improve your company’s onboarding process OFTEN TIMES, a company is so eager to fill a vacant position and get a new employee on the job that once a hire is made, little thought is given to ensuring a successful onboarding process. This is a major mistake. Without effective onboarding, it will take a new team member longer to get up to speed and help drive profits. Worse still, it can make a new

employee feel unwanted and may lead to long-term disengagement with their work. A study from Gallup shows only 12% of employees believe their organizations do a great job of onboarding new employees. So how can your company do better? Here’s three easy ways, as laid out in a recent Inc. guest column by Adam Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Hireology:

KICK OFF THE PROCESS BEFORE YOUR NEW HIRE’S FIRST DAY. Your new employee’s excitement is probably never higher than the moment they accept your offer, so strike when the iron is hot to ensure their enthusiasm remains high. Nothing is more boring than spending a first day on the job filling out essential paperwork and going over company policies, so share those documents with your new hire before their first day and then begin preparing for them to get to work on their first day.

SET UP A DETAILED ONBOARDING SCHEDULE. Now that your new hire is workready on their first day, have a plan in place for their first week, before they settle into their day-today role. Training sessions are one-on-ones with managers are a given, but don’t forget to make sure you include some activities that will introduce and engage your new employee with other team members across all departments.

Issue Date: 5-21-19 Ad proof #4

ISTOCK

EXTEND ONBOARDING TRAINING BEYOND THE FIRST WEEK. Think of your onboarding process like this: It’s never really over. A successful first week for a new hire only ensures a good start to the beginning of a second week, and so on. The ultimate goal is sustained employee engagement. So after the first week, continue offering your new employee the tools they will need to continuously learn, so they can grow in their careers—and drive profits for your company. Offers can include recurring lunch and learn session, formal training and certification courses, to name a few.

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

How to design a

SIMPLE: Limit each slide to one idea. Not only does it put greater emphasis on your point, it also allows your audience to stay with you rather than look ahead. Only dedicate slides to the most important information; to fill in the gaps, the audience will have to listen to you.

presentation

UNDERSTANDABLE: Break out of the template you’re using, especially if it hinders your ability to lay out text and images in effective ways. Keep text clear and concise. Slide transitions (fizzle, fade, etc.) are usually a bad idea, but if you’re tempted, limit it to two per presentation.

TED-caliber BY CAITIE BURKES

TI N

NS TA N O

C I

DELIVERING AN ENGAGING presentation can be a daunting task. Sure, as a presenter, posing a compelling message and mastering powerful delivery should be your top priorities. But there’s another critical component often overlooked by presenters, yet never unnoticed by viewers: High-quality design. Forget Microsoft PowerPoint or even Prezi; try using the platform beautiful.ai to create some of the best presentations, recommends ThreeSixtyEight CEO Kenny Nguyen, who provided Baton Rouge professionals some pointers on public speaking during a “Some Assembly Required” workshop. Tastes and technologies will change, but there are three timeless elements to presentations with good design: They’re simple, understandable and memorable. Here are the parts that make up the SUM:

AR M

“Never deliver a presentation you wouldn’t sit through yourself.” —Kenny Nguyen, ThreeSixtyEight CEO, on his “Golden Rule of Presenting”

MEMORABLE: Bring your presentations to life with strong images and graphics, while avoiding stock photos like the plague. Visualize your data with infographics, which can be an easy process if you use websites like Piktochart and Canva. Also, consider connecting your audience to your message by literally giving them a different perspective. For example, Nguyen once blurred all the text on a screen and put it in a microscopic font size to convince a crowd they needed to donate to a fund for visually impaired children.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY? WE’VE HAD THAT SINCE 1999. Amazing how much commercial banking has changed—and what we haven’t changed. While we’ve added the best new fraud protection, treasury management and efficiencies, we’ve kept the people who really know your business. If your bank wants you to choose between people and technology, choose the bank that will always offer the best of both.

redriverbank.net 225-923-0232

David Thompson Market President

225-928-8209

Jordan Hultberg 225-928-8202

Edwin Largarde 225-928-8252

Laura Marshall 225-928-8203

Tracy Rutledge 225-928-8290

Henry Schexnayder 225-928-8263

George Town 225-928-8266

Brian Wilkinson 225-928-8237

STARTUP INTELLIGENCE

Top 10 reasons why employees leave their jobs

IT’S OFTEN SAID that employees don’t leave companies, they leave mangers. And to a certain extent, the Employee Engagement Report 2019 from The Predictive Index supports that idea. However, the survey of 3,000 U.S. employees across 20 industries used to compile the report suggests it’s not just poor managers that cause employees to take a new job. Here are the top 10 reasons employees hit the exit:

Senior leadership hasn’t communicated a vision for the future that’s motivating

There’s a lack of opportunities for continued learning and development

The company doesn’t put as much energy and investment into its people as it does into achieving business goals

The company culture is weak

They’re not excited about their day-to-day work

Senior leaders aren’t trusted

They don’t feel fairly compensated for their work

Communication between employees, managers and senior leaders is not open and honest

The company doesn’t have a promising future

They don’t see advancement opportunities at the company

Our Growth Depends On Growing Louisiana’s Work Force. That’s why for the past 30 years, we’ve recognized the success of our customers as our greatest accomplishment. We help nurture growing businesses with added value like free business development seminars designed to protect and strengthen their work force and B2B networking events. This may be our 30th anniversary, but to us, it’s our members’ milestone.

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Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

STARTUP INTELLIGENCE

The bottom line of BREC golf and zoo operations BATON ROUGE’S PARKS and recreation department is recognized among the best in the nation, but there are two areas where BREC has fallen short in recent years—zoo attendance and golf rounds—and changes are underway to boost both. When comparing 2018 golf expenses to revenues, BREC lost $17.76 on each round of golf played on its six courses, totaling an approximately $2 million annual loss. The Baton Rouge zoo, meanwhile, which was at the center of controversy last year amid a failed relocation effort, has seen continual declines in attendance in recent years. The charts below detail the performance of both the zoo and BREC golf courses in recent years. COURTESY BREC

On the horizon: BREC hired consultants to develop a master plan for the zoo and adjacent Greenwood Park. One of the biggest proposed changes is to eliminate the 18-hole Dumas Memorial Golf Course at Greenwood, identified as BREC’s “largest challenge.” Planned zoo improvements aim to regain accreditation and boost attendance. The public had a chance to weigh in on three design concepts in May, with a final plan to be unveiled on Aug. 17.

2018 ROUNDS, REVENUE, EXPENSES AND COST RECOVERY AT BREC GOLF COURSES

COURSE

ROUNDS PLAYED (2017 COMPARISON)

REVENUE

EXPENSES

PROFIT/LOSS TOTAL (PER ROUND)

COST RECOVERY

CITY PARK

9,131 (-12.5%)

$176,037 $333,041 -$157,004 (-$17.19) 53%

J.S. CLARK

3,518 (+1%)

$88,689 $172,948 -$84,259 (-$23.95) 51%

DUMAS

12,134 (-2.4%)

$236,868 $732,454 -$495,586 (-$40.84) 32%

WEBB

27,952 (+6.1%)

$557,188 $842,176 -$284,988 (-$10.20) 66%

SANTA MARIA

33,345 (-6.1%)

$1,501,329 $1,402,579 $98,750 ($2.96) 107%

*Includes total administrative revenue of $36,370

BEAVER CREEK

25,294 (+5.1%)

$959,007 $1,103,244 -$144,237 (-$5.70) 87%

**Includes total administrative expenses of $906,002

TOTAL:

111,374 (-0.8%)

$3,555,489* $5,533,542** -$1,978,053 (-$17.76) 64%

BREC GOLF(INLOSSES BY YEAR MILLIONS)

ROUND AND ROUND

Total rounds played at BREC golf courses since 2007

1.7

2 20

1.9

2012

$3 MILLION $2 MILLION

2.7

$ 26

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

130,050

132,767

134,941

127,143

109,670

112,277

111,374

2.1

129,730

2.7

125,724

156,281

143,921

2015

2.7

128,468

2017

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016*

2017

2018

*The Howell Park Golf Course closed following the August flood

BATON ROUGE ZOO ATTENDANCE 2006

266,328

2010

266,260

2007

261,407 2004

248,219 2005

229,430

247,968

241,682

2009

247,166

2012

246,209

2013

241,056

2003

2000

228,270

2008

COURTESY BREC

2001

2011

255,506

230,677 2002

220,205

2014

247,006

2016

2015

218,183

223,957 2017

201,488 2018

176,669

BUILT TO LAST For every project - no matter the type, complexity or client - one fact remains constant: people do the work. People devise innovations, they resolve issues, and they inspire each other to meet project challenges, among many other important things. At Lemoine, we’re constructing more than great buildings. We’re proud to play a part in building and supporting growth for some of the greatest people in our industry. We are committed to continuous improvement and achieve this by providing ongoing training and placing state-of-the art software and cutting edge technology in the hands of our masterbuilders. As life long learners, we’re committed to never stop improving, never stop growing, and never stop building the best, from the inside out. Our pledge to deliver excellent customer service, provide comprehensive employee training, and maintain the best tools and resources to get the job done right ensures that relationships, careers, and buildings are all built to last.

General Contractors | Construction Managers Lafayette | Baton Rouge | New Orleans telephone 1.833.LEMOINE WWW.LEMOINECOMPANY.COM Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

STARTUP INTELLIGENCE

DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT

Beer money THE NEXT TIME you crack open a cold one, let this figure buzz around your head: $4.3 billion. That’s the total economic impact the beer industry has in Louisiana annually, according to the recently released Beer Serves America report from the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute. The industrial also supports some 32,296 jobs in the state, accounting for roughly $1.3 billion in wages. Across the U.S., beer accounts for $328.4 in economic output—or 1.6% of total GDP—as well as 2.1 million jobs, and $58.6 billion in federal and local taxes. Here are some other interesting Bayou State beer stats from the report.

JOBS WAGES OUTPUT

BREWING 221 $20.6M $135.3M

DISTRIBUTING 3,071

$222.8M

$608.5M

RETAILING 14,800 $389.8M $854.5M TOTAL:

18,092

$633.2M

$1.6 billion

SUPPLIER ECONOMIC IMPACT INCLUDES AGRICULTURE, BUSINESS and personal services, mining, construction, finance insurance and real estate, manufacturing, retail, transportation and communication, travel and entertainment, wholesalers, and government.

5,530

$309.9m

$1.3 billion

JOBS

WAGES

OUTPUT

TAXES GENERATED

BUSINESS AND PERSONAL

$507 million

$177.7 million

Federal, state and local consumption taxes paid

A C lea rer Pat h

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

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STARTUP

INTELLIGENCE

Public perceptions BY STEVE SANOSKI

A LARGER SHARE of Louisianans are feeling better about the direction the state is headed this year, as compared to 2018. That’s according to the Louisiana Survey, which shows 47% of residents says the state is heading in the right direction, up from 39% who said the same in 2018. Those are just some of the findings of the extensive survey, which has been conducted annually for the past 18 years to gauge public opinion among state residents. The survey is a project of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, and it’s conducted by the school’s Public Policy Research Lab. This year’s survey included a poll of 917 Louisianans aged 18 or older from across the state between Feb. 17 and March 7. The margin of error is 4.6 percentage points. Below are some of the highlights. You can find the full results of this year’s survey, as well as those conducted since 2003, online at pprllsu.com/projects/.

PERCEPTION OF PUBLIC SERVICES

Share of residents who give state public services an “A” or “B” grade in the last four election years

2007

2011

2015

2019

41%

35%

Louisiana as a place to live 39%

63%

State economic development efforts to attract, recruit and create jobs not asked 33% 38% 27%

16%

55%

SUPPORT legalization of possessing small amounts

Louisiana roads, bridges and highways 12%

LEGALIZATION OF RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA

14%

42%

OPPOSE legalization

Overall quality of health care in Louisiana 27%

34%

31%

32%

DON’T KNOW or refuse to answer

Louisiana coastal protection and restoration efforts not asked 36% not asked 36%

Louisiana public colleges and universities 68%

70%

64%

61%

State government efforts to reduce crime and ensure public safety not asked 40% not asked 25%

33%

67%

of those aged 30 to 49 SUPPORT legalization

51%

of those aged 50 to 64 SUPPORT legalization

Louisiana public schools overall 22%

80%

of those aged 18 to 29 SUPPORT legalization

18%

25%

69%

of those aged 65 and older OPPOSE legalization

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

RAISING TEACHER PAY AND MINIMUM WAGE There’s strong bipartisan support for raising teacher pay— unless it requires taxes. Here’s the share of those who support the following, including by party affiliation: “RAISING TAXES TO FUND AN INCREASE IN SALARIES”

63%

76% 73%

LEGALIZATION OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS BETTING 6%

GUN POLICIES Banning high capacity ammunition magazines

36%

61%

Republicans

Independents

Democrats

51%

All

Republicans

Independents

Democrats

All

“INCREASING SALARIES” 88% 93% 90% 80%

There’s more bipartisan support for raising the minimum wage to $8.50 than there is for $15

8.50

3% 59%

35%

Support Oppose Don’t know/Refuse to answer

Statewide ban on the sale of assault weapons

Allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places

57% 3% 38%

Support by age groups

74%

of those aged 18 to 29 SUPPORT legalization

38%

of those aged 65 and older SUPPORT legalization

Preventing people with mental illness from purchasing guns

81% 94% 78% 72%

All Democrats Independents

40%

Republicans

59%

All

59%

85%

Democrats

46% 44%

Independents

2% 29%

Republicans

69%

100

Support Oppose Don’t know/Refuse to answer

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

ASCENSION COMMERCE CENTER 10

73 LJ G In du st ria

l Hw y

dust L J G In

wy rial H

30 LJ Grezaffi

A Commercial and Industrial park located in Ascension Parish on Hwy. 30 and Hwy. 73 approximately 2 miles west of I-10 and the Gonzales, LA, city limits.

Zoned Industrial and is available for commercial, light industrial and industrial use and development.

Approximately 268 acres remaining (shown in white).

L J G Land Company (225) 638-9015 • INFO@LJGLANDCOMPANY.COM • LJGLANDCOMPANY.COM

STARTUP

REAL ESTATE

DESIGN

RED STICK SOCIAL AT ELECTRIC DEPOT (BUILDING A)

1503 Government Street PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM MUELLER

Owner: Robert Lay Architect: DNA Workshop/ Dyke Nelson Architecture Contractor: Buquet & LeBlanc Cost: $6 million Completed: 2019 Use: Home to Red Stick Social, a 35,000-square-foot multipurpose entertainment venue offering 10 bowling lanes, private event rooms, a full-service bar and restaurant, outdoor seating—including a rooftop terrace, first floor patio and green space—and live music.

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION: “We executed an adaptive reuse plan that retained many of the building’s original industrial features to preserve its rich history while repurposing it for success in today’s market. This allows for a genuine, authentic industrial aesthetic throughout while providing the modern amenities expected in today’s full-service entertainment facility. It would have been cost prohibitive—if not impossible—to replicate this look and feel with new construction.” —Robert Lay

1. Red Stick Social at Electric Depot opened in April in the former Entergy facility on Government Street. Entergy donated the 104-year-old property, which spans some six acres, to the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority in 2013 after it sat dormant for years. The redevelopment authority then connected with a private investment team led by Weinstein Nelson Development. The co-founder of the development company, Dyke Nelson of DNA Workshop, worked on the project design and development as well. 2. The first two floors are filled with tables for Red Stick Social’s full-service kitchen, as well as extensive seating and a cocktail bar. 3. The third floor at Red Stick Social offers bowling and meeting spaces. 4. The live music stage at Red Stick Social regularly features local and regional bands. Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1

STARTUP

Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS

REAL ESTATE

REAL ESTATE TICKER

The right ingredients for complex cases in

STRONG CAPITAL REGION home sales in April and May have pushed yearto-date sales ahead of 2018 closings through May. At the end of March, year-to-date sales were down by 4.6%, but a 2.8% rise in April closings followed by a 11.1% spike in May have pushed year-to-date sales 1.1% higher than last year (4,348, compared to 4,300 last year). Average sales prices, meanwhile, are up 3.1% to $228,812 so far in 2019, while new listings are down 1.8% to 6,913, and the average days on market is up 14.7% to 78 days. As of May, a total of 4,343 homes were on the market.

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ON A 2.4-ACRE site along Brentwood Drive near the Baton Rouge Country Club and Country Club Place development, Canebreak Development is planning a 13-lot residential community called Brentwood Park. Canebrake recently paid $1.3 million for the land, on which it’s planning single-family detached homes ranging in size from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, with prices starting in the $500,000 range. Partnering on the project are Chris Pike, CEO of Canebrake Builders, which is building the homes, and Mike Hogstrom, developer and owner of Onsite Design, responsible for master planning and architectural designs. Work is expected to begin immediately, with property development completed by the end of this year and home construction slated to begin early next year. House plans are currently being developed.

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

DESPITE RISING VACANCY rates for student housing near LSU, residential investors are still looking at the Baton Rouge student market for new properties. Dallas-based Fountain Residential Partners, which specializes in luxury student housing, is planning a complex at the corner of Gourrier Avenue and W. Parker Boulevard, near LSU’s South Gates. The 132-unit Vue on Parker will be located on 1.3 acres and will feature a parking structure, according to plans submitted to the Planning Commission. The development will be designed by Duplantis Design Group. Amid a wealth of new construction over the past few years, the LSU student housing market is currently struggling to absorb new units. Newer, generally higher-end student housing complexes near LSU were approaching 19% vacancy rates as of April. More than 720 units have been built in the South Gates area since 2015, according to a Planning Commission staff report.

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OLOL buys Picardy Ave. medical building

TOM COOK THE VACANT BUILDING at 7566 Picardy Ave. that once housed the Metabolic Center of Louisiana recently sold for $1,325,000, or about $175 per square foot. The seller, Brogal LP, was represented by Stephanie D. Hardie. It had purchased the property in 2012 for $1,550,000, after it had been renovated and leased for use as the metabolic center. The 7,493-square-foot building, which has covered valet parking and 41 total spaces, was purchased by Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center on July 1. It’s located close to the OLOL campus on Essen Lane, and has multiple exam rooms as well as administrative office space. “The building was set up and designed for medical use but could easily be converted to standard office space,” says Matthew Shirley of Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate, who listed the property along with Brian Nicolich. OLOL was represented by Jessie Hynes Babcock with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate. The property had been on the market for an extended period of time before it sold, according to listing information. HOLMES BUILDING MATERIALS SALE Holmes Building Materials, a Baton Rouge institution in the building supply business, has sold one of its real estate holdings on Greenwell Springs Road. The company, which had used the property at 6185 Greenwell Springs Rd. as a lumber yard, sold it on June 27.

The 31,200-square-foot property includes about 9,000 square feet of open-sided storage buildings with multiple “T” sheds. It sold for $145,000, or about $16 per square foot. The open-sided storage buildings are perfect for the new owner, Cypress Beams & Things, which specializes in cut-to-order cypress lumber products, cypress heart pine, tongue and groove flooring, and wood beams and columns. Holmes has consolidated operations to a facility on Airline Highway and is selling off real estate it no longer needs. “We had a lot of interest in the property and actually had several other offers on the property,” says Scot Guidry with Derbes Falgoust Commercial Real Estate, who brokered the transaction. “But this was a perfect for the purchaser who can move right in and enlarge their operation.” RETAIL DEVELOPMENT PLANNED ON AIRLINE A 1.24-acre vacant lot on Airline Highway Service Road near Florida Boulevard that provides access to Havertys Furniture and PetSmart has been bought for $350,000 by dentists Michael P. Juban and J. Cody Cowen, who are planning to build a 8,000-squarefoot retail building, in which their dental practice will occupy about 4,320 square feet. The remaining space is proposed to be divided into three retail spaces, one of which features a drive-thru. Construction should begin this fall. The seller was West Indies LLC, represented by its manager Stephen N. Carville. Brokers in the transaction were David Persac with Persac Properties, who represented the seller, and Justin Langlois with Stirling Properties, who represented the purchaser. The sale closed on June 28, and the sale price was about $6.50 per square foot. Tom Cook of Cook, Moore, Davenport and Associates has been an independent real estate appraiser for more than 20 years.

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Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad 1 proof #4

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Renter migration report APARTMENT LIST, A San Francisco-based online rental marketplace, recently released its first ever report analyzing millions of searches to see where its users are looking to move, using searches made between Jan. 1, 2018, and May 1, 2019. Here’s a look at the Baton Rouge results:

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Top places from where people are searching for Baton Rouge apartments

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1. Orlando

1. New Orleans

9.7%

2. Lafayette

5.4%

HVAC SERVICE DESIGN-BUILD SOLUTIONS FACILITY MANAGEMENT PLUMBING ENERGY MANAGEMENT

2. New Orleans 3. Lafayette

16.9% 13% 7%

3. Los Angeles

4. Houma

3.3%

4. Houston

HVAC RENTAL

5. Memphis

3.1%

5. Denver

PARTS & SUPPLIES

6. Laurel, Miss.

1.9%

6. Dallas

Pensacola

1.9%

7. Washington D.C. 3.3%

8. Houston

1.5%

Atlanta

3.3%

Washington D.C. 1.5%

9. Nashville

2.6%

24 HOUR HVAC SERVICES

4.3% 4% 3.7%

Chicago

1.5%

10. Orlando

2.1%

11. Dallas

1.3%

11. Chicago

1.7%

1.3%

1.7%

1-800-844-4822 | info@storerservices.com

STORERSERVICES.COM 36

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Los Angeles

Lake Charles

The most expensive homes on the market

THE COLD FRONT that settled over the high-end Baton Rouge residential market following the 2016 August flood still hasn’t completely moved out of the Capital Region, though sales seem to be picking up as of this summer. Through the end of June, there’s been roughly a dozen houses sold for more than $1 million— almost double the amount compared to the midpoint of last year. Despite the slight uptick in sales, listing prices for the highest priced homes on the market are considerably lower this year and there hadn’t been a sale of more than $1.7 million through June. Furthermore, only the top two homes on this year’s list would have made last year’s list—on which the top home was listed at $7,995,000, followed by $4,995,000 and $3,950,000 listings. Prices also appear to be dropping, as evidenced by the home on Sunset Boulevard, which originally hit the market in 2017 and was featured on last year’s list with an asking price of just more than $3.5 million. The price has since been reduced to $2.9 million. Here’s a look at the five most expensive homes on the market as of early July. —Holly Duchmann

1. $3,400,000

2. $2,995,000

3. $2,750,000

4. $2,500,000

5. $2,495,000

Address: 21828 Turkey Creek Drive, Baton Rouge (Mallard Lakes) Bedrooms: 9 Bathrooms: 7 full, 4 half Square footage: 13,445 Year built: 2007 Agent: Robyn Eunice, Supreme LLC List date: February Features: Located on nine acres in the gated Mallard Lakes community, this estate includes an indoor basketball court, movie theatre, three-stalled stable, barn, private gym, and saltwater pool with a hot tub, as well as other luxury home features.

Address: 405 Sunset Blvd., Baton Rouge (University Acres) Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 5 full, 1 half Square footage: 7,450 Year built: 1998 Agent: Quita Cutrer, Burns & Co. Inc. List date: September 2017 Features: This traditional-style home sits on 1.75 acres in University Acres and features old pine floors, antique bricks and a master bedroom that overlooks the back porch and courtyard.

Address: 6921 Highland Road, Baton Rouge Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 3.5 Square footage: 5,247 Year built: 2005 Agent: Ann Mullens, CJ Brown Realtors List date: August 2018 Features: This oak-lined estate sits on four acres and features an open kitchen, a wraparound porch, pond, pool and workshop.

Address: 18554 Village Way Court Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 5.5 Square footage: 8,362 Year built: 1999 Agent: Robin Hebert, Coldwell Banker One List date: April Features: Nestled inside the Country Club of Louisiana and located across from its courthouse, this European-style home located on two lots in a cul-de-sac features 150-year-old French double doors, marble floors, a cast limestone fireplace and tilings imported from Italy.

Address: 320 Highland Crossing Street Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 4.5 Square footage: 8,453 Year built: 1984 Agent: Trey Willard, BHHS United Properties List date: May Features: Pass by the front-entry pond and courtyard, and this contemporary-style home features a wine cellar, multiple sunrooms, a media room, pool and hot tub.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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www.jaguarbatonrouge.com THE ART OF PERFORMANCE Vehicle shown: 2019 Jaguar F-PACE S with optional equipment. *Class is cars sold by luxury automobile brands and claim is based on total package of New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Complimentary Scheduled Maintenance, 24-Hour Roadside Assistance and Jaguar InControl® Remote & Protect™. For complete details regarding offer shown or Jaguar EliteCare coverage, please visit JAGUARUSA.COM, call 1.800.4.JAGUAR / 1.800.452.4827 or visit your local Jaguar Retailer. © 2018 Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

0 0 1 P O T

COVER STORY

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m e o c t e a t v a i v i r r p p 0 0 0 1 10

p o t s e i n s a e p i pan 0 private com top 10

top

ies compan private s top 100 companie private

2019

anies e comp

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1 p to CONTENTS

LISTS

How the list comes together ......................................40

Top 100 private companies ............................................ 45

Index of the Top 100 private companies...................42

Capital Region’s largest employers............................... 87

A look back .....................................................................65

Top nonprofits.................................................................... 94

Top 100 revenue by industry........................................66

Top New Orleans area private companies................... 97

Top three companies by industry................................69

Top Lafayette area private companies.......................... 99

Joining the class.............................................................70

Top Lake Charles area private companies............... 100

Almost there: Who just missed?.................................73

Louisiana’s Top 20 public companies....................... 102

Top 100 companies at work ........................................75

Louisiana’s highest paid public company CEOs.... 104

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100 How the list comes together IN THE SPRING, Business Report sent out announcements and emails to all companies on our recent Top 100 lists, as well as to those identified as possible qualifiers and those suggested by readers. We also placed notices on our websites, asking companies to post their information or submit it to us. We followed up with emails, phone calls and research to confirm the data. In some cases we looked at related industry performance reports and other business compilations to estimate revenue. Some companies declined to reveal their numbers, so we relied on public information and sources to make reasonable estimates. Those companies are denoted in the list’s footnotes. Companies were ranked according to their reported or estimated revenue for the most recently completed fiscal year, which in most cases was the calendar year 2018. We thank all the participating Top 100 companies in preparing this year’s list. A note going forward, beginning with next year’s list, only companies headquartered in the Capital Region will be considered for Top 100 private company inclusion. This will mean several companies on this year’s list will no longer be eligible moving forward.

INTRODUCTION

Sharing our own WE AREN’T AMONG the Top 100 private companies, although we’d like to be. But because we ask for your numbers, we will share ours. Louisiana Business Inc. publishes Business Report, 225, inRegister and 10/12 Industry Report, the Daily Report AM and Daily Report PM e-newsletters, as well as a variety of other online and contract publications. In 2018, LBI total revenue was $9,248,807, down 8.7% from $10,127,531 in 2017. The company has 60 full-time employees, all working in Baton Rouge at the corporate headquarters on Jefferson Highway. Chairman Rolfe McCollister Jr. founded the company in 1982. President and CEO Julio Melara is a partner in the company.

WE CALL IT HOME: The corporate office of Business Report, which posted $9.2 million in revenue last year, is located on Jefferson Highway. The company was founded 36 years ago by Rolfe McCollister Jr.

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

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We are here to help you grow your business — and succeed. From entrepreneurial startups to business growth and expansion, Louisiana offers a comprehensive array of educational, managerial and financial programs that cultivate opportunities. We connect your business with other local, state and federal resource providers and deliver a robust ecosystem that supports businesses and entrepreneurs at all stages of development. We have a special team and programs to support small business owners, and our expansion and retention teams assist larger established Louisiana businesses. They help you navigate our workforce development, site selection and incentive program offerings. We invite you to visit our website and learn more about what is available through our state to help your business succeed. We are here, ready and willing to work for you.

To learn more, visit us at

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TOP100

Acme Refrigeration of Baton Rouge LLC...................... 56 AKM LLC dba Volks Constructors.................................. 61 All Star Automotive Imports LLC dba All Star Automotive Group..................................... 46 Area Wholesale Tire Co. LLC........................................... 61 Arkel Group.......................................................................... 51 Associated Grocers Inc..................................................... 45 AWC Inc................................................................................ 48 B. Olinde & Sons Co.......................................................... 56 Barber Brothers Contracting Co..................................... 61 BBQ Guy’s Manufacturing LLC dba Blaze Outdoor Products......................................... 62 Beard Construction Group LLC...................................... 61 Bernhard LLC dba Bernhard Energy Solutions............ 45 Block Companies LLC....................................................... 56 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana....................... 45 Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC..................................... 48 Brian Harris Automotive Group........................................ 51 Brown & Root Industrial Services LLC........................... 45 Cajun Industries LLC.......................................................... 46 Capitol City Produce Company LLC.............................. 56 Capitol Companies of Baton Rouge LLC...................... 53 Classic Industrial Services Inc......................................... 59 Click Here Publishing LLC................................................ 61 CMA Technology Solutions.............................................. 61 Community Coffee Company LLC.................................. 59 Compliance EnviroSystems LLC..................................... 62 CSRS Inc.............................................................................. 62 Dixie Electric Membership Corp. dba DEMCO........... 48 Dream LT LLC dba Dream Motor Group........................ 45 Dupre’ Logistics LLC.......................................................... 48 EATEL LLC........................................................................... 53 Excel Group.......................................................................... 46 Fabre Group......................................................................... 51 Ford Bacon & Davis LLC................................................... 51 G.E.O. Heat Exchangers................................................... 62 Gerry Lane Enterprises Inc............................................... 48

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

INDEX Group Industries LLC......................................................... 54 Hargrove and Associates.................................................. 46 Hollingsworth Richards LLC dba Hollingsworth Richards Auto Group.................... 48 Iron Horse Financial Inc..................................................... 62 ISC Constructors LLC....................................................... 46 JB James Construction LLC............................................. 61 JM Test Systems Inc........................................................... 56 Kearns Enterprises dba Raymond Martin Data Systems LLC.................... 48 L&B Holdings LLC.............................................................. 51 Lard Oil Company Group.................................................. 46 Latter & Blum Companies LLC......................................... 53 Lavigne Oil Co..................................................................... 53 Lee Michaels Jewelers LLC dba Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry...................................... 59 Level Construction and Development LLC dba Level Homes............................................................. 53 Lipsey’s LLC......................................................................... 46 Louisiana Workers Compensation Corp. aka LWCC......................................................................... 48 Luba Casualty Insurance Company................................ 56 Lyons Specialty Co............................................................. 53 Maclaff Inc............................................................................ 54 Manda Packing Co. LLC dba Manda Fine Meats......... 61 MAPP LLC............................................................................ 54 Master Vac Industrial Services/ Dynamic Environmental Services................................. 59 Milton J. Womack Inc.......................................................... 51 MMR Group Inc................................................................... 45 Mockler Beverage Co........................................................ 54 Moody-Price LLC................................................................ 59 Notoco Industries................................................................ 62 Pala Group Inc..................................................................... 54 Performance Contractors Inc........................................... 45 Postlethwaite & Netterville................................................ 59 PreSonus Audio Electronics............................................. 59

Price LeBlanc LC................................................................ 46 ProSource Wholesale Flooring........................................ 56 Raising Cane’s USA LLC dba Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers........................... 45 Ralph Sellers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Hyundai Chevrolet........................................................... 51 Republic Finance LLC........................................................ 46 Richard Oil and Fuel Holding Co..................................... 54 Robinson Brothers Ford Lincoln LLC............................. 53 Roofing Solutions, LLC...................................................... 62 Royal Nissan LLC................................................................ 54 Salsbury’s Dodge City LLC dba Salsbury’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram................. 54 Savard Labor & Marine Inc................................................ 61 Setpoint Integrated Solutions Inc.................................... 48 ShoppersChoice.com LLC dba BBQGuys.................. 53 Smith Tank & Steel.............................................................. 51 Sparkhound LLC................................................................. 62 Specialty Welding and Turnarounds LLC....................... 51 Sterling International LLC.................................................. 46 Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Co............................ 59 Stuart & Co. General Contrators LLC............................ 62 Surgical Specialty Center of Baton Rouge................... 59 The Celtic Group................................................................. 54 The Coastal Companies.................................................... 56 The Lemoine Company LLC............................................. 48 The NeuroMedical Center APMC................................... 53 The Newtron Group LLC................................................... 45 The Spine Hospital of Louisiana...................................... 51 The Workforce Group LLC................................................ 62 Tony’s Seafood Ltd.............................................................. 59 Trosclair & Trosclair Inc. dba Ralph’s Market................. 61 Turner Industries Group LLC............................................ 45 Utility Holdings dba Baton Rouge Water Co................ 56 Valluzzo Companies............................................................ 53 Wampold Companies........................................................ 56 Window World of Baton Rouge LLC.............................. 54

WE DELIVER EXCELLENCE

Construction | Maintenance | Fabrication Turnarounds | Disaster Recovery (225) 408-1300 WWW.EXCELUSA.COM Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

THE

DRIVING FORCE IN

E U F L L B

BULK TRANSPORT

AS H

CON

Y, L A

CT C A R R IER

As specialists in road transportation, we serve 48 contiguous states, Canada and Mexico.

SERVING THE BATON ROUGE – BAKER – ZACHARY AREA & THE STATE Warehouse • 700,000 Sq.ft. Located at 12959 Ronaldson Road Served by Truck Temperature Control Space Available Phone (225) 778-1440 Warehouse • 250,000 Sq.ft. Located at Barge Canal Road Served by Truck, Rail & Water Phone (225) 775-6479 Warehouse Packaging Facility Located at 12001 Leisure Road Served by Truck & Rail Phone (225) 771-1532

PUBLIC WAREHOUSE • LOCAL CARTAGE • CONTRACT MOTOR CARRIER SERVICE • CONTAINERIZED SERVICES

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

TU RN ER IND

USTR IES

It’s a Top 100 tradition: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Turner Industries Group LLC occupying the top two spots on our annual private company revenue ranking. In fact, the companies have been ranked Nos. 1 and 2 every year since 1995, usually with Blue Cross—which first entered the rankings in 1994—occupying the top spot. Only in 1997 did they switch, with Turner claiming the revenue crown. Turner is one of the few companies that has made an appearance on every Top 100 list published by Business Report, dating back to 1986.

COURTESY

FILE PHOTO

FAMILIAR FACES…

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana 5525 Reitz Ave., Baton Rouge 70809 225-295-3307 | www.bcbsla.com

I. Steven Udvarhelyi President and CEO

$3.8 billion $3.56 billion 6.69%

2,375 2,494

1/9 Baton Rouge 1934

Mutually owned health insurance

Turner Industries Group LLC 8687 United Plaza Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 225-922-5050 | www.turner-industries.com

Roland M. Toups Executive chairman

$2.7 billion $2.5 billion 8.19%

10,546 23,540

7/15 Baton Rouge 1961

Full-service general contractor; petroleumsector maintenance contractor, modular fabrication and installation; civil, structural

Performance Contractors Inc. 9901 Performance Way, Baton Rouge 70810 225-751-4156 | www.performance-br.com

Art E. Favre President

$1.24 billion $1.12 billion 11.21%

2,600 7,000

1/6 Baton Rouge 1979

Industrial construction, pipe fabrication, maintenance

Raising Cane's USA LLC dba Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers 100 North St., Suite 802, Baton Rouge 70802 225-383-7400 | www.raisingcanes.com

Todd Graves Founder and CEO

$1.2 billion $975 million 23.08%

800 18,000

19/445 Baton Rouge 1996

Restaurant company

Brown & Root Industrial Services LLC 2600 Citiplace Drive, Suite 500, Baton Rouge 70808 225-778-7655 | www.brownandroot.com

Andy Dupuy President and CEO

$977.7 million $820 million 19.23%

3,500 10,000

13/25 Baton Rouge 1919

Engineering, construction, turnaround, maintenance and specialty services including cooling towers and soft crafts

MMR Group Inc. 15961 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-756-5090 | www.mmrgrp.com

James "Pepper" Rutland President and CEO

$802 million $650 million 23.38%

890 5,500

5/30 Baton Rouge 1985

Chemical and petrochemical downstream; oil and gas upstream and midstream; industrial manufacturing; power generation and power development

Dream LT LLC dba Dream Motor Group 10949 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-490-3101 | www.mbobr.com

Joseph A. Agresti Owner

$653.67 million $488.46 million 33.82%

105 550

1/6 Baton Rouge 1992

Automotive sales

Associated Grocers Inc. 8600 Anselmo Lane, Baton Rouge 70810 225-769-2020 | www.agbr.com

Emile R. Breaux President and CEO

$637 million $630 million 1.11%

525 626

1/1 Baton Rouge 1950

Wholesale grocery distributor

The Newtron Group LLC 8183 W. El Cajon Drive, Baton Rouge 70815 225-927-8921 | www.thenewtrongroup.com

Newton B. Thomas CEO

$603 million $490 million 23.06%

2,960 4,400

6/14 Baton Rouge 1973

Industrial electrical and instrumentation services

Bernhard LLC dba Bernhard Energy Solutions 8555 United Plaza Blvd., Suite 201, Baton Rouge 70809 225-706-9280 | www.bernhard.com

Ed Tinsley CEO

$550 million $500 million 10%

1,868 2,153

4/19 Baton Rouge(1) 1919

Energy-as-a-service provider

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Number of Top 100 companies with a female as its top executive: • #14, Lipsey’s LLC, Laurie Lipsey Aronson • #25, Louisiana Workers Compensation Corp. (LWCC), Kristin W. Wall

Laurie Lipsey Aronso

• #55, Salsbury’s Dodge City LLC, Leah Salsbury Duval

• #77, Surgical Specialty Center of Baton Rouge, Ann Lightfoot Heine • #86, Savard Labor & Marine Inc., Jill Savard

Kristin W. Wall

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

Excel Group 8641 United Plaza Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 225-408-1300 | www.excelusa.com

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

David E. Roberts CEO

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

$549 million $510 million 7.65%

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

1,500 4,500

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

4/10 Baton Rouge 1983

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Industrial project mgt., construction, maintenance, turnarounds, specialty services, disaster recovery

Cajun Industries LLC 15635 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-753-5857 | www.cajunusa.com

Todd Grigsby CEO

$515.78 million $616.34 million -16.32%

1,000 2,500

3/4 Baton Rouge 1973

General, civil and mechanical construction; deep foundations, marine work, fabrication; building construction

All Star Automotive Imports LLC dba All Star Automotive Group 13000 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70815 225-298-3210 | www.allstarautomotive.com

Matthew G. McKay President and CEO

$485.35 million $457.69 million 6.04%

716 716

12/12 Baton Rouge 1987

Automobile sales and service

Laurie Lipsey Aronson CEO and president

$452 million $422.4 million 7.01%

122 122

1/1 Baton Rouge 1953

Wholesale distributor of firearms

Automobile sales and service

CMY

Lipsey's LLC 7277 Exchequer Drive, P.O. Box 83280, Baton Rouge 70809 225-755-1333 | 800-666-1333 | www.lipseys.com

Price LeBlanc LC 13250 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-408-1100 | www.leblancauto.com

Brent P. LeBlanc President

$415.12 million $453.12 million -8.39%

345 439

3/4 Baton Rouge 1965

Lard Oil Company Group 914 Florida Ave. SW, Denham Springs 70726 225-664-3311 | www.lardoil.com

Johnny Milazzo President and CEO

$387.97 million $291.86 million 32.93%

185 416

2/8 Denham Springs 1922

ISC Constructors LLC 20480 Highland Road, Baton Rouge 70817 225-756-8001 | www.iscgrp.com

Jerry Rispone Co-founder, owner and CEO

$367 million $312.6 million 17.4%

960 3,350

1/4 Baton Rouge 1989

Industrial electrical, instrumentation and controls company providing engineering, construction and maintenance services

Hargrove and Associates 4150 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Suite 210, Baton Rouge 70816 225-227-2000 | www.hargrove-epc.com

Nigam Patel Baton Rouge operations leader

$355.27 million $247.2 million 43.72%

448 2,141

1/13 Mobile, Ala. 2010

Full-service, multi-discipline EPC, engineering, automation and technical services firm

Republic Finance LLC 7031 Commerce Circle, Baton Rouge 70809 225-927-0005 | www.republicfinance.com

Rex Ellison President and CEO

$349.16 million $287.34 million 21.51%

245 1,150

6/208 Baton Rouge 1955

Consumer finance

Sterling International LLC 18212 E. Petroleum Drive, Suite 6-A, Baton Rouge 70809 225-756-1606

Shane Richardson President and CEO

$303.32 million $270.73 million 12.04%

5 20

1/2 Baton Rouge 1992

Plastics industry

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Multi-state fuels and lubricants distributor; convenience store operator; filtration services; national fleet card

Researched by Alaine Keisling

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TOP100

LISTMAKERS

And this year’s biggest gainer is… The Workforce Group LLC, Bart Farmer’s disaster management company, saw its revenues explode to $34.96 million in 2018, up a remarkable 335.33%. Less exciting is what sparked the growth: a rise in the number of natural disasters.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

AWC Inc. 6655 Exchequer Drive, Baton Rouge 70809 225-752-1100 | www.awc-inc.com

The Lemoine Company LLC(1) 15555 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-383-3710 | 833-536-6463 | www.lemoinecompany.com

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

Bob Wenyon CEO

$298.41 million $260.09 million 14.74%

138 460

6/32 Baton Rouge 1965

Industrial instrumentation, automation, electrical, and valves, flow control products and lifecycle services

Leonard K. Lemoine President and CEO

$295 million $298.5 million -1.17%

68 246

3/4 Lafayette 1975

Preconstruction; general contracting, construction management; CMaR; designbuild; integrated project delivery; pre-site selection; development

Kearns Enterprises dba Raymond Martin Data Systems LLC 4709 Bluebonnet Blvd., Suite A, Baton Rouge 70809 225-291-9300 | www.kearns.com

Jeffrey Kearns CEO

$286.26 million(2) $300 million -4.58%

213 741

DNR/DNR Baton Rouge 1981

Industrial gases, equipment, supplies, parts and services

Dupré Logistics LLC 1115 Mengel Road, Baton Rouge 70807 225-354-3700 | www.duprelogistics.com

Reggie Dupre' CEO

$270.11 million $219.44 million 23.09%

200 1,300

0/29 Lafayette 1980

Louisiana Workers Compensation Corp. aka LWCC 2237 S. Acadian Thruway, Baton Rouge 70808 225-924-7788 | www.lwcc.com

Kristin W. Wall President and CEO

$267.8 million $275.07 million -2.64%

244 244

1/1 Baton Rouge 1991

Private, nonprofit mutual worker' compensation insurance company

Setpoint Integrated Solutions Inc. 19011 Highland Road, Baton Rouge 70809 225-753-3290 | www.setpointis.com

Jeff Birch President and CEO

$254.4 million $194.6 million 30.73%

175 725

1/14 Baton Rouge 1959

Industrial services and solutions for automation, valve, pressure relief, instrument and filtration needs

Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC 9517 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge 70809 225-753-0100 | www.bohbros.com

Jeff Plauche Senior VP of pre-construction and development

$240 million $242 million -0.83%

225 900

1/4 Baton Rouge 1909

Heavy civil construction, pile driving, site work, paving, underground utilities and marine facilities

Hollingsworth Richards LLC dba Hollingsworth Richards Auto Group 7787 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-927-5555 | www.hollingsworthrichards.com

Mike Hollingsworth, Kent W. Richards, Polly R. Lemoine, Gaye R. Hollingsworth Partners

$236.6 million $232.18 million 1.9%

200 299

5/8 Baton Rouge 1996

Automobile sales

Gerry Lane Enterprises Inc. 6505 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-926-4600 | www.gerrylane.com

Eric Lane President

$233.32 million $238.45 million -2.15%

306 306

3/3 Baton Rouge 1966

Automobile sales and service

Dixie Electric Membership Corp. dba DEMCO 16262 Wax Road, Greenwell Springs 70739 225-261-1177 | 844-693-3626 | www.demco.org

Randy Pierce CEO and general manager

$224.04 million $207.75 million 7.84%

228 228

7/7 Central 1938

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Logistics and transportation

Electric utility with a cooperative business model

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

to advance his

to inspire his

learning

faith

to discover her to unleash her confidence

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

passion

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Ups and downs… It was largely a good year for Top 100 companies, with 68 posting a revenue gain in 2018, against 31 seeing a decline. One company had flat revenue. The average percentage gain among revenue winners was 18.9%, while the average decline from losers was 8.1%. Worth noting: Each of the top 10 companies in this year’s list saw revenue growth.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

Smith Tank & Steel 42422 Louisiana 30, Gonzales 70737 225-644-8747 | www.smith-tank.com

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Sam Smith, Billy Smith Owners

$194.94 million $183.25 million 6.38%

500 500

1/1 Gonzales 1997

Above-ground storage tank and ASME pressure vessel construction, maintenance and repair; mechanical and civil construction services

Specialty Welding and Turnarounds LLC 40492 Cannon Road, Gonzales 70737 225-644-1200 | www.swatservice.com

Johnny Holifield President

$189.5 million $165 million 14.85%

955 2,200

1/3 Gonzales 2014

General mechanical and specialty welding in the petrochemical and refining sector

The Spine Hospital of Louisiana 10105 Park Rowe Circle, Baton Rouge 70810 225-763-9900 | www.spinehola.com

Robert D. Blair President and CEO

$173.44 million $166.03 million 4.46%

167 167

1/1 Baton Rouge 2004

Minimally invasive laser, robotic-assisted and complex spinal surgery; comprehensive pain management

Fabre Group 13550 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-753-8400 | www.fabregroup.com

David L. Fabre, John B. Fabre Member/dealers

$162.14 million $150.86 million 7.48%

125 163

3/4 Baton Rouge 1986

Automobile sales

L&B Holdings LLC 708 Highway 190, Port Allen 70767 225-387-0955 | www.landbtransport.com

Louis Vielee President

$159.16 million $156.93 million 1.42%

288 288

3/2 Port Allen 1984

Brian Harris Automotive Group 11955 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-272-6500 | www.brianharrisautogroup.com

Richard J. Martorana Platform manager

$157.75 million $169.42 million -6.89%

180 180

3/3 Baton Rouge 1984

Automobile sales

Ford Bacon & Davis LLC 12021 Lakeland Park Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 225-292-0050 | www.fbd.com

Rick Moore President

$156.83 million $163.11 million -3.85%

624 851

2/8 Baton Rouge 1973

All-discipline engineering, full-service procurement, project/construction management

Arkel Group(1) 1048 Florida St., Baton Rouge 70802 225-344-1023 | www.arkelconstructors.com

John H. Fife, George Knost Presidents

$154.5 million $165.12 million -6.43%

98 285

1/2 Baton Rouge 1981

Industrial, commercial construction; industrial maintenance; trucking and intermodal drayage; international infrastructure services

Milton J. Womack Inc. 8400 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge 70809 225-924-8050 | www.mjwomack.com

Terry T. Hill President

$148.52 million $152.13 million -2.37%

75 103

1/15 Baton Rouge 1964

General contractor

Ralph Sellers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Hyundai Chevrolet 14215 N. Airline Highway, P.O. Box 1208, Gonzales 70737 225-388-9875 | www.ralphsellers.com

Ralph Sellers, P.R. “Trey” Sellers Owners

$138.47 million $123.46 million 12.15%

159 159

2/2 Gonzales 1984

DBA-doing business as DNR-did not respond NR-not ranked To be featured in Business Report's Listmakers, Top 100 private companies must have significant presence in the nine-parish Capital Region. The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Information about 168 firms will be available to subscribers on our website. To be considered for next year's list, please contact Alaine Keisling at research@businessreport.com. Published July 16, 2019. (1) Arkel Constructors LLC and Arkel International LLC All rankings are determined solely through independent research. Highlighted entries are for those companies that pay a fee for an upgraded listing after their eligibility for the list has been determined.

Liquid bulk transportation, chemical bulk trailer leasing, fuel sales, real estate leasing and video poker operations

Automobile sales and service

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

TOP100

LISTMAKERS Number of Top 100 companies that had revenue growth of 25% or higher in 2018:

• #91, The Workforce Group LLC, 335.33% • #65, Block Companies, 87.65% • #53, Maclaff Inc., 78.15% • #18, Hargrove and Associates, 43.72% • #89, Click Here Publishing LLC, 40.84% • #7, Dream Motor Group, 33.82% • #16, Lard Oil Company Group, 32.93% • #26, Setpoint Integrated Solutions Inc., 30.73% • #92, BBQ Guy’s Manufacturing LLC (Blaze Outdoor Products), 29.24% • #85, Barber Brothers Contracting Co., 25.78% • #93, Stuart & Co. General Contractors LLC, 25.06%

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Benjamin Boudreaux CEO

$138.44 million(1) $141.87 million -2.42%

210 DNR

1/9 Baton Rouge 1978

Lyons Specialty Co. 2800 Louisiana 1, Port Allen 70767 225-356-1319 | www.lyons-aav.com

Hugh Raetzsch Owner and CEO

$133.94 million $132.99 million 0.72%

92 92

1/1 Port Allen 1923

Wholesale grocery distributor

EATEL LLC(2) 913 S. Burnside Ave., Gonzales 70737 225-621-4300 | www.eatel.com

Joshua Descant President

$131 million $133.89 million -2.16%

280 350

10/16 Gonzales 1935

Telecommunication provider, home security, data center solutions, cloud virtualizations and managed IT

Robinson Brothers Ford Lincoln LLC 11455 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-293-8900 | www.robinsonbrothers.com

Maxwell "Chip" Robinson, Maxwell "Mackie" Robinson Owners

$120.9 million(1) $123.8 million -2.34%

132 132

1/1 Baton Rouge 1946

Automobile sales

Valluzzo Companies 8710 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge 70809 225-300-8960

John C. Valluzzo, Nicholas Valluzzo, Michael Valluzzo Owners

$118.35 million $118.95 million -0.5%

1,500 2,800

1/2 Baton Rouge 2010

Restaurants

Lavigne Oil Co. 11203 Proverbs Ave., Baton Rouge 70816 225-952-7900 | www.lavigneoil.com

Chip Lavigne President

$117.82 million $108.27 million 8.82%

27 29

1/1 Baton Rouge 2009

Shell, Chevron, and Union 76 jobber, wholesale fuel distributor

Latter & Blum Companies LLC 1700 City Farm Drive, Baton Rouge 70806 225-295-0800 | www.latter-blum.com

Karl Landreneau Director of commercial real estate

$115.34 million $114.57 million 0.67%

16 135

4/29 New Orleans 1917

Real estate residential sales, insurance, mortgage, commercial sales, appraisal

ShoppersChoice.com LLC dba BBQGuys 8151 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 877-743-2269 | www.bbqguys.com

Michael Hackley CEO and owner

$113.49 million $100.73 million 12.67%

175 175

1/1 Baton Rouge 1998

Online e-commerce retailer

Level Construction and Development LLC dba Level Homes 402 N. Fourth St., Baton Rouge 70802 225-338-6120 | www.levelhomeslifestyle.com

John M. Engquist, Ryan Engquist Todd Waguespack, Owners

$111 million $112 million -0.89%

35 35

1/1 Baton Rouge 2005

Residential construction and development

Capitol Companies of Baton Rouge LLC 11055 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-293-3500 | www.capitolcompaniesgroup.com

Ladd C. Spring, Mark B. Spring, Davin O. Spring Member managers

$108.43 million $114.89 million -5.63%

150 150

8/8 Baton Rouge 1964

Vehicle sales and service; manufacturing, construction; transportation

The NeuroMedical Center APMC 10101 Park Rowe Ave., Suite 200, Baton Rouge 70810 225-769-2200 | www.theneuromedicalcenter.com

DBA-doing business as DNR-did not respond NR-not ranked To be featured in Business Report's Listmakers, Top 100 private companies must have significant presence in the nine-parish Capital Region. The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Information about 168 firms will be available to subscribers on our website. To be considered for next year's list, please contact Alaine Keisling at research@businessreport.com. Published July 16, 2019. (1) Averaged 2016-17 revenue (2) Acquired by Reserve Communications and Computer Corp., a subsidiary of RTC Holdings LLC owned by the Reilly family, in May 2019 All rankings are determined solely through independent research. Highlighted entries are for those companies that pay a fee for an upgraded listing after their eligibility for the list has been determined.

Adult and pediatric neurosurgery, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, pain medicine, neuropsychology and neuroradiology

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Number of Top 100 companies that had a revenue decline of 10% or higher in 2018: • #78, Community Coffee Company LLC, -78.28%* • #52, MAPP LLC, -23.99% • #51, The Celtic Group, -17.67% • #12, Cajun Industries LLC, -16.32% • #81, JB James Construction LLC, -13.1% • #68, ProSource Wholesale Flooring, -10.66% *Community Coffee declines to provide revenue figures so we use various third-party sources to find reportable data. This year, we relied on D&B Hoovers which had an estimate much lower than previously used sources.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

The Celtic Group 3888 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Bldg. 1, Baton Rouge 70816 225-752-2490 | 877-752-2359 | www.celticgroup.com

Michael J. O'Connor Chairman and CEO

$101.56 million $123.36 million -17.67%

43 56

2/8 Baton Rouge 1985

Transportation and logistics; movie production facility; steamship agency; real estate management

MAPP LLC 344 Third St., Baton Rouge 70801 225-757-0111 | www.mappbuilt.com

Michael A. Polito President and CEO

$100.2 million $130.8 million -23.39%

69 134

2/4 Baton Rouge 1991

New construction, tenant improvement projects, facility renovations and facility maintenance

Maclaff Inc. 7800 Office Park Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 504-800-4901 | www.mcdonalds.com

Edward "EJ" Krampe President and CEO

$98.75 million $55.43 million 78.15%

1,450 2,780

26/45 Lafayette 2018

Pala Group Inc. 16347 Old Hammond Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-272-5194 | www.palagroup.com

Scott Barringer CEO

$97.08 million $101.6 million -4.44%

530 700

1/4 Baton Rouge 1973

Employee-owned industrial construction and maintenance

Salsbury's Dodge City LLC dba Salsbury's Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram 9550 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 225-926-8800 | www.salsburys.com

Leah Salsbury Duval President

$91 million(1) $90.46 million 0.59%

108 108

1/1 Baton Rouge 1986

Automobile sales

Mockler Beverage Co. 11811 Reiger Road, Baton Rouge 70809 225-408-4283 | www.mocklerbeverage.com

Timothy Mockler, Patrick Mockler Owners

$89.68 million $91.96 million -2.48%

150 150

1/1 Baton Rouge 1987

Wholesale beverage distribution

Group Industries LLC 15055 Jefferson Highway, P.O. Box 83560, Baton Rouge 70817 225-752-2500 | www.group-industries.com

David H. Arrighi CEO and owner

$89 million $88.5 million 0.56%

175 350

1/3 Baton Rouge 1996

Industrial contractor, refineries, chemical and petro-chemical facilities

Window World of Baton Rouge LLC 8405 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 225-706-2100 | www.windowworldinfo.com

James Roland President

$87.54 million $80.68 million 8.51%

82 167

1/7 Baton Rouge 2002

Replacement contractor

Royal Nissan LLC 9325 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 225-924-0400 | www.royalnissan.com

Brad Smith President

$84.13 million(1) $78.54 million 7.12%

75 75

1/1 Baton Rouge 1978

Automobile sales

Richard Oil and Fuel Holding Co. 2330 Louisiana 70, Donaldsonville 70346 225-473-8389 | www.richardoil.com

Tony Savoie Owner

$83.85 million $81.17 million 3.29%

130 130

11/11 Donaldsonville 1972

Bulk fuel and lubricant distribution; convenience stores

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Restaurant

Researched by Alaine Keisling

STRATEGY • BRANDING • ADVERTISING • MEDIA • CREATIVE • DIGITAL • SOCIAL • PR

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TOP100

LISTMAKERS

133 years The oldest company on this year’s list… B. Olinde & Sons Co.

IR DON KADA

And it’s not even close, with the Baton Rouge furniture institution founded in 1886. Unfortunately, this will be Olinde’s last time on our Top 100 as the family sold the company to a Memphis-based firm in early 2019.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

Wampold Companies 4171 Essen Lane, Suite 450, Baton Rouge 70809 225-215-1800 | www.wampold.com

Mike Wampold CEO

$83.05 million $80.25 million 3.49%

100 128

16/20 Baton Rouge 1981

Property management; real estate development

Capitol City Produce Company LLC 16550 Commercial Ave., Baton Rouge 70816 225-272-8153 | www.capitolcityproduce.com

Darin Arceneaux President

$81.7 million $77.5 million 5.42%

215 225

1/1 Baton Rouge 1947

Wholesale and retail produce and specialty items

The Coastal Companies 4825 Jamestown Ave., Baton Rouge 70808 225-766-0244 | www.coastalbridge.com

Kelly Sills Owner

$80.32 million(1) $79.32 million 1.26%

193 DNR

1/5 Baton Rouge 1954

Highway, bridge, marine, industrial construction

Luba Casualty Insurance Company 2351 Energy Drive, Suite 2000, Baton Rouge 70808 225-389-5822 | 888-884-5822 | www.lubawc.com

David J. Bondy Founder and CEO

$78 million $77 million 1.3%

93 93

1/1 Baton Rouge 1991

Regional workers' compensation carrier

Block Companies LLC 619 Jefferson Highway, Suite 2G, Baton Rouge 70806 225-930-9960 | www.blockcompanies.com

Jason E. Keller, Stephen D. Keller, Paul J. Simpson Owners

$77.5 million $41.3 million 87.65%

18 40

1/1 Baton Rouge 2005

Multi-family new and value-added, commercial, retail construction

B. Olinde & Sons Co. 9536 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 225-926-3380 | www.olindes.com

Thomas Olinde President

$73.5 million $75 million -2%

168 DNR

6/12 Baton Rouge 1886

Retail furniture stores

Utility Holdings dba Baton Rouge Water Co. 8755 Goodwood Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-231-0328 | www.batonrougewater.com

Patrick J. Kerr President and CEO

$70.34 million $68.47 million 2.73%

257 340

1/7 Baton Rouge 1986

Water utility

ProSource Wholesale Flooring 3049 S. Sherwood Blvd., Baton Rouge 70816 225-248-4811 | www.prosourcewholesale.com

Daniel Kennedy CEO and owner

$66.64 million $74.59 million -10.66%

120 178

6/13 Baton Rouge 1999

Wholesale flooring

Acme Refrigeration of Baton Rouge LLC 11844 S. Choctaw Drive, Baton Rouge 70815 225-273-1740 | www.acmeref.com

Adrian E. "Manny" Kaiser President

$61.55 million(1) $63.1 million -2.46%

49 DNR

7/19 Baton Rouge 1945

Distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, parts and supplies

JM Test Systems Inc. 7323 Tom Drive, Baton Rouge 70806 225-925-2029 | www.jmtest.com

Scott K. Morrison President

$59.91 million $50.56 million 18.48%

267 425

1/11 Baton Rouge 1982

Testing laboratories; manufactures electronic test and measurement instruments

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Researched by Alaine Keisling

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TOP100

LISTMAKERS

year The youngest company on this year’s list… Maclaff Inc.

ISTOCK

While a version of the company has operated in Lafayette for years, this nascent incarnation is the result of McBR Management Company, the oldest franchisee of McDonald’s restaurants in the area, selling in April 2018 its 26 locations to McDonald’s of Acadiana, a family-owned franchise group in the Lafayette area.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

Tony's Seafood Ltd.(1) 5215 Plank Road, Baton Rouge 70805 225-357-9669 | www.louisianafishfry.com

Postlethwaite & Netterville 8550 United Plaza Blvd., Suite 1001, Baton Rouge 70809 225-922-4600 | www.pncpa.com

Lee Michaels Jewelers LLC dba Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry 5630 Bankers Ave., Baton Rouge 70808 225-291-9094 | www.lmfj.com

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Bill J. Pizzolato President and CEO

$59.9 million $61.1 million -1.96%

259 259

1/1 Baton Rouge 1972

Seafood sales; seasoning and spices factory

Dan Gardiner CEO and managing director

$59.53 million $58.31 million 2.1%

284 414

4/8 Baton Rouge 1949

Accounting and auditing, tax, business consulting and technology

Scott J. Berg President

$56.5 million $53.45 million 5.71%

73 154

3/10 Baton Rouge 1978

Celebrating or recognizing special moments with a memorable gift

Classic Industrial Services Inc. 456 Highlandia Drive, Baton Rouge 70810 225-756-4450 | www.classicindustrial.com

Mike Landes President and CEO

$54 million $49.3 million 9.53%

23 300

1/4 Baton Rouge 1987

Specialty construction firm supporting industrial and heavy commercial construction

PreSonus Audio Electronics 18011 Grand Bay Court, Baton Rouge 70809 225-216-7887 | www.presonus.com

Stephen Fraser CEO

$53.91 million $50.17 million 7.46%

80 135

1/5 Baton Rouge 1995

Audio hardware, software, sound reinforcement, broadcast, sound design and education, internet audio

Master Vac Industrial Services/Dynamic Environmental Services 6260 Louisiana 73, Geismar 70734 225-677-5446 | www.mastervac.com

Brent C. Upton, Damon M. Wood Owners

$51 million $43 million 18.6%

152 268

2/5 Geismar 1998

Surgical Specialty Center of Baton Rouge 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge 70810 225-408-8080 | www.sscbr.com

Ann Lightfoot Heine CEO

$49.06 million $46 million 6.66%

209 209

1/1 Baton Rouge 2003

Acute care hospital

Community Coffee Company LLC 3332 Partridge Lane, Bldg. A, Baton Rouge 70809 225-291-3900 | 800-525-5583 | www.communitycoffee.com

David Belanger President and CEO

$48.68 million(2) $234.89 million -79.28%

300 DNR

4/DNR Baton Rouge 1919

Coffee and coffee products

Stonetrust Commercial Insurance Co. 5615 Corporate Blvd., Suite 700, Baton Rouge 70808 225-923-1050 | www.stonetrustinsurance.com

Michael G. Dileo President and CEO

$47.03 million $52.13 million -9.79%

32 50

1/1 Baton Rouge 1993

Regional insurance

Moody-Price LLC 18320 Petroleum Drive, Baton Rouge 70809 225-767-7755 | www.moodyprice.com

Danny A. Daniel President and COO

$46 million(3) $43 million 6.98%

49 DNR

2/12 Baton Rouge 1955

Industrial distributor, manufacturers' representative, instrumentation and filtration products

DBA-doing business as DNR-did not respond NR-not ranked To be featured in Business Report's Listmakers, Top 100 private companies must have significant presence in the nine-parish Capital Region. The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Information about 168 firms will be available to subscribers on our website. To be considered for next year's list, please contact Alaine Keisling at research@businessreport.com. Published July 16, 2019. (1) Sold Louisiana Fish Fry Products in October 2018 (2) D&B Hoovers (3) Averaged 2016-17 revenue All rankings are determined solely through independent research. Highlighted entries are for those companies that pay a fee for an upgraded listing after their eligibility for the list has been determined.

Maintenance and cleaning services for industry and oilfield; transportation of industrial products and waste and oil field fluids and waste

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

We’re bullish on the future. Yours. The world is changing fast. While change can provide opportunities, it also raises questions about the future. Through honest conversations about your life and your priorities, we’ll find out what you want your future to look like, and develop a strategy together to help make it happen. Davis Miller Roy Wealth Management Donovan E. Davis, CFP® Senior Vice President Wealth Management Advisor Portfolio Manager 225.388.9251 • donovan_davis@ml.com Sanford F. Roy, CIMA® Senior Vice President Wealth Management Advisor Portfolio Manager 225.388.9269 • sanford_roy@ml.com Merrill Lynch 445 North Boulevard 4th Floor Baton Rouge, LA 70802 225.388.9279 fa.ml.com/davismillerroygroup

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management makes available products and services offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, a registered broker-dealer and Member SIPC, and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation. Investment products: Are Not FDIC Insured Are Not Bank Guaranteed May Lose Value The Bull Symbol and Merrill Lynch are trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ in the U.S. CIMA® is a registered service mark of the Investment Management Consultants Association dba Investments & Wealth Institute. © 2019 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved. ARGF6QCD | AD-04-19-0071 | 472094PM-0718 | 04/2019

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Where they are locatedâ€Ś

81 East Baton Rouge Parish

9 Ascension Parish

West Baton Rouge Parish

Livingston Parish

Iberville Parish

Other*

*Beginning next year, only private companies headquartered in the Capital Region will be included in the Top 100 list.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

JB James Construction LLC 1881 Wooddale Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-927-3131 | www.jbjamesllc.com

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Jeff James President

$45.38 million $52.22 million -13.1%

100 150

2/4 Baton Rouge 2002

Heavy highway and bridge construction

Beard Construction Group LLC 3970 Rosedale Road, Port Allen 70767 225-387-2339 | www.beardconstructiongroup.com

James A. Beard CEO

$45.3 million $43 million 5.35%

208 208

1/1 Port Allen 2004

Industrial construction; heavy civil and earthwork

Area Wholesale Tire Co. LLC 5930 McClelland Drive, Baton Rouge 70805 225-356-2548 | www.areawholesale.com

William B. Potter President

$44 million(1) $44 million 0%

51 DNR

1/6 Baton Rouge 1961

Trosclair & Trosclair Inc. dba Ralph's Market 15013 Louisiana 44, Gonzales 70737 225-622-4044 | www.ralphsag.com

Brandon Trosclair President

$43 million $42 million 2.38%

250 250

4/4 Gonzales 1984

Barber Brothers Contracting Co. 2636 Dougherty Drive, Baton Rouge 70805 225-355-5611 | www.barber-brothers.com

A. Lee Barber Manager

$40.25 million $32 million 25.78%

180 180

1/1 Baton Rouge 1928

Highway and heavy construction

Savard Labor & Marine Inc. 1772 Wooddale Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-930-0685 | 844-472-8273 | www.savardgroup.net

Jill Savard CEO

$40 million $35 million 14.29%

450 1,200

1/10 Baton Rouge 1998

Skilled and unskilled labor supply

Manda Packing Co. LLC dba Manda Fine Meats 2545 Sorrel Ave., P.O. Box 3374, Baton Rouge 70821 225-344-7636 | www.mandafinemeats.com

Thomas W. Yarborough, Robert V. Yarborough, Stephen J. Yarborough Owners

$38.99 million $39.63 million -1.6%

150 150

3/3 Baton Rouge 1947

Meat processing

AKM LLC dba Volks Constructors 17474 Jefferson Highway, Prairieville 70769 225-673-3236 | www.volksconstructors.com

Lawson King President

$38.9 million $35.2 million 10.51%

261 261

1/1 Prairieville 1973

Click Here Publishing LLC 9448 Brookilne Ave., Baton Rouge 70809 225-383-0333 | www.clickheredigital.com

Bo White CEO

$36.5 million $25.92 million 40.84%

60 70

2/2 Baton Rouge 1993

Digital marketing agency

CMA Technology Solutions 8180 YMCA Plaza Drive, Baton Rouge 70810 225-927-9200 | www.cmaontheweb.com

Chad LeMaire President and CEO

$35.08 million $34.04 million 3.05%

59 66

1/3 Baton Rouge 1984

IT managed services, hosting, security; data center planning; hardware and software sales

Wholesale distribution of tires; tubes and truck tire retreading

Retail, grocery, meat, deli, bakery, produce

Industrial fabrication, field construction services

Researched by Alaine Keisling

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Flashback: What it took to make the first Top 100 List… We’ve been doing the Top 100 private companies list since 1986 and if you wanted to be a member of that inaugural class then you needed to have 1985 revenue of $10 million, which was the case for Polaris Corporation, the Baton Rouge-based natural gas distributor who checked in at No. 100. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $23.3 million in 2018 dollars. Yet to make the list this year, a company needed to earn at least $29.6 million, an increase of 23.8%.

Top 100 private companies Ranked by total revenue

PREV. RANK

COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

The Workforce Group LLC 9544 Fenway Avenue, Baton Rouge 70809 225-475-3360 | www.theworkforcegroup.org

Bart Farmer Managing partner

$34.96 million $8.03 million 335.33%

52 63

1/8 Baton Rouge 2013

Disaster recovery/assistance and construction management programs; industrial staffing; insurance claims adjusting and claims administration

BBQ Guy's Manufacturing LLC dba Blaze Outdoor Products 6620 Greenwell Springs Road, Baton Rouge 70815 866-976-9510 | www.blazegrills.com

Michael Hackley CEO and owner

$34.95 million $27.04 million 29.24%

26 26

1/1 Baton Rouge 2012

Grill manufacturer

100

Stuart & Co. General Contrators LLC 4320 Jeffrey Drive, Baton Rouge 70816 225-293-8650 | www.stuartandcompany.com

Duane L. Mizell CEO

$33.64 million $26.9 million 25.06%

42 42

1/1 Baton Rouge 2003

Construction

Compliance EnviroSystems LLC 1401 Seaboard Drive, Baton Rouge 70810 225-769-2933 | www.ces-sses.com

Brad Dutruch President

$32.77 million $32.3 million 1.46%

71 162

1/5 Baton Rouge 1995

Full-service professional storm sewer and sanitary sewer evaluation firm

G.E.O. Heat Exchangers 3650 Cypress Drive, St. Gabriel 70776 225-642-8900 | www.geoheat.com

Gene E. "Buddy" Ohmstede CEO

$31.69 million $26.45 million 19.81%

162 162

1/1 St. Gabriel 1996

Fabrication, repair of heat exchangers for refineries, chemical plants and power industries

Iron Horse Financial Inc. 9800 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-766-9700 | www.ironhorse-financial.com

John Paul Caswell President

$31 million $28.5 million 8.77%

35 50

2/6 Baton Rouge 1962

Roofing Solutions LLC 37302 Commerce Lane, Prairieville 70769 225-744-3912 | www.roofingsolutionsla.com

Lautaro de la Cruz, Tupac de la Cruz Owners

$31 million $35.6 million -12.93%

25 75

1/4 Prairieville 2004

Sparkhound LLC 11207 Proverbs Ave., Baton Rouge 70816 225-216-1500 | 800-217-1500 | www.sparkhound.com

Shawn Usher CEO

$30 million $24.2 million 23.97%

120 230

1/4 Baton Rouge 1998

Business, IT and HR consulting

Notoco Industries 10380 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70816 225-292-1303 | www.notocoind.com

Charles J. Noto President

$29.7 million $30.06 million -1.2%

55 82

1/4 Baton Rouge 1977

Electrical supplies; lighting; appliances and hardware

100

CSRS Inc. 6767 Perkins Road, Suite 200, Baton Rouge 70808 225-769-0546 | www.csrsinc.com

Tim Barfield President

$29.6 million $27.5 million 7.64%

107 128

1/4 Baton Rouge 1978

Program management; planning; civil engineering, project management, consulting

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

2018/2017 TOTAL REVENUE % CHANGE

LOCAL/TOTAL EMPLOYEES

LOCAL/TOTAL LOCATIONS HEADQUARTERS YEAR ESTAB.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

Fanatical planning and strategies

Commercial roofing, sheet metal, and architectural wall panel systems contractor

Researched by Alaine Keisling

CONGRATULATIONS

to our clients and partners listed in this yearâ€™s Top 100 Private Companies! We look forward to continuing to build stronger, smarter communities with you.

Civil Engineering Development Advisory Services Disaster Recovery Environmental Advisory Services Economic Development Governmental Affairs Planning

Helping our clients plan, fund and implement with resilience â€“ to achieve their goals today, with tomorrow in mind.

Program Management Right-of-Way Survey

6767 Perkins Road, Suite 200, Baton Rouge, LA 70808 | www.csrsinc.com BATON ROUGE | NEW ORLEANS | LAKE CHARLES | DALLAS

EMERGENCY TURNAROUND, MAINTENANCE & FABRICATION

SAFETY, QUALITY, PRECISION

Proud to be Local & Family Owned SINCE 1998

Doubletime quality WITHOUT the doubletime price 225-665-0407 â€¢ Denham Springs

PIPEANDSTEELINDUSTRIAL.COM

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

A look back

The top five companies from our Top 100 lists 1, 5, 10 and 20 years ago.

2018

2014

2009

1999

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

$3,561,143,000

$2,868,806,000

$2,201,746,000

$732,543,000

Turner Industries Group

Turner Industries

$2,496,904,707

$2,279,760,000

$1,675,543,679

$601,000,000

Performance Contractors

Edgen Murray II

Associated Grocers

$1,115,000,000

$1,141,000,000

$1,266,000,000

$425,000,000

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

MMR Group

Associated Grocers

Cajun Electric Power Cooperative

$975,000,000

$952,000,000

$700,000,000

$357,575,521

Brown & Root

Associated Grocers

Performance Contractors

LCR-M Corp.

$820,000,050

$715,000,000

$492,000,000

$216,000,000

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

Breaking it down REAL ESTATE

INDUSTRIAL & HEAVY CONSTRUCTION

$198.4 million • 0.77%

RETAIL

$5.9 billion 23.02%

$340.4 million • 1.32%

HEALTH CARE

$360.9 million • 1.4%

UTILITIES/ TELECOMMUNICATIONS

$460.5 million • 1.79%

OIL/GAS WHOLESALE/SUPPLY

$589.6 million • 2.29%

MANUFACTURING/WHOLESALE

$1.1 billion • 4.16%

CONSTRUCTION/CONTRACTOR

$1.2 billion • 4.53%

2018 TOTAL REVENUE

$25,701,508,464 2017 TOTAL REVENUE

$24,071,584,135 Percent change +6.8%

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES & SUPPLY

$4.9 billion 18.87%

OTHER

$1.3 billion • 4.96%

FOOD/BEVERAGE WHOLESALE/RETAIL

$2.57-16-19 billion • Top100 9.75% Issue Date: Ad proof #2

INSURANCE

$4.2 billion 16.31%

• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. AUTOMOBILE • AD WILL RUN AS IS unlessDEALERSHIP approval or final revisions are received$2.8 by the billion close of business today. • 10.81% • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

STRATEGIC FINANCIAL LEADERSHIP VGraham LLC offers outsourced CFO services and financial guidance to help businesses of all sizes reach their long-term goals, work through transitions, and overcome growth challenges.

The VGraham Team: (Left to right front row) Katie Boston, Heather LeBlanc, CPA, Jessica Cormier, CPA, CFF, CFE, Vanessa Graham, CPA, Ashley Lawson, CPA-inactive, Jenée Bourgeois, Barbara Lasseigne; (Back row) Laura Suire, Michelle Burns, Mitzi Bourgeois

844.847.2426 www.vgraham.com

FINANCIAL REPORTING & DASHBOARDS • FORECASTING & MODELING • CHANGE MANAGEMENT • INVESTOR & LENDER SUPPORT FINANCIAL SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT & UTILIZATION • RESTRUCTURING & TURNAROUNDS • FORENSICS & FRAUD ANALYSIS 66

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

LEADERS OF THE

TOP 100

COMPANIES

Johnny Holifield President

Jimmy Quick Vice President

Troy Rembert HSE Manager

Specialty Welding and Turnarounds, LLC 40492 Cannon Road Gonzales, LA 70737 225.644.1200 | swatservice.com JOHNNY HOLIFIELD and Jimmy Quick founded Specialty Welding and Turnarounds in 2014 and have created a multimillion dollar revenue business that services chemical and refining industries all over the world. Starting with a team of just 10 people, SWAT was established on the core values of safety, integrity, commitment and quality. “We always try to do the right thing to the best of our ability,” Holifield says. “Our practice of keeping our promises when we look someone in the eye and shake their hand … has led us to where we are today and where we will go in the years to come.” Holifield’s leadership abilities come from the fact that he never holds himself above anyone who works for SWAT. “I’ve worked in every single position in our company,” he says. “I’ve been a helper and a laborer. I’ve breathed though a face mask under a nitrogen blanket for hours at a time, and I’ve driven countless miles and hours to get to the next job, even in a blizzard. These experiences have allowed me to lead the next generation in the industry.” The keys to the company’s success, he adds, is the team–from the project managers who juggle critical deadlines, to the quality control team who ensure that regulations are followed—and everyone in between. “We couldn’t have grown to where we are today without each and every one of them,” Holifield says. “And that mutual respect is important in building trust among the team. When you spend weeks at a time away from your loved ones, your work team becomes your family. It’s a bond that can’t be broken.”

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

LEADERS

OF THE

TOP 100

COMPANIES

Kristin W. Wall President and CEO

Paul Buffone

Sr. Vice President and Chief Claims Officer

Michael Stiltner

Sr. Vice President and General Counsel

LWCC 2237 S. Acadian Thruway Baton Rouge, LA 70808 225.924.7788 | lwcc.com LWCC IS a private mutual workers’ comp insurance company founded in 1992 to solve Louisiana’s most severe workers’ comp crisis. Kristin Wall, who had joined the company in its first year, was named CEO in 2006. She says two pillars—trust and expectations—are at the core of her leadership style. “Clear expectations allow me to empower our employees with trust,” she says. “After all, our people are our key to success. Their expertise and desire to always do the right thing makes our agent partners and policyholders proud to work with us.” To that end, LWCC has supported the growth of a competitive workers’ comp market, causing the cost of coverage to decline steadily over the years and enabling more entrepreneurs to start Louisiana businesses. “We understand that we have a real opportunity to make a difference,” Wall says. “Many of us are from Louisiana and we truly want to see our state thrive … one business at a time. We are proud to consider ourselves a champion of Louisiana.” LWCC is especially proud of its newest initiative, the Safe Schools program, which will provide training and tools for administrators to prevent suicides and school shootings. Generation Z suffers from higher rates of anxiety and depression than any other previous generation, and as experts in safety, LWCC takes this problem seriously. “We see it as a natural part of our vision and we are thrilled to be taking this program to school districts throughout the state,” Wall says.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

Top 3 by industry . AUTOMOBILE DEALERSHIP 7 Dream LT LLC dba Dream Motor Group...................... $653,670,000 13 All Star Automotive Imports LLC dba All Star Automotive Group.................................. $485,353,302 15 Price LeBlanc LC.............................................................. $415,122,915

22 27 39

CONSTRUCTION/CONTRACTOR The Lemoine Company LLC........................................... $294,999,229 Boh Bros. Construction Co. LLC................................... $240,000,000 Milton J. Womack Inc........................................................ $148,522,000

FOOD/BEVERAGE WHOLESALE/RETAIL 4 Raising Cane’s USA LLC dba Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.....................$1,200,000,000 8 Associated Grocers Inc................................................... $637,000,000 42 Lyons Specialty Co........................................................... $133,943,074

. INSURANCE 1 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana..................$3,799,255,000 25 Louisiana Workers Compensation Corp. aka LWCC...................................................................... $267,799,872 64 Luba Casualty Insurance Company.................................$78,000,000

14 20 68

MANUFACTURING/WHOLESALE Lipsey’s LLC....................................................................... $452,000,000 Sterling International LLC................................................ $303,317,087 ProSource Wholesale Flooring.........................................$66,635,000

16 46 60

OIL/GAS WHOLESALE/SUPPLY Lard Oil Company Group................................................ $387,966,000 Lavigne Oil Co................................................................... $117,822,637 Richard Oil and Fuel Holding Co......................................$83,846,053

19 24 35

OTHER Republic Finance LLC...................................................... $349,158,358 Dupré Logistics LLC......................................................... $270,110,571 L&B Holdings LLC............................................................ $159,162,911

47 61

REAL ESTATE Latter & Blum Companies LLC....................................... $115,335,576 Wampold Companies.........................................................$83,046,301

33 41 77

HEALTH CARE The Spine Hospital of Louisiana.................................... $173,442,453 The NeuroMedical Center APMC................................. $138,435,000 Surgical Specialty Center of Baton Rouge....................$49,063,216

2 3 11

INDUSTRIAL & HEAVY CONSTRUCTION Turner Industries Group LLC.......................................$2,701,402,541 Performance Contractors Inc......................................$1,240,000,000 Excel Group........................................................................ $549,000,000

RETAIL 48 ShoppersChoice.com LLC dba BBQGuys................ $113,492,544 66 B. Olinde & Sons Co...........................................................$73,500,000 73 Lee Michaels Jewelers LLC dba Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry.....................................$56,500,000

5 6 9

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES & SUPPLY Brown & Root Industrial Services LLC......................... $977,700,000 MMR Group Inc................................................................. $802,000,000 The Newtron Group LLC................................................. $603,000,000

UTILITIES/TELECOMMUNICATIONS Dixie Electric Membership Corp. dba DEMCO......... $224,041,340 EATEL LLC......................................................................... $131,000,000 Utility Holdings dba Baton Rouge Water Co.................$70,338,896

30 43 67

Our Story is Your Story At IBERIABANK, our story is your story. Our experienced, local bankers are eager to work with you to meet your financial goals. We have the resources of a national bank, with the personal touch of a community bank. Visit us today to tell us your story.

Visit one of our locations in the Baton Rouge area today! www.iberiabank.com

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100 Joining the class 11 companies that are either returning to or making their first appearance on the Top 100 Private Companies list. BY CAITIE BURKES

RANK: No. 53 REVENUE: $98,750,000 The Acadiana-based McDonald’s franchisee purchased 26 Baton Rouge-area locations last year from McBR Management Co., owned by Charlie Valluzzo and his sons.

A SINGLE VENDOR SOLUTION FOR ALL YOUR MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION NEEDS

JET CITY IMAGE

MACLAFF INC.

RANK: No. 65 REVENUE: $77,500,000 A construction company that executes multifamily, retail and commercial projects, including The Palms at Juban Lakes and the Louisiana State Police Retirement System headquarters.

COURTESY MERGE MANAGEMENT

BLOCK COMPANIES LLC

JM TEST SYSTEMS INC.

RANK: No. 70 REVENUE: $59,910,000 Has a total of 10 facilities—including three testing laboratories in Baton Rouge—that manufacture electronic test and measurement instruments.

SAVARD LABOR & MARINE INC. BUILDING & HOME MAINTENANCE RENOVATIONS • ELECTRICAL • PLUMBING • HVAC

24 HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICES

RANK: No. 86 REVENUE: $40,000,000 A personnel and contract labor agency that places its supply of more than 100,000 skilled and unskilled workers in jobs for marine industry clients.

RANK: No. 89 REVENUE: $36,500,000 A digital marketing agency offering services in website creation, analytics, paid search and search engine optimization, social media advertising, email marketing and web reputation management.

MAINTENANCE | CONSTRUCTION 225.910.8757 WWW.FMMLA.COM

Steven Davis, Jr. Owner & CEO

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

ISTOCK

CLICK HERE PUBLISHING LLC

LEADERBOARD

Treat your business like your family.

THE WORKFORCE GROUP LLC

RANK: No. 91 REVENUE: $34,960,000 A staffing company providing industrial Gulf Coast clients with temp-tohire, direct hire and contract employees. It also provides post-disaster assistance to state and local governments, as well as insurance claims adjusting services.

RANK: No. 92 REVENUE: $34,950,000 Sells a line of gas grills and outdoor kitchen products manufactured under the recently consolidated BBQGuys flag.

FILE PHOTO

BBQ GUY’S MANUFACTURING LLC DBA BLAZE OUTDOOR PRODUCTS

G.E.O. HEAT EXCHANGERS

RANK: No. 95 REVENUE: $31,690,000 A heat exchanger repair and fabrication facility serving refineries and chemical plants, such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Marathon.

IRON HORSE FINANCIAL INC.

RANK: No. 96 REVENUE: $31,000,000 An insurance agency offering planning and strategy guidance with estates, investments, money management, retirement and taxes.

Contact me to find the best plan for protecting your business.

SPARKHOUND LLC

RANK: No. 98 REVENUE: $30,000,000 A digital consulting firm helping business clients improve outcomes related to organizational management, information technology and human resources.

Donna A. Elison, LUTCF® Agent, New York Life Insurance Company 639 Loyola Avenue, Suite 1900 New Orleans, LA 70113 504-569-0509 daelison@ft.newyorklife.com www.donnaelison.com

NOTOCO INDUSTRIES

CA Insurance Lic.# 0I43203

RANK: No. 99 REVENUE: $29,700,000 A residential and commercial electrical supply house with four stores, carrying a selection of home lighting, chandeliers, outdoor lights, gas lanterns and more. ISTOCK

Insure. Prepare. Retire.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

Rail expansion. Dock improvements. More ship calls. A dramatic increase in ship calls at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge prompted improvements to deepwater cargo docks on the Mississippi River and an expansion of rail infrastructure. Union Pacific Railroad has expanded its interchange tracks along Louisiana Hwy. 1 to be accessed from either the north or south in a $12 million upgrade, and the Port is moving forward with a $25 million chambering yard south of the Intracoastal Waterway. The state’s Capital Outlay Program will help fund the construction of the chambering yard’s three, 110-car tracks to handle Drax Biomass wood pellet trains. In addition, Louis Dreyfus Commodities will complete their $20 million facility rail tracks this year to handle 110-car grain trains. To meet the needs of Drax Biomass, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Genesis Energy, and Contanda Terminals, the Port has improved 3,500 feet of deepwater cargo docks with a new fendering system and larger, stronger mooring hooks. Port Executive Director Jay Hardman reports, “We’re busy, so as soon as we finish one improvement, we’re already making plans to expand for future needs.”

2425 Ernest Wilson Drive • P.O. Box 380 • Port Allen, LA 70767-0380 PH: (225) 342.1660 • FAX: (225) 342.1666 www.portgbr.com

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

LEADERBOARD

TOP100

Almost there

ISTOCK

5 Capital Region companies that just missed a spot on this year’s Top 100 list.

No. 101: DelVal Flow Controls USA LLC

6068 Highway 73, Geismar

REVENUE: $29,030,000 (+127.7%) DelVal Flow Controls provides a range of ball valves, butterfly valves, actuators and control accessories that are used by various industrial markets, including oil and gas, power generation, mining, chemical processing, pharmaceutical and HVAC, among others. The 21 employees at the company’s threeyear-old Geismar facility manufacture products for clients across more than 50 countries.

No. 102: WHPacific Inc.

450 Laurel St., Ste. 1500, Baton Rouge

REVENUE: $29 million (-12.1%) This Alaska-based engineering and architecture firm—majority owned by a partnership between Louisiana’s Chouest and Pregeant families— specializes in designing projects for harsh climates and extreme weather conditions. Locally, the firm’s nine employees are helping with an effort to revitalize the Plank Road corridor. Last year, WHPacific made its Top 100 debut, ranking No. 90 with some $33 million in 2017 revenue.

No. 103: GBS Properties LLC dba Gardner Realtors

3888 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., Ste. S, Baton Rouge

REVENUE: $28 million (-3.5%) Gardner Realtors is a Metairie-based real estate agency that handles

residential and commercial real estate sales, as well as property management and relocation services. With a $1 million dip in revenues in the past year, the agency slipped eight spots from its No. 95 rank on the 2018 Top 100 list, pushing it off this year’s list.

No. 103: Gulf Coast Office Products

10424 Plaza Americana Drive, Baton Rouge

REVENUE: $28 million (+1.8%) As the largest copier distributor in Louisiana, Gulf Coast Office Products boasts a network of 17,000 multifunction office machines. While its 2017 revenue of $27.5 million landed the company a No. 96 ranking on last year’s Top 100 list, Gulf Coast Office Products’ $500,000 revenue increase last year wasn’t enough for the company to secure a spot on this year’s list.

No. 105: Transformyx LLC

6867 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge

REVENUE: $26.2 million (-2.9%) With 72 employees, this Baton Rouge-based strategic technology and business solutions consulting firm has grown to serve more than 1,000 clients across the U.S.—primarily in the health care, education and commercial spheres—since its 1987 founding. Transformyx made its first appearance on the Top 100 list in 2018, then ranking No. 99 with some $26.95 million in revenues.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

DelVal Flow Controls BALL VALVES | BUTTERFLY VALVES | ACTUATORS

delvalflow.com | 1-833-DELVAL1

D el Val F l ow C ont rol s i s a g l ob a l m a nufa ct ur e r of a w i d e r ang e of s u p er i or fl ow cont r ol pr oduct s ba se d in Gei s ma r , L ou i s i a na . F ou nd ed i n 2006, De lVa l ca t e r s t o a w i d e s p ect r u m of i nd u s t r i es including Oil & G a s, C hemi ca l P roces s , M a r i ne a nd ot he r indust r ia l ma r k et s . 74

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

TOP100

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

TOP 100

Private companies at work BEHIND EVERY COMPANY on the Top 100 list is a dedicated team of employees who take on the daily tasks required to boost the bottom line and make the list. To get a feel for what some of the company’s employees do each and every day, Business Report sent a photograper to a handful of diverse companies on this year’s list to give readers a sneak peek at what goes on outside of the C-suite offices. PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM MUELLER

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

TOP100

Precision incision DR. KELLY J. SCRANTZ, left, uses a surgical microscope to perform an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion surgery at The Spine Hospital of Louisiana. Assisting Dr. Scrantz is Amanda Bucher, PA-C, center, and Alexis Brooks, CST. Founded in 2004, the Spine Hospital of Louisiana is focused on surgical and non-surgical treatment of the spine, and provides the care and support of one of the nationâ€™s top spine care teams.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

Blueprint for success MAPP CONSTRUCTION Project Manager Tucker Attaway, left, and Senior Superintendent Dennis Lawrence review site plans as they manage the construction of a Raising Caneâ€™s restaurant in Walker. Along with its Baton Rouge headquarters, MAPP has offices in New Orleans and Dallas. The company was founded in 1991, and has approximately 120 total employees.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

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

Management

OUR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS TEAM

BENJAMIN STALTER, CCIM Vice President of Commercial Real Estate, Partner

JONATHAN WALKER, CCIM, MBA

Senior Commerical Sales and Leasing Executive

DENIS MURRELL Sales and Leasing Executive

RANSOM PIPES, CCIM

Tenant Representation, Investment Sales, Land Acquisition

9018 Jefferson Hwy



Development

OUR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS TEAM

LINDA JACKSON

Director of Operations, Partner, NAHPe



CHRISTIE MILLER Regional Property Supervisor

(225) 298-1250



ERIN LOUPE

Regional Property Supervisor

WWW.MMCRE.COM

MICHELLE LITTLEJOHN

Regional Property Supervisor

KACEY MYERS Compliance Coordinator

DONNA FROST

Director of Accounting

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

TOP100

Sensory experience COMMUNITY COFFEE Green Coffee and Tea Department General Manager Mark Howell tests arrival samples in a process called cupping. Every day members of the department roast coffee samples to review the aroma and taste for flavor attributes, body, finish and consistency. They also review for any defects or problems with acidity and bitterness. Howell, who has been cupping for 20 years, is among some 300 local Community Coffee employees.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

TOP100

In the pipeline TURNER INDUSTRIES Senior Advanced Service Technician Kevin Morgan operates a iPEK Rovver 125 Crawler Camera to inspect pipe at the companyâ€™s Port Allen yard. The remote operated, six-wheel video vehicle is used for industrial applications including internal tank, vessel and pipe inspections. The group employs over 500 full-time engineers, technicians and certified inspectors. The company has approximately 10,550 local employees, and more than 23,500 total.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100 Hot and ready BOILER RICKY PORTER of Tony’s Seafood Market and Deli spills out 400 pounds of freshly boiled crawfish. During the peak of crawfish season, the crew at Tony’s will boil nearly 10,000 pounds of crawfish a day. Founded in 1972, Tony’s has some 250 employees. In October 2018, a sister company of Tony’s, Louisiana Fish Fry Products Ltd., was acquired by an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm for an undisclosed price.

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

C O M PA N I E S AT W O R K

CALL US

877-345-1253

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JACOB Roland

ROBERT Smythe

MACON Roland

Window World’s CEO, Jim Roland, recently announced three additions to its management team. The company operates Window World offices in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Tampa.

CONGRATULATES ROBERT SMYTHE

Vice President of Operations

JACOB ROLAND

Texas Regional Manager

MACON ROLAND

Corporate Production Manager

Robert Smythe has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of operations. He will be responsible for overseeing all customer service functions as well as all outbound telemarketing efforts. Smythe has been with Window World in its Baton Rouge office since 2002. He previously served as corporate operations manager. Jacob Roland was promoted to the position of Texas regional manager, overseeing the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston operations of Window World. Roland joined Window World 7 years ago as a salesman and recently served as interim general manager of the company’s Dallas office. Macon Roland has been promoted to corporate production manager, where he will be responsible for the hiring and production of field supervisors, service technicians, production assistants, and installation contractors in all of Window World’s service areas in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.

225-706-2100 | 8405 Airline Highway | WindowWorld-BTR.com 86

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

The Capital Region’s biggest employers EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH Turner Industries Group LLC

10,121

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center

6,194

LSU System

5,000

Baton Rouge General

3,500

The Newtron Group LLC

2,960

ExxonMobil Corporation

2,800

East Louisiana Mental Health System

Geismar Neighborhood Care Help 1,641

Performance Contractors Inc.

2,600

Dixon Correctional Institute 59

BASF Corp.

1,000

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

2,375

East Felciana Public Schools

300

702

Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge

2,000

Villa Feliciana Medical Complex

202

Shell Chemical Co. 610

Feliciana Forensic Facility

198

CF Industries Inc

500

Louisiana War Veterans Home

183

Rubicon LLC

478

Atlas-SSI

100

EATEL

400

Grace Health & Rehab

100

Ascension Parish School Board

Our Lady of the Lake Ascension

Corp. Ad Occidental Chemical Issue Date: 7-16-19

3,000

proof 400 #2

• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. 335 Walmart Supercenter • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

EAST FELICIANA PARISH

FILE PHOTO

ASCENSION PARISH

GETTY IMAGES

7,100

ASSOCIATED PRESS

East Baton Rouge Parish Schools

595

Benton’s Equipment & Construction Inc.

Silliman Institute

ASHWORTH

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES

I N D U S T R I E S

Providing machining, manufacturing, repairing and distributing process equipment and parts as well as construction management and inspection services. THIRD-PARTY INSPECTIONS PUMP, VALVE & COMPRESSOR REPAIRS/ MAINTENANCE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PUMP & VALVE PARTS MATERIALS MANAGEMENT NEW VALVES & AUTOMATION ashworthindustriesllc.com 225-677-9560 | •info@avillcus.com info@avillcus.com| 225-677-9560 • 10455 Jefferson Hwy, Baton Rouge, LA • ashworthindustriesllc.com Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

LET YOUR CHILD

soar with us!

Academics, Programs and Opportunities are Reaching New Heights

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

POINTE COUPEE PARISH

IBERVILLE PARISH Dow Chemical Co.

2,000

Walmart Supercenter

335

National Guard

1,000

NRG Energy

325

775

Pointe Coupee Parish School Board

280

Syngenta

700

Nan Ya Plastics Corp.

175

Iberville Parish Schools

650

Pointe Coupee General Hospital

213

Axiall LLC

300

Lakeview Manor Nursing Home

125

Flopam Inc.

300

Pointe Coupee Healthcare

120

Crown Enterprises LLC

250

Pointe Coupee Parish

120

Diamond Plastic Corp.

200

Arcosa Lightweight

100

Walmart Supercenter

180

FILE PHOTO

Elayn Hunt Correctional Center

FILE PHOTO

Livingston Parish Public Schools

2,950

Walmart Supercenter

900

McDermott International

577

Bass Pro Shops

400

Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc.

330

MMJ Industries Inc.

200

Parish of Livingston

200

Sam’s Club

180

All Star Automotive Group

150

Home Depot

137

Tell us your dreams.

Super 1 Foods

GETTY IMAGES

LIVINGSTON PARISH

It started with the dream of a real estate developer who saw what Baton Rouge could be. Joseph Canizaro began changing the business landscape of our city with buildings for work, play, living and learning. Then, he built a bank familiar with the needs of Baton Rouge businesses. Now under the leadership of CEO Gary Blossman and Market President Dennis Shill, First Bank and Trust has provided financial services to commercial and retail developments as well as all kinds of businesses for more than twenty-five years. Our financial experts are armed with the latest real estate trends, pricing information and market intelligence to make your business dreams come true. So, let’s get started. Tell us your dreams. Call, Click or Come By: 8383 Jefferson Hwy

Baton Rouge, LA 225-925-3014 FBTonline.com

Joseph C. Canizaro, Chairman, First Trust Corporation Director, First Bank and Trust

Dennis C. Shill, Market President, First Bank and Trust

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LEADERBOARD

ST. HELENA PARISH St. Helena Hospital

250

Southland Steel Fabricators

100

St. Helena Parish School District

135

St. Helena Parish Nursing Home

St. Helena Central Elementary

Cal-Maine Foods Inc.

Paul Davis Inc.

Big-74 Roll-Offs

St. Helena Parish

St. Helena Express Casino

550

Turner Industries Group LLC

425

Petrin Corp.

375

Placid Refining Co.

210

Atlantic Pacific Equipment Inc.

200

Louisiana CSI LLC

200

GETTY IMAGES

West Baton rouge Parish School Board

Scaffolding Rental & Erection Services LLC 195 Exxon Batton Rouge Refinery

172

Global Industrial Contractors

170

West Baton Rouge Parish

170

WEST FELICIANA PARISH Louisiana State Penitentiary

ISTOCK

WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH

1,700

Entergy River Bend Station

600

West Feliciana Parish Schools

350

KPAQ Industries LLC

180

Fordice Construction Co.

150

St. Francisville Country Manor

100

West Feliciana Parish Hospital

100

West Feliciana Parish

100

Audubon Market

Red Stick Armature Inc.

SOURCES: D&B Hoovers, Reference USA and other Business Report research

BATON ROUGE

OUR HOME. OUR HEADQUARTERS.

From our start at the North Gates of LSU, to now nearly 450 restaurants in 27 states and 6 countries, with 22,000 Crewmembers worldwide, Cane’s is proud to be founded and headquartered here in Baton Rouge. Thank you for your support and helping us grow!

20 Baton Rouge Area Restaurants

TOP 250 - EMPLOYERS TOP 100 IN 2017 & 2019 OF DIVERSITY TOP CEOS 2 YEARS IN A ROW

AMERICA’S FAVORITE FAST-CASUAL CHAIN

FASTEST-GROWING RESTAURANT CHAIN

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Nonprofits Ranked by revenue PREV. RANK ORGANIZATION

ADDRESS

REVENUE

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center

5000 Hennessy Blvd., Baton Rouge 70808

225-765-6565 www.ololrmc.com

$1.23 billion

Woman's Hospital Foundation

100 Woman's Way, Baton Rouge 70817

225-927-1300 www.womans.org

$508.64 million

Baton Rouge General

3600 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809

225-763-4000 www.brgeneral.org

$434.26 million

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System

4200 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge 70809

225-923-2701 www.fmolhs.org

$170.12 million

Provident Resources Group

5565 Bankers Ave., Baton Rouge 70808

225-766-3977 www.provident.org

$139.52 million

General Health System

3600 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806

225-381-6464 www.brgeneral.org

$107.28 million

Tiger Athletic Foundation

LSU-PMAC, North Stadium Drive, Baton Rouge 70803

225-578-4823 www.lsutaf.org

$62.82 million

LSU Foundation

3838 W. Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge 70808

225-578-3811 www.lsufoundation.org

$59.68 million

Baton Rouge Area Foundation

402 N. Fourth St., Baton Rouge 70802

225-387-6126 www.braf.org

$49.67 million

eQHealth Solutions Inc.

8591 United Plaza Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809

225-248-7000 www.eqhs.org

$44.21 million

DBA-doing business as NA-not available NR-not ranked To be featured in Business Report's Listmakers, nonprofits must be based in the nine-parish Capital Region, and had revenue information available from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract as of June 15. The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Information on about 332 nonprofits will be available to subscribers on our website. To be considered for next year's list, please contact Alaine Keisling at research@businessreport.com. Published July 16, 2019.

PHONE WEBSITE

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Researched by Alaine Keisling

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Nonprofits Ranked by revenue PREV. RANK ORGANIZATION

PHONE WEBSITE

ADDRESS

REVENUE

225-767-0847 www.marybird.org

$35.26 million

225-753-0864 www.fhsinc.org

$31.50 million

225-336-1410 www.csalcharterschools.org

$27.18 million

225-215-4500 www.stjamesplace.com

$24.63 million

225-927-1269 www.haartinc.org

$24.16 million

225-768-1700 www.franu.edu

$24.10 million

225-926-0091 www.ololrmc.com

$22.08 million

225-753-0864 www.fhsinc.org

$20.57 million

10600 S. Choctaw Drive, Baton Rouge 70815

225-359-9940 www.brfoodbank.org

$19.61 million

1900 S Acadian Thruway, Baton Rouge 70808

225-336-8700 www.ccdiobr.org

$18.23 million

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

4950 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge 70809

Foundation Health Services Inc.

17617 S Harrells Ferry Road, Baton Rouge 70816

Community School for Apprenticeship Learning

1555 Madison Ave., Baton Rouge 70802

St. James Place of Baton Rouge

333 Lee Drive, Baton Rouge 70808

HIV-Aids Alliance for Region Two

4550 North Blvd. Suite 250, Baton Rouge 70806

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University

5414 Brittany Drive, Baton Rouge 70808

Ollie Steele Burden Manor

4250 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge 70809

Foundation Health Services Inc.

17617 S. Harrells Ferry Road, Baton Rouge 70816

Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge Inc.

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #2

DBA-doing business as NA-not available NR-not ranked To be featured in Business Report's Listmakers, nonprofits must be based in the nine-parish Capital Region, and had revenue information available from the U.S. Internal Revenue ExemptorOrganizations Business Master File Extract revisions. as of June 15. The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Information on about 332 nonprofits will be available to • Please respondService's by e-mail fax with your approval or minor subscribers on our be considered for next please contact Alaine Keisling at research@businessreport.com. Published July 16, 2019. • AD WILL RUNwebsite. AS ISTounless approval or year's finallist, revisions

Researched by Alaine Keisling

are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

Small town caring with big town opportunities West Feliciana Parish Public Schools is a high performing, innovative district, just 25 miles northwest of Baton Rouge. With a strong tradition of community support, West Feliciana Parish Schools consistently rank in the top ten in academic rankings, and all schools are recognized as Top Gains Schools. Our school system focuses on each child using a holistic approach that encompasses early childhood education, character education, art education, athletics, and STEM. • Universal Pre-K program offered to all students who reside in the parish

• Competitive Athletic Programs, 7 State Championships in 5 years

• Nationally recognized Lighthouse Schools for teaching character and leadership

• School Resource Officers at each school

“

• STEM courses at all schools so that students can develop their skills and interests in one of the fastest growing sectors of our nation’s economy

• 1 to 1 Technology programs at all schools

We are excited about the 2019-2020 school year as we offer more opportunities so that students can connect, explore, and grow academically, socially, and emotionally at each school. Working together, we look forward to another great year in West Feliciana.

”

– Superintendent Hollis Milton

CONTACT: Hollis G. Milton, Superintendent | 225.635.3891 | P.O. Box 1910 | St. Francisville, LA 70775 Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

LET YOUR EXPECTATIONS FLY

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Located in the heart of south Baton Rouge, only six miles from Tiger Stadium. For reservations, visit lbatonrouge.com Must be 21 or older to enter Casino and Event Center. Â©2019 Penn National Gaming Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 800.522.4700.

TOP100

LISTMAKERS

Top New Orleans private companies Ranked by total revenue COMPANY ADDRESS PREV. RANK PHONE | WEBSITE

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Walk the Walk:

Why safety should be the core of your business culture

sk a high-level executive what their company culture is like and they will probably describe the latest version of their employee handbook. It’s easy to talk the talk. Actually driving a company culture of safety goes far deeper than training videos and a checklist. Promoting and demonstrating a culture primarily defined by keeping your employees safe has merits far beyond preventing injuries and accidents. Kylie Sparks has built his business with safety top-of-mind. Pipe & Steel Industrial has become one of the most utilized full-service industrial emergency turn-around fabrication organizations in the region. The company has been fabricating carbon and alloy piping systems for the power, chemical process, refining and oilfield industries since 1998. Sparks shared some of the tangible benefits companies can receive from leading with a safety focus. “Like other companies, we start new employees with safety training, but it doesn’t stop there,” Sparks says. “Safety is a culture your employees take home to their families.” Traditional approaches to this requirement produce reactive actions taken only after a worker is injured or becomes sick, a new standard or regulation is published, or an outside inspection finds a problem that must be fixed. After an accident is too late—it behooves a company to be proactive in educating employees with on-going programs. But for employees to feel safe on the job, safety requires the buy-in of everyone in the workplace—and starts at the top. “It’s

PROMOTE REAL SAFETY CULTURE Research shows that companies with a strong safety culture keep workers engaged and emotionally committed to the organization and its goals. Pipe & Steel builds safety into every part of its business, ensuring health and safety prioritization saturates corporate culture and employee behavior at every level.

important to lead with open and effective communication and continuous training,” says Sparks, “Soliciting and utilizing suggestions from employees ensures that health and safety hazards are sorted out as soon as they are reported, and everyone can feel safer at work.” To develop engaged employees, you must influence people’s attitudes towards safety. You can only create and sustain results if you learn to understand and manage how employees approach their work. Here are some steps to help improve your team’s mindset and build a real safety culture in your workplace.

ACCOUNTABILITY

In a preventative safety culture, an entry-level employee needs to feel safe walking up to the CEO and handing him or her a hard hat to wear on the worksite. This heightened level of accountability is key in stopping injuries before they occur. Teaching employees to recognize hazards and mitigate them is paramount. Giving every person the authority to stop work and re-group after identifying potential safety issues.

PROCESSES

Hindsight is always 20/20. By investigating past incidents, safety managers can identify potential future risks and remedy these issues through directed employee training. Determining the contributing factors of incidents and accidents can help safety managers identify pertinent areas for improvement, such as training or equipment upgrades and listening to the employees who are actually performing the work.

HAZARD RECOGNITION Reward safe performance. If you’re not already doing so, make safety performance a part of employee performance appraisals. Employees who understand that pay increases, promotions and other rewards are contingent on having a proactive safety attitude tend to take workplace safety more seriously. Be sure to communicate your expectations often with your employees.

NEWS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Dom Peré stays true to his roots Determined to make it in Baton Rouge, Dom Peré is building Marex Services Group into a force in the international shipping sector. BY CAITIE BURKES

DON KADAIR

“It’s interesting being an international shipping company based here, since it’s not something you have much of,” says Peré, declining to discuss revenues. “We’re in a well-situated spot for the Gulf Coast, and for access from the Gulf Coast into what I’d call this hemisphere of industrial work.” The boutique firm mostly competes for international contracts at the national level. But through a couple of strategic personnel additions—including those of Peré’s business partner Paul Esser and Executive Vice President Jimmy Screen—Peré is expanding Marex’s services, client base and international footprint.

RAPID RISE: Starting in the mail room of The Shaw Group in 2003, Dom Peré traveled around the world to learn industrial business before returning to Baton Rouge to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, including founding Marex Services Group.

DELIVERING MILLIONS of dollars worth of disaster recovery cargo to the most remote, typhoon-ravaged islands of Micronesia might sound like a swashbuckling, Treasure Islandesque task, but for Dom Peré, it was just another day at work. As founder and co-owner of the Baton Rouge-based Marex Services Group, Peré manages the logistics of delivering cargo— chemicals downstream, oil and gas upstream, heavy equipment, or food and beverages—from one port to another throughout the world. It’s among an array of services the maritime logistics company offers to clients largely in

the petrochemical and industrial sectors. The company also marks the oldest in a trio of entrepreneurial ventures by Peré, and the only one he still owns. Earlier this year, he left the other two, selling his interest in Fila-Mar Energy Services (a first-mile proppant logistics provider) to a private investor, while selling PropDispatch (a last-mile proppant logistics provider) to a publicly traded Houston company, both in an effort to fully focus on Marex (which incorporates all parts of the supply chain). His interest in the seemingly niche proppant logistics trade

stems from six formative years spent working in the Middle East. As a recent LSU graduate in 2003, Peré impressed executives at The Shaw Group enough to eventually migrate from the mail room to an airplane bound for Dubai, where he’d work for three years in business development before joining a global yachting company. While living there, he learned how materials are transported, mastering an understanding of the process. Since Marex formed in 2011, it has forged a presence in the petrochemical-rich Baton Rouge market, recently moving into a nautically inspired Downtown East headquarters.

‘GET ON THE PLANE’ The idea for what would become Marex Services Group originated with the now-infamous BP oil spill of 2011. “There was a need for crew boats, supply boats and barges in the Gulf, but there wasn’t much supply,” says Peré. “My idea was to build this website that would have all the inventory on it and make it a one-stop shop.” So he created “The Marex” (short for “The Maritime Exchange”) to act as the consulting arm, with Vessel Charter serving as the brokerage arm. Business climbed with the emergence of ceramic proppant, or man-made frack sand, once Peré figured out the supply chain for the specialty material, which is used for oil and gas fracking. However, in 2015, the oil and gas industry tanked, hitting all three of Peré’s companies overnight with “a severe multi-year downturn.” Each venture—by virtue of being privately owned and having little debt—weathered the storm, says Peré, though he was looking for a way to come out on top again. His answer came the following year, through a game-changing partnership with Paul Esser. The two had met years before, when Esser worked as chartering manager at the New Orleans Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

119

NEWS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

office of the Netherlands-based Van Weelde Shipping Group. After contracting Fila-Mar to move some proppants from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast, Esser was introduced to Peré by the late Ben Blanchard, then vice president of Van Weelde. Immediately “feeling Dom’s high energy,” Esser says what started as a professional relationship between the two evolved into a genuine friendship. In 2016, Peré asked Esser to join Marex, wanting to expand the company’s repertoire to include “blue water” operations and place a greater focus on the European market. Today, the two are equal shareholders in the company, with Esser now serving as co-owner and chief operating officer. “Having worked for someone all my life, it was my first step in becoming an entrepreneur,” Esser says. “I was nervous, but Dom and I are very much aligned.” Case in point: When the two were separately asked to select new branding for the company out of 30 options, each picked the same option. But professionally,

each says the other provides much needed balance: While Esser provides Peré with years of institutional operational knowledge and sometimes needs to put the brakes on Peré’s growing list of ideas, Peré pushes Esser out of his comfort zone, encouraging him to take healthy, strategic risks.

days to get there and two-anda-half days to return to Baton Rouge. “It was a hunch that paid off. Dom taught me, ‘If you want to know something for sure, get on the plane and show your face,’” recalls Esser. “That’s what he does. He’d jump on a plane and do whatever else it takes to make

“It was a hunch that paid off. Dom taught me, ‘If you want to know something for sure, get on the plane and show your face.’ That’s what he does. He’d jump on a plane and do whatever else it takes to make something happen.” PAUL ESSER, co-owner and chief operating officer, Marex Services Group

When Esser took on his first major contract at Marex, a project for the Federated States of Micronesia, he noticed an opportunity to secure a particular kind of ship his client needed, but the ship was located overseas. Without hesitation, Peré told Esser to jump on a plane to obtain the ship at its location, and he did so, taking two-and-a-half

something happen.” The philosophy distinguishes Peré from his competitors, as most with international operations tend to conduct 100% of business via emails, phone calls and the internet, using thirdparty vendors to move clients’ cargo. Conversely, Marex always has people on the ground to ship cargo, allowing the company to

give in-depth updates in real time. FUTURE PLANS As the site of Marex’s headquarters, Louisiana’s capital city holds significance for Peré. Not only is it where he met Ashley, his wife of 15 years, while both were attending LSU, but it’s also where he forged invaluable connections with plugged-in professionals within The Shaw Group. Such was the case with Jimmy Screen, son of former Baton Rouge Mayor Pat Screen, who served as Peré’s link to corporate during his early 2000s stint in Dubai. In April, Peré hired Screen to serve as executive vice president of Marex, shortly after Screen left CSRS. Screen remembers the young Peré as a “consistent, humble, and grounded” hard worker whose feathers weren’t easily ruffled. The two have maintained an easy friendship since, with Screen advising Marex during its early years. “We’re trying to support our effort to gain new work while also

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120

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

DON KADAIR

attracting talented employees who understand where we’re going,” Screen says. Part of that means upgrading the Vessel Charter website, which is undergoing a massive redesign to make it more data-driven in order to beef up its database of assets. The company plans to bring the redeveloped product to market next year. It also means growing Marex’s footprint across the globe. In the past three years, the company has opened satellite offices in Guatemala and Dubai, with tentative plans to open more in The Netherlands and Austin, Texas. Until then, Peré also wants to pick up more Louisiana companies operating in the oil and gas, industrial and disaster recovery spaces. “We’re thinking about how to grow the company while staying true to our roots and not moving,” Peré says. “In a perfect world, we’d be in Houston, Miami, Washington, D.C.,Ad or proof an- #3 Issue Date: 7-16-19 other international city … but • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • ADwant WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions we Baton Rouge to become are received by the close of business today. that.” • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

RESUME AT-A-GLANCE AFTER WORKING WITH The Shaw Group (2003-2007), Island Global Yachting (20072009) and Apex Solutions (2009-2011), where he founded the company’s maritime division, there was a five-year period when Dom Peré juggled three separate entrepreneurial pursuits, all related to maritime logistics, including:

Fila-Mar Energy Services

(February 2014-February 2019): A first-mile proppant logistics company that has since grown to be a full-service trucking, technology and shipping provider that handles commodities from point-oforigin to the well head; Peré sold his interest in the company to a private investor.

PropDispatch

(May 2014-February 2019): A last-mile proppant logistics software initially created to address challenges recognized with Fila-Mar; in February, its owner, BulkTracer Holdings, was acquired by Hi-Crush Partners, a publicly traded proppant logistics provider out of Houston, for an undisclosed price.

Marex Services Group

(March 2011-present): A maritime logistics company that offers consulting services for project and shipping solutions across the energy and industrial commodity marketplace. To do this, Marex utilizes a web-based platform called Vessel Charter, which acts as the brokerage arm of the company.

Sarah-Margaret Smith - Member Since: 2015 Bryan G. Jeansonne - Member Since: 2011 Emily M. Debnam - Member Since: 2016 Ashley & Levar Greenhouse - Members Since: 2017 Edmund & Cathy Giering & Family Members Since 1997

For over 60 years, City Club has been downtown Baton Rouge’s premier dining club where membership is by invitation only. Over 1,000 current members represent all business sectors, generations and fields of expertise. We are united by a common commitment to our City and region and to a lifelong pursuit of personal and professional excellence. The City Club is a “home away from home” as well as an extension of the office. 355 North Boulevard • Baton Rouge, LA 70801 • 225.387.5767 • CityClubBR.com

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GOVERNMENT

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

NEW DAY: After years of watching Louisiana lawmakers not tackle fiscal reform and other key issues, good government groups will be pushing those issues on the campaign trail.

Hitting the RESET button Good government groups are teaming up to get lawmakers behind good policy— but without big money, how successful will they really be? BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL THOUGH THE BUSINESS community scored some minor victories in the recent legislative session, re-election-facing lawmakers declined to tackle any of the really meaty issues on the business and good government groups agendas. As a result, another session has come and gone, and Louisiana has failed to address some of its most fundamental and pressing systemic problems, including the need for fiscal reform and investments in its crumbling, gridlocked highways and bridges. Will things ever change? Business leaders and good government groups say things have to change, and they’re trying a new approach to move the needle forward. In an unprecedented show of collaboration and public 122

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advocacy, three of the state’s most well-respected policy organizations—the Committee of 100 for Economic Development, Council for a Better Louisiana, and Public Affairs Research Council of Lousiana—are teaming up to push for major, systemic change across Louisiana in four key policy areas: state finances, education, transportation infrastructure, and criminal justice/ public safety. Though all three of the organizations have advocated for reforms in those areas in the past, they believe this new initiative, called RESET, will be different— not only because they’re working collaboratively but because fully one-third of the legislature will turn over in the fall elections. “This is the largest turnover as

the result of term limits that we’ve had in years,” says Mike Olivier, president and CEO of C100, the state’s business roundtable. “So we have the largest number of people out there who can influence and make a change fairly quickly.” Already, RESET is targeting the many candidates running for open seats and trying to get their support for issues on the RESET agenda, which includes things like fiscal reform, improving the state pension system, expanding access to high-quality early child care and education programs, strengthening K-12 schools and expanding school choice, beefing up workforce training, investing in transportation infrastructure, and improving the efficiency of the criminal justice system.

“We all know these are the good government things that need to be done,” Olivier says. “We’re just asking these candidates to keep them in mind as they approach a bill or a vote, and we will be there to give them cover.” But while RESET will advocate, educate and use social media—as well as limited amounts of paid, traditional advertising—to spread its good government message, it won’t be throwing big money behind the candidates it’s backing. Granted, C100 members have pitched in $500,000 to jump-start the effort, which includes hiring two consulting firms to help with research and messaging. But beyond the initial outlay, the effort is about promoting policy and appealing to the reason of politicians in one of the most irrational

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #3

which never even made it to a committee hearing. CABL President Barry Irwin concedes it will be difficult to go up against groups like AFP, but he believes the fresh blood in the legislature will make lawmakers more open and willing to go against the super PACS and special interest groups in favor of good government policy. “All we can do really is try to raise awareness of these issues with the candidates and the public,” Irwin says. “At the end of the day, all that groups like ours can do is raise the urgency and awareness level of candidates who will be in the legislature.” Throughout the summer, RESET leaders will continue meeting with incumbents, candidates and potential candidates, and hold meetings at chambers of commerce around the state. As the elections get closer, they will hone in on candidates that support their positions and do what they can to help them get elected. At the end of the day, though, they won’t resort to political gamesmanship but will take the high road—and rely on candidates to do the right thing. “We will not fund campaigns. We are not demanding anyone sign a pledge,” Olivier says. “This is a nonpartisan approach to simply giving lawmakers and candidates the best policy that is available.”

“We all know these are the good government things that need to be done. We’re just asking these candidates to keep them in mind as they approach a bill or a vote, and we will be there to give them cover.”

2019

political climates in recent memory. All of which raises the question: How effective will RESET really be? “I’m not sure any of us really knows,” says Jim Harris, of Harris Deville, a lobbying firm working with the groups. “I just know if we don’t try it will never happen.” Harris and the others reject the notion that money alone is necessary to influence political candidates and officeholders. That’s not how democracy is supposed to operate and it’s certainly not the way PAR, CABL and C100 have ever done business, according to PAR President and CEO Robert Travis Scott. The problem, however, is that anti-tax groups like Americans for Prosperity—which has the support of a lot of local small businesses—throw their considerable financial clout behind their candidates and positions, and it can be hard to go up against financial support with just a reasoned argument. Consider the recent legislative session, when AFP helped kill a proposed gasoline tax bill that was, admittedly, on shaky ground from the outset, yet enjoyed bipartisan support and was widely viewed as a pro-economic development measure. It was an election year and lawmakers knew they would be targeted by AFP in hit ads later this year if they supported the bill,

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NEWS

REAL ESTATE

The million-dollar question IF YOU WANT to spend at least $1 million on a ready-made home, you’ve come to the right city. You can choose from one of several Traditional Neighborhood Developments—or projects that closely mirror TNDs—that have sprung into mixed-use life around Baton Rouge in recent years. Developments like Rouzan, Pointe Marie, Valhalla, The Settlement at Willow Grove, Long Farm Village, and Adelia at Old Goodwood. And more projects targeting the high-end buyer are on the way, including a 13-lot residential community being planned along Brentwood Drive near the Country Club Place development that has home prices starting in the $500,000 range. A cursory search of the MLS shows 113 active, single-family homes currently on the greater Baton Rouge market listing for at least $1 million, of which 84 are located inside the Baton Rouge city limits alone. Meanwhile, the greater area also saw the number of sales of new construction homes in the $1 million price range grow from two (2016) to six (2017) to seven (2018), indicating increased homebuilding. It’s amassed a nearly two-year supply of million-dollar-plus homes in the greater market, leading many local real estate experts to say the high-end market—particularly in Baton Rouge—is overstocked. “At some point, it feels like we’re going to run out of space to build,” says Scott Gaspard, a senior partner with RE/Max First, who closely follows the market. “A lot of people are competing for the same market. It’s a good time to be a buyer.” Some, like Gaspard, chalk up the lacking demand to affluent buyers’ preference toward customization, with others adding millennial tastes—different from previous generations—contribute to slow activity with the existing housing stock. Also, despite anticipating lower interest rates than 124

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ISTOCK

A growing number of spec homes in the high-end residential market is creating a glut of inventory in some areas of Baton Rouge, tilting the scales toward buyers. BY CAITIE BURKES

SUPPLY SIDE: There are 113 high-end homes on the market—nearly a two-year supply—in the Baton Rouge area, prompting local experts to suggest the market is overbuilt.

usual, buyers wanting to upgrade from a $500,000 home might not want to double their property taxes and insurance rates by moving into a $1 million home, instead of opting to tear down and flip a house. Whatever its roots, everyone recognizes the result: There are too many pricey homes in certain local pockets, and not enough buyers to go around. Largely driving the trend is a philosophy adopted by many buyers willing to spend above a certain price point, which Gaspard observes to be $1 million: If they’re going to invest that much into a new home, why not make it a custom build, adding all the bells and whistles they want in real time? “Once you cross that million-dollar threshold, you’re going to build exactly what you want,” says Tom Fereday, Hancock Whitney senior vice president of private banking, who over the past 27 years has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to finance high-end Baton Rouge homes—an increasing number of which, he adds, are custom builds. Though Fereday notices a lower volume of purchase contracts coming through his office this

summer than is typical for the busy season, he says Hancock Whitney isn’t sounding the alarm for a spec bubble burst just yet. Instead, its private bankers are keeping busy as more clients use the bank’s construction lending service. Such services also hurt chances of filling the existing supply of high-end homes, says real estate agent Quita Cutrer of Burns & Company, such as those in Country Club of Louisiana. “Now, we’ve got all these new subdivisions and they’re competing with existing houses,” she says, noting the number of million-dollar spec homes in the City of Baton Rouge alone has quadrupled since 2016. A prime example is The Settlement at Willow Grove, where 26 homes—ranging in price from $464,500 to $1.5 million—are sitting on the market, eight of which are single-family specs listing for at least $1 million on the MLS. Richard Carmouche, who has been developing the area since 2007, attributes the mass of listings to a natural level of turnover that’s taking place as people who bought some of the first Willow Grove homes a dozen years ago are putting them on the market in order to either transfer for work or

upgrade to a new house—which, in some cases, is down the street. Aiming to close on the homes, Carmouche says he’s been stocking them up with more amenities that generally entice buyers. “A spa or a pool is getting to be pretty commonplace now, so we’re upping the ante,” he says. “We’re loading up on outdoor amenities, since we’re a courtyard-oriented neighborhood.” But Willow Grove isn’t the only TND swelling the local inventory. Cutrer recalls a recent instance where a builder in the upscale Valhalla neighborhood, wanting to get his spec off the market, shaved some $300,000 from his original asking price before closing on a sale. Those don’t even count Adelia at Old Goodwood—Mike Hogstrom’s residential development surrounding the 165-year-old Adelia Plantation fronting Goodwood Boulevard—which has five, $1 million-plus active specs on the market. The development is tied up in litigation, with Hogstrom being sued by two investors who say they bought into the project based on several representations Hogstrom made, including one that the majority of lots were already pre-sold, and another that Adelia would be an upscale, custom-built neighborhood—neither of which, according to the suit, turned out to be true. Moreover, the preferences of today’s million-dollar homebuyers, most of whom are millennials, are vastly different from previous generations, says local appraiser Winston Landry, who specializes in the high-end market. Given the opportunity to tailor homes to affluent millennial tastes—generally new, clean, white-washed homes on smaller lots—spec builders create a new level of competition for the million-plus market, says Landry. “There’s money in Baton Rouge, but there’s not enough money to fill that many houses over $1 million by the end of the year,”

Asking prices might drop slightly, encouraging more buyers to bite. “When you get excess of inventory and a limited buyer pool, those 113 sellers are going to start competing for the next round,” says Gaspard. “If you watch the market, you’ll see an opportunity in the midst of that.”

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Landry says. “Baton Rouge is still the size of a town where a million-dollar sale doesn’t happen every day.” What does this mean for the market? Gaspard, of RE/Max First, says it will likely correct itself, regaining health after the third quarter of 2020, after the presidential election takes place.

“At some point, it feels like we’re going to run out of space to build. A lot of people are competing for the same market. It’s a good time to be a buyer.” SCOTT GASPARD, senior partner, RE/Max First

BY THE NUMBERS The Baton Rouge high-end market

113

Active, single-family homes in the greater Baton Rouge area currently listing for at least $1 million.

Pending $1 millionplus sales.

22.6

Current months of supply in the high-end market.

Sales are up, but so is inventory 45 40 37/2

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WORKFORCE

Why layoff when you can ‘upskill’? Baton Rouge companies facing disruption are finding that retraining existing employees is often a better option than laying off the old and hiring the new. BY CAITIE BURKES WANTING TO MEET fast-changing business needs without wasting money and time recruiting new employees, Turner Industries is among many Baton Rouge companies focusing its training efforts on a ready pool of talent: Its own workers. Ray Neck, Turner’s workforce development director, has become something of an expert securing the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s Incumbent Worker Training Program grant money—which, this year, totals $850,000—having done so eight times. By applying this year, Turner promised two outcomes: Increased wages for some 700 existing employees who gain new skills and knowledge from a number of training programs conducted by Associated Builders and Contractors, LSU Continuing Education and Turner itself; and the creation of 70 jobs for new employees as retrained workers shift roles. Each time it receives the IWTP grant, the company forks over an estimated $100,000 to cover all the classes it wants to offer. It’s a small sacrifice, says Neck, considering the payoff that comes after retaining skilled labor and making them more valuable. “If they do this for us, we want to stick with them,” Neck says. The situation happens across Baton Rouge. A ballooning demand for skills—ranging from cloud computing and cybersecurity to pipefitting and welding— outpaces the existing supply, pushing employers to invest in their current workforce … and quickly. At the same time, automation infiltrates different industries, ushering in new eras like “Manufacturing 4.0” and others. The ubiquitous threat of competition also looms: Could Company 126

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

X’s employee pick up and move across the street to Company Y? All of which makes “upskilling” an increasingly attractive practice for Baton Rouge companies. Employers want to cultivate and retain a steady base of adaptable workers who are well-equipped to fill new roles as they emerge across multiple sectors. To some, habitually teaching new skills to current employees might seem an obvious move. But it can be more complicated than that, and many executives—viewing the retraining process as slow, costly and limiting—tend to favor the more disruptive alternatives of layoffs and buyouts, or simply neglect to implement the new skill or technology altogether. However, in today’s tight job market, such strategies aren’t sustainable. Upskilling has become an essential and recurring business decision, suggesting society needs to recalibrate its expectations for worker retraining. WHAT’S AT STAKE For many local companies, the need to improve their retraining

of existing workers comes from an industrywide labor shortage. Finding a new employee at Worley costs the company— formerly known as Jacobs Engineering—between $600 and $3,000, estimates Workforce Development Manager Joshua Callegan. That’s compared to an average $1 to $2 hourly wage increase an employee receives after upgrading their skills in some way. To keep who they already have, Worley follows a three-tiered, “hire to retire” approach by 1) immediately identifying the skills a worker already has and closing any gaps in necessary knowledge; 2) incrementally promoting the worker through a “helper training” program; and 3) getting the worker certified in multiple crafts related to his or her current certification, making them more marketable and able to stay on a particular construction job longer. “It’s not like it was 30 years ago, when we had people waiting at the gate,” Callegan says. “Once we find somebody, we want to hold

onto them.” Other companies like IBM are in the throes of a nonstop digital revolution that requires its workers to regularly expand their skill sets. If they want to stay ahead, the process must happen often. While employees at the firm’s downtown Baton Rouge client innovation center are learning how to navigate different cloud technologies from Red Hat (acquired by IBM last year), they’re also training in design thinking, agile and garage, on top of honing non-tech skills like client engagement and presentations. “Maybe [upksilling] happened once or twice in a lifetime 50 years ago, but now it’s once or twice a year,” says Charles Masters, IBM senior vice president of client innovation centers, who lives in Baton Rouge. Aiming to prepare Baton Rouge workers for “new collar jobs,” IBM offers several programs for future employees, including its apprenticeship and P-TECH programs. But it’s often more difficult for companies to determine their own workers’ talents, making employers somewhat hesitant to so freely invest resources—including time, money and commitment— into upskilling. Surely, it takes time; people normally don’t move from one position to the next in a fiscal year, much less in a quarter. Sometimes, employers are tempted to go through the quicker process of hiring a contract worker, even if they’re more expensive. However, workforce development leaders caution that’s a shortsighted approach, pointing to various local resources companies can use instead. “If we don’t train the current workforce in these skills, we’ll

Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1

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RETRAINING EXERCISE: Ray Neck, workforce development director at Turner Industries, is using grant dollars from the state’s Incumbent Worker Training Program to both retrain existing employees while also increasing their wages.

have to import talent, like we did in the IT sector,” says Paul Helton, executive director of workforce development for Louisiana Economic Development. Employers don’t have to come up with a curriculum on their own, says Helton, who oversees LED FastStart, recognized by Business Facilities magazine as the best state workforce development program in the country. Through the incentive program, qualified companies receive customized employee recruitment, screening, training development and training delivery for eligible, new or expanding companies, all for free. Something else employers might not realize is that they can use state facilities as sites for upskilling workers. The Louisiana Community and Technical College System often partners with LED FastStart, leaning on the program for curriculums and equipment to lower employers’ costs. More than 100 local and regional companies sent their employees for training at LSU last year, says Sasha Thackaberry, LSU’s vice provost of digital and continuing education. The university also offers 15 professional development certificate programs, with a few more—including certificates in DevOps and construction management— slated to come in the near future. Meanwhile, BRCC offers a corporate workforce training program where either a contract administrator or subject matter

expert assesses a business, analyzes employee expectations and determines gaps between the two, implementing a customized training program for the business. Of course, getting employee buy-in can also be a challenge. “The challenge is to make the content meaningful to the employee, and easily understandable,” says Jim Hudson, plant manager of Honeywell’s Baton Rouge facility, which has used BRCC’s program to train new plant workers with different machinery. “Everybody learns differently.” In his years overseeing BRCC’s program, Girard Melancon says clients have ranged from Ochsner to Coca-Cola to Mapp Construction. They have all seen their efforts pay off, he says, noticing business productivity gains, increased employee morale, the ability to pay larger wages and greater operational efficiency. Plus, training on-site at BRCC is often safer than doing so at the company’s facility, and less costly if an accident were to occur. Oftentimes, says Melancon, employers overlook yet another important fact: Workers are always at risk of going to work for the competition. “It keeps Baton Rouge’s companies on the cutting edge,” Melancon says. “Besides dealing with the competition in Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, a lot of these companies are also competing at global level. They like to retain their knowledge.”

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NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

ExxonMobil is partnering with LED and local IT firms to launch a virtual reality training initiative designed to boost Baton Rouge’s nascent tech sector. BY ANNIE OURSO LANDRY

IMAGINE THE IMMENSE responsibility on the shoulders of an 800-ton crane operator, installing two large, 150-foot-tall reactors along with a smaller one—weighing a combined 1.1 million pounds—as part of the expansion project underway at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge polyolefins plant. A lift of that magnitude, posing enormous risk, requires significant preparation. Is the rigging installed properly to avoid load inversion? Is the load swing stabilized? Are all lift team members and bystanders in the safe zone? The crane operator must carefully calculate the physics of the lift, adrenaline in overdrive, knowing logistics for the arrival of the reactors have been underway for weeks. Suddenly the operator discovers the rigging is misaligned. The load will invert shortly after the lift begins, requiring adjustments before it’s too late. He reaches to wipe the sweat from his brow only to remember this is just a 128

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Virtually the real thing

IMAGINE THIS: Cody Louviere, right, founder of King Crow Studios, used his video game development skills to help design the virtual reality modules and program used by ExxonMobil.

practice test—a virtual reality simulation, in fact, designed to prepare operators for a lift before stepping foot on the crane. The virtual reality modules are part of a new training initiative launched by ExxonMobil, in partnership with Louisiana Economic Development and local IT firms, ahead of its expansion. The craning and rigging module was one of the first developed, along with others that will train ExxonMobil employees in critical processes and safety standards. “We’re hiring a lot of people, so it’s imperative we increase competency quickly—one way is through virtual reality,” says Keitt Wannamaker, project lead for the ExxonMobil polypropylene plant. “It’s time consuming and difficult to train out in the field. With virtual reality, it takes 20 minutes. If we train in the field, it can take all day.” Not only does it save time, virtual reality offers a better training experience, company officials say, as employees are able to immerse

themselves in a situation, test their reactions and become familiar with the operations of the new plant before it’s even completed. “We’re going to build it virtually before we build it in the real world,” say Ken Miller, an ExxonMobil retiree and training program coordinator. “And operators will be trained before.” The initiative also marks the beginning of a promising partnership opportunity between the area’s robust industrial sector and its fledgling tech industry. ExxonMobil is working with three south Louisiana IT firms—including Baton Rouge-based King Crow Studios and Pixel Dash—to develop the virtual reality training modules. The partnership is expected to expand the demand for tech work in the Capital Region. LED’s FastStart workforce training program, recognized as the best in the country, also married perfectly with ExxonMobil’s virtual reality initiative, providing the support and a financial incentive to get the initiative going.

A third partner, Baton Rouge Community College, will also be involved, as ExxonMobil has donated funding to the school to outfit six virtual reality training stations. The initiative, which can be expanded to other companies, puts Louisiana at the forefront of the virtual reality movement expected to take hold across the country and train the next generation of workers, especially in industries like the petrochemical sector in south Louisiana. “Other states are moving into e-learning but not really into the virtual reality space yet,” says LED FastStart Executive Director Paul Helton. “This puts us head and shoulders above the rest.” ExxonMobil has been going through something of a digital transformation, launching a digital manufacturing strategy about a year and a half ago, says the company’s global IT architect Coila Lafleur. Part of that strategy includes virtual reality simulations staged at ExxonMobil’s

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tech hub, or “digital garage,” in Houston. So when local ExxonMobil leaders learned about the major expansion project coming to Baton Rouge, they wanted to take the opportunity to integrate technology and partner with some of the firms in the city’s nascent IT sector, says ExxonMobil spokeswoman Stephanie Cargile. They reached out to LED for help, which then suggested the FastStart incentive and local IT firms. Other industrial companies are beginning to get involved in similar initiatives, as they see technology as a key to their futures. And that’s good news for Baton Rouge’s tech industry, based in the heart of a booming petrochemical region. “We see this as real opportunity to marry the two sectors,” Cargile says. ExxonMobil’s interest in virtual reality training aligned perfectly with the skills sets of local video game developers, like King Crow Studios, says founder Cody Louviere. Other major

THREE AMIGOS: LED’s Paul Helton, from left, as well as Girard Melancon, workforce solutions vice chancellor at BRCC, and Keitt Wannamaker, ExxonMobil polypropylene plant project lead, are sharing resources in the creation of the virtual reality training program.

corporations, such as Walmart and JetBlue, have reported seeing training time reduced by 40% since investing in virtual reality. “Empirical evidence backs up why immersion is so important to learning,” Louviere says. “When you put on a headset, you’re effectively in an alternate dimension.” As opposed to traditional training methods, virtual reality allows

employees to actually perform tasks as they would on the job. And research has consistently shown the best way to learn, Louviere says, is by doing. The initiative also couldn’t have come at a better time, says Helton, of LED. “With FastStart, job specific training is our business,” he says. “We have long recognized the old-fashioned model of bringing

25 people to a classroom and lecturing for 12 hours does not fit today’s hiring and learning needs. We’ve been getting into the e-learning space for a while and just started getting into virtual reality.” The partnership is also a winwin for local IT firms like King Crow Studios, which plans to hire up to six more employees thanks to the ExxonMobil initiative. BRCC, meanwhile, has begun constructing six training stations at its Acadian Thruway and Winborne Avenue location. Vice Chancellor for Workforce Solutions Girard Melancon says 90% of the college’s workforce training program is already geared toward the petrochemical industry, so the virtual reality initiative is a natural fit. The simulated exercises provide an opportunity to not only train students, but also improve their reactions in the event of an emergency. “So when they go out to ExxonMobil or anywhere,” Melancon says, “they will have that behavior ingrained.”

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Too good to be true?

GOOD GROWTH: Looking for new opportunities after moving to Baton Rouge, Katharine Ramnanan enrolled in the Apprenti Louisiana program and it led to her landing an apprenticeship at General Informatics.

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WHEN APPRENTI LOUISIANA graduates talk about their experience participating in the state’s first technology apprenticeship program, a common sentiment emerges. The program, they say, is almost too good to be true. Apprenti—a national initiative founded in 2016 and operating in 10 states—provides three months of free certified technical training and a paid one-year apprenticeship with a local company. NexusLA, a subsidiary of the Research Park Corporation, launched Apprenti Louisiana in Baton Rouge last October with five partner companies—TraceSecurity, General Informatics, EATEL Business, Transformyx, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. “For me, it was pretty much perfect for what I was looking for at this point in my life,” says Jared Carmouche, an Apprenti grad who left the banking industry and is now an apprentice at Eatel Business. “The fact that it was free and a great opportunity, I was sort of skeptical the whole time, thinking this can’t be true.” The goal of Apprenti Louisiana is not just to help participants find jobs, but to fill the skills gap in the Baton Rouge area’s talent-hungry tech industry. The program provides a reliable pipeline of trained apprentices to meet the growing demands for tech talent at local companies. Apprenti has even attracted interest from out of state, including two in the first cohort who moved to Baton Rouge from Texas. And employers participating in Apprenti so far have been impressed with the results. “The success of the program is evident by the ability of the apprentices to be immediately productive and to be an additional avenue for building a quality workforce in the Baton Rouge area,” says General Informatics Executive Vice President Devin Zito. “We’re looking forward to being a part of the program’s future success.”

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Apprenti Louisiana is expanding the Baton Rouge tech workforce, opportunities. BY ANNIE OURSO LANDRY

CAREER CHANGER: After working for several years in the banking industry, a frustrated Jared Carmouche took the Apprenti course and is now an apprentice at Eatel Business. Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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The Research Park pursued the Apprenti model last year in an effort to help local tech partners facing significant challenges identifying and hiring skilled talent for IT roles, says Research Park Corporation CEO Genevieve Silverman. A needs assessment conducted with employers found cyber security analysts were in high demand, which became the focus of the first Apprenti class. LanTec, a corporate training center in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, provided the tech certification training for the first group, funded via a federal grant, Silverman says. Future classes will use a braided funding model of state and federal dollars, as well as employer contributions. As an added benefit to employers, Apprenti organizers take on the work of recruiting, screening and selecting applicants, who are then trained, certified and ready to begin their apprenticeships. “The program does not require prior experience, but an aptitude to learn complex skills and an attitude to complete a demanding

“The program does not require prior experience, but an aptitude to learn complex skills and an attitude to complete a demanding program.” GENEVIEVE SILVERMAN, CEO, Research Park Corporation DON KADAIR

NEWS

program,” Silverman says, adding the selection process involves an online test and multiple interviews. Employers who opt in must provide an upfront one-year apprenticeship offer, she says, based on applicants successfully completing the training. Minimum salaries are $17.19 an hour for

the first six months and $21.10 for the subsequent six months. At the end of the apprenticeship, it’s up to the employer to offer a fulltime position. The companies involved say the deal is too good to pass up, especially considering the fact that they don’t have to spend their own time and money on the

selection and training process. “It was the fastest hiring decision we’ve ever made,” says Barret Williams, director of data center operations at Eatel Business, which hired one of the nine apprentices. Williams says Apprenti organizers interviewed employers about their company cultures and needs in order to match them with the right candidates. Eatel was then able to interview two candidates Apprenti provided and chose one. Most employers, like Eatel, are interested in being part of Apprenti again next year, Silverman says. She also hopes to expand the program, which offers training for 12 different tech jobs, locally and statewide over time. “If you look at the program, it’s broader than our one hire,” Williams says. “Nine people (in the first class), that’s significant. Companies would have been cannibalizing talent from each other, all vying for the same talent pool. Anything we can do to make the talent pool wider.”

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THE APPRENTICES Business Report spoke with two of the nine Apprenti grads to learn more about why they joined the program and hear their own first-hand testimonials:

KATHARINE RAMNANAN

JARED CARMOUCHE

22, apprentice at General Informatics

32, apprentice at Eatel Business

Background: A Texas-transplant, Katharine Ramnanan earned her bachelor’s degree in technical theatre in 2016 and previously worked technical jobs on behind-the-scenes sets, with design, sound and lighting.

Background: Jared Carmouche, a Baton Rouge resident, worked in the banking industry for several years, beginning in college while he earned his psychology degree. Why Apprenti Louisiana? “I got to a point in my life where I became bored with the banking industry,” Carmouche says. “With automation and other advancements, I didn’t see it as a viable option forward.” He planned to enroll in college again for computer science when an adviser told him about Apprenti. Considering he already went to college while working full-time to support his family, Carmouche says, the Apprenti program seemed to be a far better opportunity for him.

DON KADAIR

Why Apprenti Louisiana? Ramnanan and her husband, Vikash Ramnanan, who has a degree in psychology, were both trying to map out the next steps in their careers, eyeing graduate school and applying for new jobs. “I didn’t see a way for me to move up the ladder,” she says of her former job. “I wanted opportunities to grow.” Her husband came across the Apprenti Louisiana program. Both she and Vikash decided to apply and only accept the offer if both were selected, which they were, so they packed up and moved to Baton Rouge. On the program: “I can’t express how too good to be true it is. It’s had such a positive impact on me. Before this, I was looking at grad school programs—I thought that was what was necessary, lots of money, online school. With Apprenti, we were able to get the certifications and training we needed to jumpstart a new career. Not only that, but Miss Genevieve went above and beyond to help me and Vikash find our feet in this new city.”

On the program: “During the training, we sat in the classroom for eight hours a day and grinded. They had to teach us from the ground up; a group of people with limited knowledge of networks and cyber security. But the training gave me a solid foundation to get started so that I was able to start contributing at my apprenticeship within weeks.”

On the apprenticeship: “I’m working with a company where I feel valued, which is really important to me. I work at one of General Informatics’ client sites, so any issues they run into, they come to me. I’m also Date: helping 7-16-19 the client implement a new#2 software built by our programmers. Having Issue Ad proof the chance to work for (founder) Mo Vij at a company he created and raised to what it is • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. •today—it’s AD WILL RUNawesome.” AS IS unless approval or final revisions

On the apprenticeship: “I absolutely love it. I went from banking—where all jobs were the same, you get work done in a few hours and then stare off into space—to where I’m constantly working with a group towards a goal. Every day is different. I’m always learning and engaged. After learning about the field, I’m upset I didn’t do something like this a long time ago.”

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Where is this shrimp from? Now you’ll know. A new Louisiana law requires restaurants to spell out where it gets its shrimp and crawfish. BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON ISTOCK

THE NEXT TIME you sit down to a shrimp po-boy or some crawfish étouffée in a Louisiana restaurant, you have the right to know if the seafood you’re eating is imported. Louisiana House Bill 335, passed and signed into law June 19, mandates that restaurants serving foreign shrimp or crawfish reveal this information to consumers by posting it on their menus. In the absence of menus, a restaurant must post it on visible signage. “This was our second attempt to get something like this passed in the last four or five years,” says veteran Louisiana shrimper Lance Nacio, owner of Anna Marie Shrimp Company in Montegut. “It’s time people understood more about what they’re really getting.” Grocery stores and fish markets are already required to specify country of origin and whether or not a product is farm-raised or wild-caught, but until now restaurants have escaped such notification. American Shrimp Processors Association Executive

Director David Veal says the new Louisiana law could be a model for other states. “There certainly is talk in the trade that this may spread to many of the Gulf Coast and southern Atlantic coast states,” Veal says. “You would be hard pressed to walk into a restaurant and get a straight answer about whether shrimp is domestic or not.” According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration FishWatch, the United States imports more than 80% of the seafood Americans eat. Top seafood exporters to the U.S., according to NOAA, are China, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ecuador. Much of imported seafood is farm-raised, often in crowded conditions as the aquaculture industry tries to meet the world’s growing demand for seafood. The global industry has risen steadily as supply in international waters becomes stagnant due to overfishing.

However, imported seafood is inspected at U.S. borders at a rate of about 1%. In the European Union, the rate is closer to 50%, says Veal. That means a lot of chemicals not allowed in U.S. seafood manages to sneak in. Independent studies, including one conducted by an LSU AgCenter Fisheries specialist, show the presence of antibiotic and microbial residue in imported shrimp. The AgCenter study documented levels of these chemicals on imported shrimp in markets and grocery stores in Baton Rouge during winter 2016 and spring 2017. Popular across the U.S., shrimp is the single largest type of seafood imported. Americans consume 1.5 billion pounds of shrimp a year, with only about 100 million pounds coming from the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Biloxi-based American Shrimp Processors Association. It makes it almost impossible for American shrimpers to

compete on price, says Veal. Government subsidies in foreign countries, along with cheaper labor and less regulation, have depressed the prices for shrimp for years, he says. Gulf of Mexico shrimpers like Nacio and others have been part of a movement that started after Hurricane Katrina to brand their wild-caught American shrimp as higher quality. They’ve been working for years to demand a fair price for a boutique product. But better quality isn’t what the new Louisiana law is about. Previous attempts to send a fair trade-type bill through the House Commerce Committee failed, says Rep. Jerry “Truck” Gisclair, D-Larose. Conversely, the new law speaks to the possibility of foreign seafood carrying health risks, including high levels of veterinary antibodies commonly used in foreign aquaculture. “I tried to do this bill before through Commerce, and I was not prepared for the army of lobbyists that came after me,” says Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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Gisclair. “We looked at issues such as the number of antibiotics and other chemicals found in foreign seafood, and the lack of inspections at the federal level of seafood coming into the United States. We requested a hearing through the Health and Welfare Committee, and that made the difference.” Gov. John Bel Edwards publicly signed the bill into law at The Shack seafood restaurant in Houma, surrounded by about 150 shrimpers and their supporters. Notification and enforcement is now up to the Office of Public Health’s restaurant inspection division, which, according LOCATION MATTERS: Audrey Bergeron—of the Anna Marie Shrimp Company, one of the companies that led the to Gisclair, is expected to give fight to require restaurants to identify the origin of its seafood—weighs out Gulf Coast shrimp at a local market. restaurants a reasonable time to comply. required on new menu postings of the new law, he says. The Louisiana Restaurant and signage. “I’m going to hazard a guess Association would not return Whether or not seafood supthat most restaurants will not calls for comment about the pliers see an uptick in domestic know it’s a law, and some won’t bill’s passing. Gisclair says the seafood orders is still to be seen, abide by it anyway,” Walker says. LRA, whose statewide chapters says Rob Walker, general manager “But, the overwhelming majority are comprised of both local and of Louisiana Seafood Exchange of imported shrimp to this counchain restaurants, initially opBaton Rouge. The company sells try is bought outside of the five Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #2 posed the proposed legislation, both domestic and imported seaGulf states.” • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS unless approval or final revisions food to restaurants, and so far, but ended upISworking with lawWalker says that it’s generally are received by the the close of business today. makers about size of the font there’s been no change as a result agreed upon that the taste of • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

DON KADAIR

NEWS

Gulf shrimp is superior to imported shrimp, but that restaurants sometimes can’t beat the price of certain imported product dispositions. A good example, he says, is peeled, deveined, tail-on shrimp sold in an extremely consistent size. The labor required to produce such a product would make the domestic equivalent cost twice as much, Walker says. As for crawfish, the playing field of late has been a little more level. During the 2019 crawfish season, crawfish tail prices ended the season at $11.50 a pound, where in years past, they were between $9 and $9.50 when they went into freezers at the end of the season, Walker says. Gisclair and advocates of the bill say that restaurants and consumers will have to decide for themselves about importance they place on product provenance. And, of course, price will be a factor. “We’re not telling restaurants you cannot serve imported seafood,” says Gisclair. “But I have the right to know what I’m putting in my body.”

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NEW DEAL: Waitr founder and CEO Chris Meaux is surprised by the restaurant complaints over its new contract terms, saying the delivery company is boosting their business at a cost that’s cheaper than the competition.

Delivery on hold COURTESY WAITR

Louisiana-based Waitr rolls out new partnership terms, which some Baton Rouge restaurants say are hard to swallow. BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON

SINCE IT LAUNCHED in 2013, Louisiana-based Waitr has been a game changer in the regional dining sector, with many restaurants seeing substantial new sales through the company’s delivery platform. Local diners by the thousands, charmed by convenience and loyal to the homegrown concept, routinely order from Waitr. By mid-year, the company had enrolled 785 Baton Rouge restaurant partners. But the normally rosy mood surrounding Waitr darkened earlier this month when the company announced new contract terms that restaurant partners would have to sign by the end of the month. These include a new fee structure that replaces the current 15% commission with a sliding scale commission ranging from 15% to 25%, depending on sales. Restaurants with monthly sales of $1,000 or less will pay 25% per transaction—a rate Waitr contends is still less than what national vendors Uber Eats and Grubhub charge. Meanwhile, restaurants with $20,000 or more in monthly Waitr sales will pay a 15% commission. The rate will be 138

BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

adjusted each month according to the previous month’s sales. Restaurants will also have to absorb the credit card transaction fee, adding another 3% to the cost of doing business with Waitr. And restaurant partners will not be allowed to charge a higher price for food ordered through the Waitr app than through any other carryout option. That means restauranteurs who had already increased prices to accommodate a previous commission jump from 3% to 15% must lower prices to be consistent with their regular menu. “These are very frustrating changes, and I think a lot of restaurants are going to reject the new terms,” says Jim Urdiales, owner of Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant, which does about $7,000 in monthly sales through Waitr, a rate that will require a 23% commission, not including the credit card processing fee. “I would bet that about half— if not a majority—of restaurants are going to drop out with terms like this. No one has a dish on their menu that has a 15 percent profit margin, much less one with

25 percent.” Urdiales said he had scheduled a meeting with a Waitr sales rep to discuss the terms, and was also planning to reach out Uber Eats, one of the national third party deliverers now operating in Baton Rouge. UberEats typically charges restaurants a 30 to 35% commission and does not allow them to offset those costs with higher prices to the consumer. Urdiales posted his discontent about Waitr’s changes on Facebook, prompting a handful of other restaurateurs and patrons to chime in, including White Star Market vendors Jay Ducote, who owns Gov’t Taco, and Jordan Ramirez, co-owner of Chow Yum Phat and Yuzu. Both expressed hesitation about renewing their contracts. Kalurah Street Grill owner Brad Watts told Daily Report he planned on discontinuing the Waitr partnership at the end of the month, as did Rocco Moreau of Rocco’s New Orleans Style Po-boys and Café, and Ruffin Rodrigue of Ruffino’s. Waitr founder and CEO Chris Meaux says he’s surprised at the negative reaction among

some restaurant partners, since Waitr brought new sales revenue that didn’t exist before the platform. He also says the commission is still lower than national competitors. “We’ve brought incremental sales to our restaurant partners– new sales they didn’t see before their relationship with us,” says Meaux. “If we’re bringing a company $5,000 in sales, and they’re paying us $1,150, it’s still sales they wouldn’t have, and they’re still paying less than they would with something like Uber Eats or Grubhub.” The beauty of the Waitr app, says Meaux, has always been that it allows users to explore local dining options in a visually robust manner. Being on a platform like Waitr, he adds, levels the playing field for local restaurants that don’t have the marketing budgets of national chains. Waitr went public in 2018 after Landcadia Holdings purchased it for $308 million. A few months later, the company acquired Minnesota-based Bite Squad, doubling in size and growing revenue more than 200% by the

CB19-ELSIES-BRBIZ-4.25x5.pdf

end of the year. Waitr Holdings now trades on the NASDAQ and reaches 24,000 restaurants in 700 cities. In the past few weeks, the company streamlined personnel and laid off an undisclosed number of workers companywide. Meaux says the number represents a tiny fraction of total employees. Meaux says that the new contract terms with restaurants are being introduced because of market pressure and increased competition from Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash, which all operate in Baton Rouge. By incentivizing restaurant partners to lower their commission fees with higher sales, Meaux is hoping they’ll see Waitr as the preferred third-party deliverer. “If you’re trying to accumulate as many sales as possible through Waitr to keep your commission down, you’ll be less likely to divide up those sales with another delivery company,” says Meaux. “We have to find ways to stay competitive as well.” Another thorny issue for the company this year has been about driver wages. Two separate federal lawsuits were filed in Louisiana this spring by former and current Waitr drivers who contend they were paid less than

minimum wage, citing automobile expenses. Waitr drivers are paid an hourly rate that can fluctuate in busy periods, and they keep all of their tips. The optional tip function is built into the app and defaults at 20%, but users can increase, lower or eliminate the tip altogether. Meaux maintains the company follows fair wage practices and that drivers do pretty well. “Our drivers earn healthy wages in every market, averaging $12 to $15 an hour,” he says. “We have a mix of full-time and part-time drivers.” However complicated things have gotten lately for Waitr, it’s unlikely consumers will opt out of third-party restaurant delivery anytime soon. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2019 State of the Industry Report, one of the biggest sources of new revenue for restaurants is from off-premise sales. Thirty-eight percent of adults in the U.S. and 50% of millennials say they are more likely to opt for restaurant delivery than they were two years ago, according to the report. “Consumers are going to continue to use the platform,” says Meaux. “If a restaurant drops out, they will find another restaurant they want to order from.”

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“I would bet that about half—if not a majority—of restaurants are going to drop out with terms like this. No one has a dish on their menu that has a 15 percent profit margin, much less one with 25 percent.”

DON KADAIR

JIM URDIALES, owner, Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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RETAIL

Want retail in your village? It takes an incentive RETAIL MIGHT FOLLOW rooftops, but it also follows tax incentives for developers. Livingston Parish has both. The parish is home to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Juban Crossing, two significant Denham Springs developments that leverage tax increment financing, or TIFs. The mechanism entices developers with significant tax breaks to cover infrastructure and development costs, allowing the local government to impose an additional sales tax in a designated district without voter approval. “Without TIF, we wouldn’t have been able to do Juban Crossing,” says developer Steve Keller, whose 550,000-square-foot, open-air shopping center generated $9.6 million in sales tax revenue for the parish last April. “It’s worked out great for us.” It does appear the TIF strategy is working, with some retailers popping up around Juban Crossing and many coming to the area around Bass Pro, which is expected to pay off its 30-year bonds in less than half the time amortized. But the 2016 flood put a temporary damper on retail growth. Juban Crossing still has some empty storefronts, like the Kohl’s that left after the flood, though activity has picked up recently as outparcels attract more tenants. Keller says the development is about 50% complete, with plans underway to add another 100,000 square feet of retail before building 500 homes and 450 apartment units. Both developments are often heralded as examples of what’s possible for the parish’s retail footprint, which is moving into the bedroom community at a much slower clip than its population is growing. Without the luxury of river access—which neighboring Ascension Parish uses to entice 140

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STAFF PHOTO

Absent the density of residential rooftops to lure businesses, Livingston Parish turned to TIFs—and it’s working. BY CAITIE BURKES

SEAL THE DEAL: Juban Crossing would never have happened, says developer Steve Keller, if Livingston Parish officials did not approve tax incremental financing for the project.

industry—Livingston is chasing retail in an effort to generate the revenue it needs to accommodate a booming population and spur additional growth. THE CHASE One might argue retail doesn’t equate to economic development because, rather than generate new dollars, it reshuffles existing consumer spending. But David Bennett, executive director of the Livingston Economic Development Council, says a healthy retail environment can help the parish attract different kinds of businesses and industry, from advanced manufacturing and distribution facilities to doctor’s offices, law practices and engineering firms. For retail to work, says Bennett, a community must have the population and the infrastructure, the latter of which can prove a challenge, considering many dry properties throughout the parish are identified as wetlands and are unavailable to develop. To address other infrastructure

issues, the Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce is focusing on quality of place initiatives, says past Board Chair John Blount, including hosting community cleanup days and other aesthetic efforts to tackle blight. Three years ago, the chamber also launched the Livingston Young Professionals organization as a way to cultivate a future business tax base. LYP President Kevin Foster says some retailers that would otherwise open in a parish outskirt won’t do so because of a lack of zoning in those areas. However, he says there’s plenty more room for a variety of restaurants throughout the parish, as well as “name-brand stores with discount prices,” like Nordstrom Rack. To land retailers, some Livingston municipalities are soliciting outside help. Mike Cotton, finance director for the City of Walker, hired Retail Strategies, a national firm that partners with cities across the country to grow retail opportunities. Fourteen months into the

three-year, $120,000 contract, the company is trying to bring Walker another grocery store and a sitdown, family-style restaurant à la Chili’s or Applebee’s. The need for such is only getting larger, he says, referencing a study the company performed

Issue Date: 3-12-19 Ad proof #1

last year showing a wide gap between Walker’s population and retail footprint, indicating the city is missing out on a potentially significant revenue stream. “We’re behind—these dollars aren’t being spent in Walker, but somewhere else. You have so many people leaving to go work in Baton Rouge every day,” Cotton says. “In the meantime, we’re waiting in longer lines at the same restaurants.” Others, meanwhile, are looking from within to gauge opportunities. The town of Livingston, for example, was minimally impacted by the 2016 flood, drawing the interest of “major corporations and chains” who have since reached out to Covington and Associates real estate agent Kayla Johnson about developing along Range Road. Johnson is optimistic about the residential market parishwide, which she says has been slower since the flood but expects to pick up soon, especially in the eastern part of the parish, where the population is moving. These newcomers are mostly young families relocating from Baton Rouge, she says, reeled in by a strong school system and low crime rates. The rest of the parish is poised for more restaurants and shops, too, she says. “People are seeing they can stay home and shop local, and that it’s a lot safer,” Johnson says. “And the centers are seeing the sales happening.”

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B T US ST OO INE E L S PR P-B TH S P S AN TA E Y AT LA R PA -S P N N D O TIN RA TE RO N ES P V IN G T P S TIM , M IO ON IDE G N O R IZ AN F LIN S N I N A OR E O G G N PR A B ING O US FI T. I-

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BIG FISH: Bass Pro, lured by a 30-year TIF that will be paid off in less than half that time, has been both popular and a magnet for bringing numerous other retailers to Denham Springs.

Come check out all the resources and more available for free online now. Visit ebrpl.libguides.com/smallbusiness. Email smallbusiness@ebrpl.com or call (225) 231-3750 to set up your FREE consultation! Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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EDUCATION

The business of real-world education SHE MAY HAVE walked the stage to accept her high school diploma last month, but 18-year-old Madelyn Bernard is still spending her days at her alma mater, Walker High School, though she isn’t spending that time in class. Instead, she’s working at the Neighbors Federal Credit Union branch located on campus and collecting a paycheck. Neighbors Federal Credit Union is one of four businesses operating on the Walker campus and is one of half a dozen local companies that have partnered with the public school, tucked away in a forest of pines in Livingston Parish. Papa John’s Pizza opened on campus last year, along with Walk-On’s Conference Center and Nike goods store, Green & White Cookie Site, which are all employed by students. The partnerships fall in line with a larger trend of schools, like Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School, providing students real-life business experience before collecting their high school diplomas. “School is boring to kids and doesn’t relate to the real world,” says Walker High School Principal Jason St. Pierre, who’s headed the school for more than a decade. “I’m trying to make their experience as practical and realistic as possible, and give them real-life experiences while in high school.” When asked what companies gain from locating to a high school campus, St. Pierre says it’s great product placement, referring to a recent lunch when the school’s football team packed the Papa John’s cafeteria. Also students working at the Green & White Cookie Site, along with designing spirit apparel, also launch marketing campaigns and work to meet sales quotas. The partnerships between Walker High School and area businesses allow those companies to invest in the future workforce, St. Pierre says. “We have to nurture students and we have to train them, and (companies) have to have a 142

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STAFF PHOTO

Companies are partnering with area schools, like Walker High, to provide services and give students business experience. BY HOLLY DUCHMANN

LOCATION MATTERS: Walker High’s Bryce Wadenpfuhl, left, and Logan Ruckman are among some 60 students employed at the four businesses on campus. Both say having a job on campus makes for an attractive employment option.

relationship with those workers, those students, so they’ll become good employees,” St. Pierre says. “We’re for every kid—the kid going to Harvard, the kid going straight to work and every kid in between.” Besides at Neighbors, Bernard previously worked as a manager of the Green & White Cookie Site where she, along with her staff, were responsible for marketing, supply, designing products and maintaining its online shop. The overall experience at the two on-campus businesses has had a lasting impact on the Walker native, who previously aspired to become a doctor. “I got to see how a business really works—how to run a

store, ordering—and I was really happy doing it,” Bernard says. “I changed my major to business.” The Neighbors Federal Credit Union branch—open for nearly a decade—allows the credit union to beta-test programs and services for the company, says Steve Webb, the credit union’s president and CEO, and has been worth the roughly $160,000 investment it cost. “While students previously worked as a cashier in the branch, in the new model we’re asking and expecting a lot more from these student workers,” Webb says. “We want them to be more interactive with customers and develop sales skills. These are skills that can serve them after

high school.” Rising seniors Logan Ruckman and Bryce Wadenpfuhl are two of the roughly 60 students employed by the on-campus businesses. The pair has spent the past six months working at Papa John’s Pizza, located in the school’s old cafeteria, and both say the job was an attractive option because it’s easily accessible being on campus. “It would have been harder to find a job off campus,” Wadenpfuhl says, flanked by pizza toppings to his right and a pizza dough prepping station to his left. Eric Collins, one of the managers overseeing the Papa John’s team, says he tries to instill

STAFF PHOTO

“School is boring to kids and doesn’t relate to the real world. I’m trying to make their experience as practical and realistic as possible, and give them real-life experiences while in high school.”

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JASON ST. PIERRE, principal, Walker High School

responsibility with the staff, who are also eligible to earn credits towards the school’s Pro-Start Culinary Program, which requires 400 hours of kitchen experience. “I think the more responsible they are here, the better off they are in their own world,” Collins says, adding they focus on social skills, customer service, active listening and communicating as a team. Theresa Johnson, team lead at the school Neighbors branch,

enjoys working with the students, who are open-minded to learning, and she tries to instill the importance of punctuality and managing responsibilities. “And I like to get their input on things we can do to bring other students along,” Johnson says, “because when you get older, you can lose track of where the younger generation’s mind is at, what products they’d like, or what they’re looking for in a job or in a credit union.”

LASTING IMPRESSION: Madelyn Bernard, left, with supervisor Theresa Johnson, wanted to become a doctor, but working at an on-campus online cookie store and then at Neighbors Federal Credit Union inspired her to instead pursue a degree in business.

STAFF PHOTO

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It starts with listening, but men must also have a voice when the topic is empowering women. BY ANNIE OURSO LANDRY

JUDE MELVILLE

Business First Bank President and CEO PERHAPS ONE OF the best ways for men in leadership positions to learn how to support women in the workforce is to flip mentoring roles, Melville says. “Oftentimes we think the most value created through mentoring is to find a mentor, but it’s also profitable for us to think in reverse,” Melville says. “As a guy, when I think of issues related to women in the workforce, there’s an amount of uncertainty I feel. Being able to talk about that with someone honestly to get their perspective is valuable. Although it sounds odd as the boss to be mentored, me being open to being mentored on how to deal with these issues, and women being willing to do that, would be a healthy conversation.” Regarding the pay gap, Melville acknowledges men do make more than women at his bank, but it’s because of the roles they fill, not their gender. “So over time if we can maybe focus on how do we get women in the right jobs over time maybe we can solve it from kind of a reserve angle.”

DAVE BAXTER

Sparkhound General Manager FIND A CHAMPION, Baxter says. If women feel their voices aren’t being heard in the workplace, especially ones dominated by men, male colleagues should back them up. “I want to be that champion. I want to be able to have that conversation with other men: ‘Hey, you didn’t take into account her opinion. It was valuable. It was based on facts. She’s in the trenches doing the dirty work,’” he says. “I want to be the champion for that person. I want to use that person’s perspective and knowledge to be a champion for them.” There’s also a point where you have to stand up for yourself, Baxter adds. “The workplace is different than it was 15 years ago. Especially when you back up what you have to say with data—it’s really tough to argue against facts. That goes a long way toward making someone value and respect your opinion.”

ERIC DEXTER

Civil Solutions Consulting Business Development Director

FEMALE VOICES OFTEN dominate conversations surrounding women’s professional development, and understandably so. But men shouldn’t be excluded from the discussion, as they, too, can play a role in empowering women in the workforce. A panel of male business leaders, speaking to a local women’s development group in April, said it starts with simply listening to women

and asking for their perspective. Panelists included Jude Melville, CEO and president of Business First Bank; Dave Baxter, general manager of IT firm Sparkhound; and Eric Dexter, business development director at Civil Solutions Consulting. Dima Ghawi, who launched the women’s group Leadership & Lattes last year, moderated the panel. Here are a few key takeaways:

THE PANELISTS addressed how women can break into the “boys club” that meets after work hours. Dexter said it helps if women initiate this, as men might worry about it being taken the wrong way if they ask female colleagues out for drinks or events. “That is important because a lot of decisions are made after hours or on weekends or at other events,” he says. “Obviously I’m a black man, so I’ve been in situations where I’m the only black man in the room. I can imagine the things I’ve gone through that women also go through from a gender perspective. You have to show up and be present. Someone else won’t do it for me.” But when it comes to outright discrimination or misconduct holding women back, the only solution is to implement consequences. “Nothing in society is going to change until there are consequences for our actions. I think that’s something for me, as a man in the workforce and someone on a leadership team, I have to be the person that’s there to enforce it and hold other males accountable.”

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Diversity matters

ISTOCK

With inclusivity-demanding millennials taking over the workforce, here’s some advice on making your company more diverse. BY HOLLY DUCHMANN

WHEN MILLENNIALS took the baton from the baby boomers last year as the largest generation in the workforce, they also quickly stepped into their role also as the most diverse generation in US history. At 75 million strong, 44% of millennials are minorities, according to a Brookings Institution report issued last year, and they’re busy shaping the workplace to how they want it. Along with snazzy offices and flexible work schedules, the young generation is also marking diversity and inclusion on their #workwishlists. Companies that are intentionally diverse and inclusive, says Cheri Ausberry—chair of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s diversity and inclusion committee, and director of community development for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center— help bolster the local economy to make international connections. “It affects the economy,”

Ausberry says. “We do need to be open and global in how we provide services to consumers.” Business Report recently asked Stephanie Benedetti, vice president of Lighthouse Louisiana, and Roderic F. Teamer, director of diversity programs and business development for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, to share how their companies are creating appropriate diverse and inclusive working environments. Both companies recently won BRAC’s Diversity Star Award. Here’s what they had to say: 1. TRAINING To equip employees to have appropriate conversations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield holds a nearly five-hour awareness class with all staff members. The training also teaches employees about the company’s definition of diversity

and inclusion, and introduces them to concepts the insurance behemoth believes makes a stronger workforce. Ultimately, the training encourages employees to build better relationships. “Better relationships make for a more effective team,” Teamer says. Lighthouse Louisiana also provides training to its employees, touching on topics such as disability sensitivity, overcoming stereotypes and marketing reasonable accommodations. 2. BE DELIBERATE, INTENTIONAL WITH HIRES Lighthouse Louisiana is intentional in hiring a diverse workforce, says Benedetti, not just in terms of disabilities or race, but also in terms of gender, culture and nationality. Blue Cross and Blue Shield focuses on deliberately

gathering a diverse pool of applicants for management positions. The more diverse applicants there are, Teamer says, the higher chance a diverse applicant is hired. 3. MAKE A PLAN As a nonprofit with a mission to empower people with disabilities through services, employment and advocacy, diversity is sewn into the very fabric of Lighthouse Louisiana. As a company that wasn’t founded on those principles, Blue Cross and Blue Shield had to take intentional steps to implement initiatives that would work for the health insurance provider. The company launched a three-year strategic plan as a way to focus the company’s efforts on diversity and inclusion, as well as engage each level of the organization in the conversation. Once you have Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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a plan in place, Teamer says, you can start working different components.

WHY DIVERSITY IS IMPORTANT TO COMPANIES

DIVERSITY IN THE corporate workplace has been 4. HAVE CONVERSATIONS a hot topic in recent years, garnering headlines, It’s important keynote speeches, dedicated award banquets and for employees even a subhead on Forbes’ website on the issue, but to feel comphow important is it to Capital Region companies? fortable having Diversity is a necessity because the workforce an open diais changing, says Cheri Ausberry, chair of BRAC’s diversity and inclusion committee, logue with their and director of community company leaddevelopment for Our Lady of the ers to address diversity issues. Lake Regional Medical Center. For instance, at Blue Cross and As millennial workers continue Blue Shield, there are employee to mold corporate culture resource groups that discuss expectations, they’re seeking to issues that may only affect a work in diverse offices that are inclusive of differences. By being single group, such as veterans, proactive and intentional about women, African Americans, hiring candidates with different LGBTQ+, parents and emerging talents and abilities, companies leaders. Lighthouse Louisiana help create a stronger, more strives to be explicit with its diversified economy. goals, sharing progress and Many companies also point to their bottom line as proof that employing a diverse benchmarks with staff through workforce and having an inclusive work environment town hall-style meetings and an pays off for the company, and in May, several leaders internal newsletter. “Don’t be and experts in various industries nationwide testified afraid to try new things, and go before Congress, pitching the business case for back to the drawing board when diversity and inclusion. they don’t work,” Benedetti Area chambers are also promoting diversity and Issue Date: 7-16-19 Adsays. proof #2 “Get fromor others inapproval or minor revisions. inclusion to its regional companies. The Baton • Pleasefeedback respond by e-mail fax with your • AD WILL RUN AS IS unlessand approval or final revisions Rouge Area Chamber formed a committee in 2015 your organization outside are received by the close of business today. and try a new strategy.” • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

to explore the subject further, while in Cincinnati, Ohio—where several Baton Rouge community leaders visited last year on a canvas trip—its chamber is striving to drive monetary value in the community through inclusion, Mary Stagaman, senior inclusion advisor of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, told the crowd attending BRAC’s annual Diversity in Business event in May. Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians, according to a 2015 McKinsey & Company diversity report. Last year, McKinsey & Company reported that companies in the top quartile for executive team gender diversity were 15% more likely to experience above-average profitability. Other businesses, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, may argue instilling diversity and inclusion policies makes them more competitive as a company. “Diversity and inclusion done well will ensure employees are engaged and motivated,” says Roderic F. Teamer, director of diversity programs and business development for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “Those two things work well together.”

“We live, playand andpray prayininthe thecommunities communities we of supporting our communities is foundational to “We live, play weoperate. operate.Our Ourmission mission of supporting our communities is foundational to ourmission mission as as an an organization. organization. We andand partner locally throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.” our Weproudly proudlyserve serve partner locally throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.” JohnC.C.Valluzzo, Valluzzo, President John President

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REALTORS® are more than transactions, they are advocates for homeownership & the protection of private property rights in communities around our state. Louisiana REALTORS® proudly supports these efforts & represents 14,500 REALTORS® practicing in residential & commercial real estate.

1919

1976

1992

1999

2003

2006

2018

Louisiana Real Estate Association is established. The term REALTOR® is adopted at the national convention in New Orleans. Louisiana Realtors® headquarters building opens in Baton Rouge.

Establishes REALTORS® C.A.R.E. program to raise funds for those affected by Hurricane Andrew.

Louisiana legislature creates the Louisiana Real Estate Commission (LREC) to regulate the affairs & business of real estate.

Louisiana legislature passes Louisiana Equal Housing Opportunity Act.

1920

1991

1997

Louisiana Real Estate Agency Law passes, protecting the consumer during the home purchasing process. Post licensing requirements added providing continuing education for REALTORS® & Home Inspector Licenses passed

Notification of sex offenders disclosure passed.

Property Condition Disclosure Law passes to help inform & protect consumers.

Mandatory Purchase Agreement enacted for promoting consistency & protecting consumers in a real estate transaction.

Defeated attempts to tax professional services that would impact consumers in the homebuying & selling process.

Louisiana REALTORS® Relief Fund founded providing disaster recovery assistance.

Prohibition of Real Estate Transfer Taxes.

Defeated attempts to change Homestead Exemption.

2001

2005

2011

2019

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Building a digital campus THE NUMBER OF students enrolled in LSU online programs still pales in comparison to that of traditional students at the university, but a new plan is underway to change that. Led by Sasha Thackaberry, vice provost of digital and continuing education, LSU’s goal is to ultimately have 30,000 students enrolled in online programs—a number that would essentially match the number of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in face-to-face programs at LSU this past fall. Thackaberry was hired in early 2018 from Southern New Hampshire University, where she led a seismic shift in that institution’s online enrollments. The small, private liberal arts college near Manchester, New Hampshire is now nationally known for distance learning. SNHU offers more than 200 online degree programs to about 100,000 students. Over the past 18 months, Thackaberry has been leading LSU’s quest to transform the way students think of distance learning at a flagship university with a palpable campus culture. “The degree you’ll earn in an online program is going to say ‘LSU’ not ‘LSU Online,’” says Thackaberry. “You are going to be getting the same high quality teaching and research opportunities with world-class professors that you do in the classroom.” Only about 1,000 students are currently enrolled in online programs at LSU, but that number will rise incrementally, says Thackaberry. New undergraduate degree programs in interdisciplinary studies and construction management will be available this fall. Going forward, Thackaberry says her team’s goal is to release new programs and courses every term. Students won’t be bound by geography. LSU’s online courses have the same fee structure for both in-state and out-of-state students. Thus far, the bulk of Thackaberry’s work has been

ISTOCK

LSU is launching an ambitious distance learning initiative with the long-term goal of enrolling 30,000 students in online programs. BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON

in building a management and technology infrastructure that didn’t previously exist. LSU has been creating a new management platform that will be operating in-house. Previously, online management was farmed out to a Texas company. “We’re building the whole foundation right now,” she says. “It’s a huge challenge and very exciting.” LSU has been behind in distance learning, but Thackaberry says she believes that works in the university’s favor. “Our disadvantage at being new at this is actually our advantage,” she says. “The market today is already built, so we know we’re building it for the future. The good news is that we can start

with an innovative approach, and we don’t have to reverse engineer past mistakes.” Another challenge of the distance learning project is demonstrating to potential users that the quality of an online degree at LSU is commensurate with a traditional degree earned on campus. Online courses, where users log in on their own time, are often thought of as being easier. But Thackaberry wants people to know they’re just as challenging and demanding as face-to-face classes and will be developed by technical advisors in her office working closely with professors. “We’ve created a team of learning experience designers, who will sit down with a faculty member and support the whole course

creation,” she says. A typical online class will include a mix of activities, including online discussions, group projects, video conferencing, and readings and assignments that are paced, but still flexible. A student can log in at their convenience, but must complete assignments within a certain time frame. In fall 2015, there were almost 6 million students across the country enrolled in an online course of some kind at a postsecondary degree granting institution, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. About 14 million students reported no online course enrollment of any kind in the same report. Thackaberry says there are two Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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“The degree you’ll earn in an online program is going to say ‘LSU’ not ‘LSU Online.’ You are going to be getting the same high quality teaching and research opportunities with worldIssue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1 class professors that you do in the classroom.” • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close business today. SASHAofTHACKABERRY, vice provost of digital and continuing education, LSU • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

target markets for online programs, nontraditional learners and traditional students who want more flexibility. The average age of nontraditional learners is 34. They are often mid-career older millennials who left traditional college without completing their degree requirements, or are working in a field they find unfulfilling. About 60% are women, and roughly half of those students have children. In Louisiana, only 23.4%, of individuals 25 or older have completed an undergraduate degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census. In the case of traditional students, online courses are sometimes appealing because they allow for greater flexibility. Many students like having the option of working in the summer and taking an online course on their own time. Nationwide, there’s been 26% growth in summer online courses since many students also try to hold down jobs, says Thackaberry. While the idea of LSU creating robust online programs seems

out of kilter with its campus trappings, it’s good business, says Thackaberry. According to data released in May by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, college enrollment decreased nationwide for the eighth consecutive year. By contrast, traffic is increasing for online programs, says Thackaberry. “A huge chunk of the marketplace of online higher education is filled by a handful of universities considered to have presence in this space, schools like SNHU and Western Governors University,” she says. Historically, the online space hasn’t been one that flagship institutions have played in, but LSU’s goal is to change that. “We have been able to work with superstar faculty, some of whom were chomping at the bit to do these kinds of classes,” Thackaberry says. “When you offer these programs you’re not just expanding access, you’re expanding access to world-class faculty.”

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WORKPLACE

Bringing hope to low-income employees BREC HAD A problem with its workforce: Low morale and high employee turnover were affecting job performance and customer service throughout the parish parks and recreation system. So in 2018, the agency brought in HOPE Ministries to help. The local nonprofit organization offers a workforce training program called The Way to Work, which teaches the kind of valuable life skills that employees, many of whom have been raised in intergenerational poverty, need to succeed on the job. HOPE facilitators held several on-site training classes at BREC headquarters for some 80 field employees. The results were so promising, BREC hired HOPE again in 2019 to conduct more trainings. In addition, HOPE facilitators began providing coaching services to BREC employees, which BREC Training Director Nicole Payne-Jack likens to a sort of informal employee assistance program. Though BREC doesn’t have any hard data yet to back up its positive assessment of the program, agency officials say anecdotal evidence indicates The Way to Work is making a difference in both turnover and employee attitudes. “Retention is headed in the right direction,” says Payne-Jack. “Only one employee who went through the program last year is no longer with us, which is a big improvement, and the employees are really getting a lot out of it.” BREC is just one of several paying clients HOPE has attracted with The Way to Work. Others include Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, AmeriHealth Caritas, and Cristo Rey School. And this summer, HOPE is expanding into the Mississippi Delta, where it will bring its training curriculum to veterans employed at new e-waste facility that disposes of old computers. It’s an impressive undertaking for a faith-based organization that began with a food pantry for the

DON KADAIR

HOPE Ministries is working with companies to improve worker retention while helping employees break the cycle of poverty. BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL

FINDING THE WAY: Not only is The Way to Work program successfully teaching life skills to Baton Rouge area employees, but, says Executive Director Janet Simmons, it’s producing much-needed revenue for HOPE Ministries.

neighborhood and a couple of mentoring programs for underserved residents in the 70805 ZIP code. It’s also significant because The Way to Work program is a social enterprise—or what’s alternatively referred to as an earned income venture—that generates revenue for HOPE, helping the nonprofit sustain itself and better serve its core constituency in north Baton Rouge. As competition locally and nationally intensifies for a shrinking philanthropic dollar, nonprofit organizations that want to survive long term are going to have to figure out how to keep themselves afloat by making social enterprise a part of their model. “The number one question I hear from funders and foundations is, ‘How are you planning to sustain this program when this money runs out?’” HOPE Executive Director Janet Simmons says. “We can answer that by

saying ‘Because we’re growing our earned income ventures.’” HOPE was founded in 2003 with a mission to prevent homelessness and promote dignity and self-sufficiency to residents in north Baton Rouge. Initially, it did this through its food pantry, which is still, perhaps, what HOPE is best known for doing. The pantry is open three days a week, serving some 4,000 clients a year, and is unique because of its grocery store setting, which creates an atmosphere of dignity by allowing clients to select products that meet the needs of their families. Following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, HOPE expanded to meet the growing needs of the community, creating an adult education component that helped clients with things like life skills training and financial literacy. The programs were promising but the results were spotty and the number of clients they helped was small. In the late 2000s, that began to

change, when HOPE developed a program to help the community better understand the causes of poverty and the behavior of those born into it. HOPE called its program Understanding the Dynamics of Poverty, and began offering it to managers and supervisors, case managers, social workers and anyone who wanted to learn more about the impact of poverty on the community and in the workforce. As interest in the program grew, Simmons and her team, which by then included a handful of employees and two part-time facilitators, began researching a program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, called Welfare to Career, or W2C, that was proving enormously successful in helping people get off welfare and stay employed. Companies that participated in W2C saw retention rates increase from less than 35% to more than 95%, and began saving millions in turnover costs. Michigan taxpayers, meanwhile, Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019

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saw state welfare costs go down. targeted towards those who have Over the past six years, HOPE grown up in intergenerational has developed and refined its poverty and are seeking to get— own version of W2C into The and keep—a job. It teaches life Way to Work. Currently, it has skills and workplace behavior that three courses: Understanding might seem like common sense the Dynamics of Poverty, to some but may never have been Understanding Your Workforce, taught to those growing up in imand Going Beyond: Employees poverished families. Achieving More. Courses are taught on site at Each tackles the challenges workplaces and also in HOPE’s posed by intergenerational povnewly renovated Way to Work erty from a different perspective. Learning Center on Winbourne Understanding the Dynamics of Avenue, which has a classroom, Poverty is geared toward the genlarge conference room and comeral public, business leaders or puter lab. HOPE also has 15 emmanagers and even social workployees, including full-time and ers, the latter of whom are eligible part-time coaches and facilitators to receive continuing education who assist the organization’s varcredit for attending a six-hour ious clients and paying corporate workshop. clients in a variety of ways. Understanding Your Workforce Beginning this summer, HOPE is is designed for employers and taking its social enterprise model mid-level managers. It’s a six-hour on the road, opening a satellite professional development trainoffice in Greenville, Mississippi, ing program that covers topics like where it has been hired to work learned behaviors of economic with a nonprofit organization that class and causes of poverty, and serves military veterans and, itself, helps employers better relate to Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1has a growing social enterprise the challenges theiroremployees model. • Please respond by e-mail fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions face. The group was founded by a reare received by the close of business today.is The Going Beyond program tired Army colonel who recognized • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

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TOUCH OF CLASS: The workforce training program, aimed at middle managers and employees, is taught at HOPE Ministry’s newly renovated Way to Work Learning Center, featuring a classroom, large conference room and computer lab.

that many veterans from the rural Delta—and nearby northeast Louisiana and southwest Arkansas—joined the military to escape intergenerational poverty and returned home with few job

skills and, potentially, a host of problems like PTSD. The group’s first venture is called National Secured Assurance and is a certified e-waste facility that will disassemble computers and other

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“HOPE has a product that the private sector needs and wants that simultaneously supports the clients HOPE serves through its other programs.”

electronics that contain classified data. Veterans will break down and sort the precious metals in the computers and send them off to a smelting plant in Texas. HOPE’s JAN ROSS, executive vice president, Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation The Way to Work, meanwhile, will teach them the kind of life skills they need to succeed in their new earned income ventures. It’s ambibecause needs continue to grow, jobs. tious but it’s also the key for nonand fundraisers for schools and “Many people probably don’t profits to survive. arts organizations are becoming realize that veterans absolutely The philanthropic dollar is more sophisticated in their instineed essential skills training,” shrinking both locally and natutional advancement, increasSimmons says. “Many of them still tionally. In 2018, charitable giving competition for dwindling have the learned behavior of ining by individuals nationwide had resources. tergenerational poverty and they its largest drop since the Great Jan Ross, executive vice presneed to unlearn certain behaviors Recession in 2008, declining from ident of the Huey and Angelina from their years in the military— $295 million to $292 million, a Wilson Foundation, says it’s inlike conflict resolution. We have 1.1% decrease. creasingly important for nonto help them understand, for inOrganized and corporate givprofit organizations to do more stance, that you can’t fight to reing is also in a slump. The Capital than just ask for help. They have to solve conflict if you’re on the job.” Area United Way’s 2018 annual demonstrate they’re able to help Clients like National Secured workplace giving campaign, the themselves. Assurance and the others in success of which determines how “Funders look for diversified Baton Rouge will bring in around much CAUW is able to spread funding sources to evaluate the $130,000 for HOPE this year. That’s throughout the community, raised depth of an organization’s supabout 10% or the organization’s just $6.2 million—falling short of port,” Ross says. “When an organitotal budget. But Simmons is opits $6.6 million goal. By comparization has a wide array of funding timistic that number will continue son, its 2013 campaign brought in streams it can be less depenIssue Date: 07-16-2019 Ad proof #3 to grow and the goal is to evenmore than $9 million. dent on any one funding source • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN ASinIS50% unlessto approval revisions tually bring 75%oroffinal the At the same time, more orgaand adapt to fluctuations in the are received by therevenues close of business today. organization’s through nizations are seeking funding market.” • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

Wilson has generously supported The Way to Work in recent years, not only because it’s a good program but because it’s a good model for sustainability. “HOPE has a product that the private sector needs and wants that simultaneously supports the clients HOPE serves through its other programs,” Ross says. “Private sector contracts provide an additional funding stream, show resiliency and value, and signal a strong organization worthy of an investment. It’s a win-win.” As Simmons looks to the future, she hopes to grow HOPE’s social enterprises by expanding The Way to Work to other cities in the state, though not New Orleans, which already has such programs. She also plans to market the curriculum to large employers, once HOPE can afford to hire the training staff, and to companies and other nonprofits out of state. “Where we’re providing training, coaching and retention services we’re changing the footprint of poverty,” she says. “Our goal is to shrink that footprint throughout Louisiana and beyond.”

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THE BIG PICTURE

Louisiana’s role in the migrant debate

STEPHANIE RIEGEL THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE raging across the country may seem somewhat removed from us here in Louisiana, where the biggest threat to our southern border is an eroding coast line. But the issue of what to do with desperate, impoverished migrants and political asylum seekers—and how we treat them while we try to figure that out— is actually more relevant in this state than you might think. In fact, Louisiana may soon house more migrant detainees than any state but Texas, according to some estimates. Unsurprisingly, we’re not doing a great job at it, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed in May against the New Orleans field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suit, filed on behalf of the detainees by the Southern Poverty Law Center and others, details through stories and statistics the travails of migrant detainees, who presented themselves legally on U.S. soil and were able to successfully demonstrate that they face a credible threat in the homelands they fled.

Nevertheless, they were locked up in rural Louisiana and Mississippi prisons. These facilities are privately run, for the most part, which means there’s little accountability, and they’re located, essentially, in the middle of nowhere—places like Jonesboro, Jena and Pine Prairie, where it’s hard for the prying eyes of the media to see what’s going on and logistically challenging for overworked, underpaid immigration attorneys to provide effective representation. Not that effective legal representation necessarily counts for much, according to the lawsuit. The New Orleans ICE field office, which has jurisdiction over Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, is notorious for denying parole. Despite a binding 2009 policy directing ICE to release asylum seekers—provided they establish their identity and show they are not in danger of flight risk—the New Orleans field office, of late, has essentially ignored the policy and denied parole in almost every case. In 2016, more than 70% of asylum seekers were granted parole while waiting for the courts to hear their pleas. In 2018, only 1.5% were—a mere two cases out of 130. “Hundreds of asylum seekers are incarcerated for months on end, enduring abuses in confinement in exchange for the right to press their claims in court,” the lawsuit alleges. “ICE’s refusal to consider the release of these asylum seekers on a case-bycase basis violates federal law, costs taxpayers millions of dollars a month and causes untold

REFLECTIONS

ARMOR OF GOD #2: BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS This feature is a tribute by our publisher in honor of Business Report founder, Rolfe H. McCollister Sr.

suffering to the men and women who seek legal protection in the U.S.” The statistics are troubling, especially when you consider that rural Louisiana sheriffs stand to profit from this misery in a big way. As the number of state inmates housed in parish prisons has fallen—the result of criminal justice reforms passed in 2017— ICE has helped local law enforcement make up the lost revenue by paying a premium. “ICE is offering these sheriffs around $60 a day,” says Louisiana Department of Corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick. “We pay $25.39 a day so when you do the math, it’s a no-brainer.” But as disturbing as the data is—and the attitude of those at the state, who essentially wash their hands of what is going on because it concerns privately run, parish-owned facilities housing federal detainees and, therefore, doesn’t involve them—the stories of those rotting away in places like Pine Prairie and Plain Dealing are worse. They are stories like those of Toledo Flores, who’s been behind bars in Bossier Parish for the better part of a year. He’s a pharmacy technician from Cuba, who left his country in 2018, after defying orders from Cuban authorities to withhold medication from a client in an effort to harm the guy, who was apparently causing trouble for the Communist government. As payback, Flores was beaten and fired. He fled to the U.S., where he passed a credible fear interview, yet he has been locked up in three different prisons and denied parole. The lawsuit also tells the story

THE SECOND PIECE of armor speaks to our core identity, and goes over our hearts. Our hearts are our core passion and God makes them righteous. Ephesians 6:14b reads, “And having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” The heart of the gospel is that God takes our self-righteousness and exchanges with His righteousness. This is called justification by faith in Christ finished work of the cross. This sets one identity and settles that we are not only right with God, but as 2 Corinthians 5:21

of Puche Moreno, a Venezuelan political activist and member of the opposition party that has been seeking to oust the corrupt Maduro regime. Because of his advocacy, Moreno was kidnapped and beaten by agents of the ruling party. He fled to the U.S., leaving behind a young wife, after learning about threats to his life. Like Flores, Moreno passed the credible fear test. But he has been denied parole four times and remains in custody in an equally far-afield facility in Tallahatchie, Mississippi. By any measure, men like Moreno and Flores should be considered heroes, those who stood on the right side of history, the kind of people who really could help make America great again because—as their actions suggest—they believe in freedom and the principles of democracy. Instead, they’re living in some sort of dystopian nightmare, a hell most of us cannot begin to fathom. Make no mistake: This country is in the throes of a migrant crisis. Desperate, impoverished people are pouring across our borders by the thousands every day, and all the tough talk and threats have, in some respects, only exacerbated the problem. We need to find a reasonable, humane solution— and that does not necessarily mean open borders. But in the meantime, we need to realize how this is playing out for real men, women and children in respite centers, detention facilities and prisons right here in Louisiana. We have faced no greater humanitarian crisis on our shores in our lifetime. We need to do better.

states, “we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.” The breastplate is the shield over our hearts when the enemy hurls fiery darts at it, accusing us at the level of identity when we do actions of unrighteousness that are not consistent with our core. At that juncture we confess it and receive forgiveness and get filled again with our true self which is righteousness. Feel free to read Romans 3:19-26 for more on this point. —COL Jeff Mitchell, State Chaplain, Louisiana Army National Guard

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Baton Rouge could use Batman bitterly divided parish came together in fear, frustration and anger demanding answers to these most basic of questions: 1) What the hell is going on in our parish, and 2) What are the mayor and law enforcement doing about it? So how did Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, the leader of our city and parish, respond? By hosting a community forum to “convey a feeling of measured calm” and declare, “Certainly we have challenges, but this is not Gotham City.” EIGHT UNRELATED shootings Forgive me, mayor, but we’ve in East Baton Rouge Parish over seen 164 people shot in this par10 days in late June left a senseless ish—including 37 homicide vicand bloody trail of bodies. Four tims—in the year’s first six months. lives blown away. Fourteen others Maybe we do need Batman. are still with us, but forever scarred Think of it this tragic way: We’re by gunshot wounds. averaging just over 27 people These shots rang out across the shot—killed or not—each month, parish. The bloodletting wasn’t not far from one a day. contained to “one of those” north And we’re supposed to take Baton Rouge Zip codes. You know comfort in the fact, as the mayor the ones. The ones where when and Police Chief Murphy Paul sugtrouble strikes—as it far too fregested, that our homicide rate is quently does—many of us cavadown 11 bodies from this time a lierly chalk it up as the predictable year ago? casualty of a gang respect war or In times of trouble, few things some drug deal gone bad. give the appearance of doing Truth is, only one of the killing something, without actually doing zones during the week-plus shootanything, than a public forum. ing spree was inside the city limits. A few days later, after Metro But, honestly, when it comes to Councilman Matt Watson—irridead, location doesn’t matter. tated that so much of the forum’s A body with a bullet through focus was on declining homicide the head dumped at a BREC park numbers—began demanding anin suburban Kenilworth is just as swers about the rising number needlessly and tragically dead as of nonfatal shootings, the police one gunned down in Zion City. chief was much more expansive Issue Date: Ada proof As June gave7.18.17 way to July, mid- #1 with his insights. • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. summer surge of gun violence Acknowledging the trou• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final avrevisions are received by the close of businessstained today. eraging nearly two-blood bling increase in shooting vic• Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. victims a day got so nuts our tims, Paul spoke of technology

JR BALL

Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS

improvements that ought to make it easier for everyone along the law enforcement chain to do their jobs, made clear the need for more officers on the streets, and repeated the need for parents, friends, families and the community at large to do a better job dealing with “young black men involved in a culture of violence.” A friend in the district attorney’s office was unwavering: “Nonfatal shootings, not homicides, are the best indicator of gun violence in a community.” He’s right. Should we feel better about life in Baton Rouge because would-be killers have bad aim, EMS personnel and doctors are really skilled, or the victim was “fortunate” enough to be shot near a hospital? Public safety is the most important function of government. Who cares about world-class libraries and award-winning parks if people don’t feel safe in their own homes? And safe isn’t what they’re feeling when residents in more than two dozen neighborhoods that aren’t gated are willing to tax themselves ostensibly for extra police protection. Baton Rouge has a serious problem and we need Broome to be a leader, not a cheerleader. Right now, she’s the Kevin Bacon character in Animal House screaming, “Remain calm. All is well,” as all hell breaks out around her. While Broome fiddles, the district attorney’s office, as well as law enforcement, are working behind the scenes on positive changes. Not only is the police department now tracking nonfatal shootings—it would be nice if the

sheriff’s office did the same—but law enforcement and the DA’s office will soon be on the same computer system. Shocking as this may be in 2019, it’s presently almost impossible for the sheriff, police and DA to share information because each collects data on crime and criminals on different software that doesn’t work well with other software. I’m not joking. There are also high hopes that the rollout of a Real Time Crime Unit, a Crimes Strategies unit and a grant from the Crime Gun Intelligence Center will enable officers to respond more quickly and effectively. Moreover, Baton Rouge is in the early phases of looking at a hospital-based violence intervention program with the National Network of Safe Communities, which connects victims with law enforcement much more quickly. And our police chief is right. Baton Rouge needs more police officers. Right now, the department is 70 officers short. New programs, targeted police units and federal grant dollars are great, but the value is ultimately reduced if Baton Rouge doesn’t have enough officers on the streets. Still, government can’t solve the problem. This one falls on its citizens. We must do a better job of raising our children. Education must matter. The notion of disrespect being justification for a death sentence must end. How many more of our friends and neighbors must be shot before Baton Rouge gets serious about crime?

EXPERIENCE. INTEGRITY. SERVICE. RICKY HILL

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Reading JR Ball’s recent editorial, “Living life in our Louisiana welfare state,” I must say that I was struck by his opening assertion that Louisiana receives funding from the federal government and then turns around and gives it away to “Corporate America” in the form of economic financial incentives. He characterizes this situation as “bizarro”—a characterization I would agree with if it were true. But it’s simply not the case (all forms of federal funding in the Louisiana state budget are tied to specific programs, with the vast majority related to Medicaid, and cannot be used as he asserts), and it’s disappointing to see such a claim appear in print. At the heart of Mr. Ball’s editorial, however, is a desire for state and local governments to ensure that economic development programs, especially tax incentives, are ensuring that the companies receiving benefits live up to their promises and produce greater economic benefits than the public’s incentive for the program. And that’s where I heartily agree. If he pulls back to dig into the details, he will see that they do. Companies sign contracts with the state to bind them to the jobs and investment that they promise, and agree to lose the incentive and even pay it back if the promises don’t pan out. Louisiana’s tax structure is notoriously complicated, and incentives are an important part of leveling the competitive tax environment with other states. —Adam Knapp, president and CEO, Baton Rouge Area Chamber

WASTING AWAY I think JR Ball hits the nail on the head (“JR Ball: Baton Rouge keeps wasting its enormous potential,” June 4). Baton Rouge has become more divided in recent years. There are a lot of good people here, but we have some who seem determined to “divide and conquer.” Too many people are only focused on their agenda and what they can get the government to pay for towards their agenda. It’s too bad we can’t come together and pull the wagon down the road instead of each wheel going a different way. —Mickey Christensen

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YOUR BUSINESS

COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS Assurance Financial recently introduced Abby, a digital tour guide that moves the company toward its goal of making the loan process completely digital for customers. Starting with an online application, the mortgage industry is moving toward an end-to-end virtual solution. The company’s animated assistant, Abby, is the first piece to this digital mortgage puzzle. She represents the company’s new modern brand. The company also rolled out a new and improved website, AssuranceMortgage.com, on April 12.

PHILANTHROPY GRANTS

At a recent jambalaya cook-off event, BASF presented Capital Area United Way a check for $335,000. The donation represents the total amount pledged during the 2018-2019 United Way campaign by BASF and employees from the Geismar and north Geismar sites. The 2019 total is a $35,000 increase from the previous year.

La Capitol Federal Credit Union recently launched its Financial Education Task Force, through group may request an on-site fiwhich the credit union provides nancial literacy presentation by free financial literacy education a member of La Cap’s Financial to Louisiana citizens. The task Education Task Force by contactforce hosts free, live webinars ing Jacqueline Wilfong at (225) each month and customized on342-5055, ext. 2204. These courses site training on request. La Cap’s can be customized to meet the Jeremy Dunbar recently hosted a Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1needs of the group. webinar to teach college students • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS ISfor unless approval ormoney final revisions best practices handling Main Squeeze Juice Company are managing received by the student close of business today. and loans. Any has opened its second Baton • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

Rouge area location. Located at 9659 Antioch Road in Long Farm Village, the new location is owned and operated by Russell Mosely and Michael Hackett. This will be the first of at least three Main Squeeze locations the duo plans to open in Louisiana. Digital solutions firm Sparkhound recently announced Albemarle

Corporation’s company-wide transition from Lotus Notes and WebEx platforms to Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud-based services. The cloud conversion ushers in a new era of seamless collaboration across the globe. Augmenting Albemarle’s IT team, Sparkhound implemented Office 365’s email, SharePoint and Skype across their global locations. In total, the teams converted 6,000 users and 40 Domino servers to Office 365 in just 30 days while also meeting the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation requirements by identifying the data, where it’s going and how it’s being managed. Cooper’s Pharmacy recently celebrated its grand opening at 810 W. La. 30 in Gonzales. Cooper’s Pharmacy is a family owned and operated independent community pharmacy located across from the Our Lady of the Lake-Ascension Hospital and Medical Plaza. Attending a ribbon cutting were Cooper’s Pharmacy co-owner and pharmacist Donna Berggren, coowner Derek Berggren and pharmacy clerk Maggie Berggren.

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COMPANY NEWS which its name changed to Investar Bank, National Association.

Home Bank recently celebrated its grand opening at 3254 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd. in Baton Rouge. The new branch is the bank’s 40th location across south Louisiana and western Mississippi.

Baton Rougebased RHH Architects is expanding its operations footprint with the opening of an office in downtown Covington to better accommodate a growing list of clients in southeast Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. The new office, located at 410 East Lockwood Street, is the first outside of Baton Rouge for the firm and opened June 27.

Rouj Creole, a new restaurant Investar Holding Corporation’s concept from Stephen Hightower wholly-owned banking subsidiof City Group Hospitality, opened ary, Investar Bank, has received June 28 in Perkins Rowe. City the necessary regulatory approvals Group Hospitality has three other from the Office of the Comptroller restaurant concepts, with restauof the Currency and the Louisiana rants City Pork Brasserie and Bar, Office of Financial Institutions Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1City Pork Catering, City Pork LSU to convert from a Louisiana and City Slice Pints & Pizza. Paul • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUN charter AS IS unlessto approval or final revisions Bucari will guide Rouj Creole as state bank a national are received by theeffective close of business bank charter, Julytoday. 1, at general manager. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

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Sips Coffee & Gifts recently celebrated its opening at 817 East Ascension St. in Gonzales. Attending a ribbon cutting for were co-owners Jeff Pierre, Julie Pierre, Danny Armand and Bree Armand.

Turner Industries recently completed the construction of a new 4,200-square-foot office at its modular fabrication yard in Port Allen. The new office will serve as the administrative headquarters as well as the modular yard staff’s office and meeting hub. The building will also house workspaces for

clients overseeing their modular projects. Ultimate Escape Rooms recently celebrated its opening at 2612 S. Ruby Ave. in Gonzales. Attending the ribbon cutting were co-owners Chad and Tosha Domingue, Assistant Manager Jesse Robert, Computer Technician DeCurtis Scieneaux, and front desk clerks Kalen Henderson and Railyn Shelvin. ACCREDITATION CERTIFICATION Clint Gautreau, financial advisor at Horizon Financial Group, has been authorized by the Certified Financial Gautreau Planner Board of Standards to use the Certified Financial Planner and

CFP certification marks in accordance with CFP Board certification and renewal requirements. Gautreau builds customized financial plans for Horizon, helping clients with strategies and solutions to pursue their financial goals. He is also responsible for directing the firm’s overall investment strategy and managing client portfolios.

Judson Terry, BIM practice lead at CSRS, has successfully earned his architectural license. Additionally, Terry Terry completed his coursework resulting in his CMBIM certification, making him one of only three individuals in the state with this designation. This certification is an assessment-based credential sponsored by the Associated General Contractors of America, denoting knowledge and understanding of the concepts related to BIM adoption, practice and process. Terry is currently leading CSRS’ VDC efforts for the upcoming Lafayette Airport project.

David Hebert, principal at Grace Hebert Curtis Architects, recently received the Accredited Learning Environments Planner designation, a mark of excellence developed to reflect the knowledge, skills and abilities of a competent educational facility planner. After meeting eligibility requirements and submitting an application, ALEP candidates AWARDS HONORS Tim Barrett, CPA and must pass a rigorous interview CEO of Radiology process. Once a candidate has Associates, was reearned the credential, they must cently presented with maintain it by fulfilling certificathe Global tion renewal requirements every Achievement Award three years, in addition to mainIssue Date: 5-21-19 Ad proof #1 Barrett at the 2019 taining minimum continuing edu• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILLunits RUN ASeach IS unless approval or final revisions PaRADigm annual conference precation year. are received by the close of business today. sented by the Radiology Business • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

Management Association. The Global Achievement Award recognizes outstanding time and talent contributions to RBMA. For the past three years, Barrett has served as chair of the RBMA chapter committee, and through that position generated additional programs and visibility for RBMA’s 18 chapters. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana has been named an honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. The award recognizes Blue Cross as one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States. The Civic 50 honorees are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more. Each is selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program, including investment, integration, institutionalization and impact. Employee benefits leader Unum has been named an honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light.

This recognition reflects Unum’s commitment to providing community support where corporate offices are located, like the Baton Rouge corporate office fueling one of Unum’s fastest growing business lines. Within the last two years, the company has also more than doubled its community relations program and support in Baton Rouge. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana was recently recognized at the 36th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards for the development and design of a personal health journal focused on helping its Medicare Advantage members easily keep track of their health. The company received the silver award in the Patient Handbook Category. In the award-winning journal, Be Your Best with Blue: Personal Health Journal, Blue Cross encourages Medicare Advantage members to remember life is about balance. The journal was developed by graphic designer James Tadie and writer Tress Fereday. Blue Cross was also recognized for its

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work on two other projects—Blue Bikes Installation: Pelican Wall and Metanoia Gala Program. The following individuals from Baton Rouge have been recognized as 2019 inductees to the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame: Donna Britt, retired WAFB-TV news anchor, and Jay Dardenne, Louisiana commissioner of administration. A.J. Farria of AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana has been honored by the Association for Community Affiliated Plans with the organization’s national Making a Difference Award. Farria serves as supervisor for AmeriHealth Caritas’ Community Health Navigation team in Louisiana. She facilitates workshops and trainings that promote dialogue and the breakdown of barriers, as well as helps coordinate care and community resources for members. She also trains others, such as case managers, in mental health advocacy, recognition, and management to mitigate stigma and support people who may suffer

from substance use and mental health challenges.

hardware and telecommunication industries.

MESH has been selected as a winner of four awards at the 40th annual Telly Awards. The program, which honors excellence in video and television across all screens, recognized MESH with two bronze awards for its local TV advertising work with Baton Rouge General Medical Center, and one bronze and one silver award for branded content campaigns for Don’s Seafood restaurant.

Ochsner Home Health was recently recognized with a 5-star rating in both quality and patient satisfaction in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Five-Star Quality Rating System’s most recent report. According to the data, the Baton Rouge home health provider achieved the highest rating possible in both categories. Ochsner Home Health is a home health partner of Ochsner Health System and part of a joint venture partnership with LHC Group, a national provider of inhome healthcare services with 32,000 employees operating locations in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

The Intellectual Property team of McGlinchey Stafford has received recognition in the latest edition of Managing Intellectual Property magazine’s 2019 “IP Stars” ranking. The firm maintains its ranking as “Highly Recommended in Louisiana,” which it has held since 2013. In addition to practice area recognition, “IP Stars” recognized attorney R. Andrew “Drew” Patty II of Louisiana as both a “Patent Star” and “Trademark Star” in his state. Patty is highlighted in the chemistry, medical device, technology

Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer has been recognized at the American Planning AssociationLouisiana Chapter conference as an “Outstanding Community Administrator” for his 32 years of service as a prominent advocate for the planning profession.

Stephanie Riegel of the Baton Rouge Business Report also received a Partner in Planning Award. Turner Industries has jumped up one spot to No. 30 on Engineering News-Record’s 2019 Top 400 Contractors List. The national rankings are based on 2018 revenue. Turner Industries is the only Louisiana-based company to make it in the top 50. Todd Graves, founder and CEO of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, has been named one of the top CEOs in the country according to Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, which honored the top CEOs in 2019. Graves received an approval rating of 95%, placing him at No. 28 on the list, which is based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews that employees shared on Glassdoor over the past year. The average approval rating for CEOs making the list is 69%. Graves was the second-ranked CEO on the list in the restaurant industry and the top among companies based in Louisiana.

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YOUR BUSINESS

MOVING UP

ACCOUNTING Jay Johnson has been appointed chief financial officer of Lamar Advertising Company, effective Oct. 1. Johnson has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of DiamondRock Hospitality Company since April 2018, where he led all financial activities for the lodging real estate investment trust, including treasury, investor relations, tax, risk management, financial reporting and analysis, and capital raising. Prior to joining DiamondRock, Johnson served as senior vice president and treasurer at Host Hotels & Resorts.

JAY JOHNSON Lamar Advertising Company

DUSTIN MIRE Postlethwaite & Netterville

in size from dozens to millions of class members. His teams have managed individual class action and mass tort settlement programs ranging from $275,000 to well over $1 billion in aggregate. Ben Vance is a consulting director in Baton Rouge. Vance focuses in the areas of business valuation and litigation support. He has experience providing transTwo professionals at action advisory and diligence Postlethwaite & Netterville services, financial modeling and have been promoted to director. other consulting services. Vance Dustin Mire is a consulting direchas prepared, overseen and contor in Baton Rouge, responsible tributed to numerous business for developing customized servaluations and written litigation vices for client and project needs opinions. Additionally, he has tesin the areas of project management and complex litigation Issue Date: 4-9-19 Ad proof #1 tified as an expert witness in financial claims administration. Heyour has • Please respond by e-mail or fax with approval or minor revisions.and business matters. • AD WILL RUN ASsettlement IS unless approval or final revisions supervised and funds are received by the close of business distribution programs thattoday. range • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

BEN VANCE Postlethwaite & Netterville

BRIAN AINSWORTH Campus Federal

BANKING AND FINANCE Brian Ainsworth has been promoted to vice president of business development and community relations at Campus Federal, and Wendy Williamson has been promoted to vice president of digital delivery. Becky Rogers has been hired to fill the role of vice president of human resources. Ainsworth brings more than 20 years of credit union experience at Campus Federal to his new role. He has served as president of Sales & Marketing Executives of Greater Baton Rouge, and is a founding member and current fundraising team member of the Baton Rouge Area Credit Union Charity Golf Tournament. Williamson has been with Campus Federal

WENDY WILLIAMSON Campus Federal

BECKY ROGERS Campus Federal

for nine years, starting as a coordinator before serving as assistant vice president of digital delivery for the past two years. In her position as manager of digital delivery, Williamson was instrumental in implementing Campus Federal’s new online banking platform. Most recently, she earned her certification as a Project Management Professional. Rogers comes to Campus Federal with more than 25 years of experience in the field of talent management, most recently as director of learning and development at Coca-Cola Bottling Company United Inc. Chad Cornett has been named the new Baton Rouge president for State Bank & Trust Company.

Chapel Services

NURSING REHABILITATION CENTER, LLC

7 2018

RE BSRIL OVNEZ

Ascension Oaks is committed to providing the very best in quality care and superior service. We know that quality resident care is no accident. Our facility is one of Louisiana’s most innovative leaders in quality long term care. This innovative spirit is evidenced by being one of the first facilities in our area to have an in-house nurse practitioner, leading our profession in electronic medical records, or by adding computer systems that are physically interactive and mentally engaging for our residents. Ascension Oaks’ amenities include carpeted private and semi-private suites, private suites with kitchenettes, arts and crafts center, our beautiful in-house chapel, movie cinema, rehabilitation and fitness center, and day rooms ideal for a quiet afternoon show or an evening of cards or dominoes. Our rehabilitation programs offer our residents the opportunity of returning to their greatest degree of independence with many returning to their own homes. Our Physical Therapists help restore range of motion, balance, strength, coordination and functional mobility. Our Speech Therapists evaluate and rehabilitate swallowing disorders, language, written and spoken verbal communication, and verbal memory problems. Our Occupational Therapy team evaluates and provides training in activities of daily living such as feeding, dressing, bathing and meal preparation. At Ascension Oaks, we are committed to Improving Quality of Life. 711 West CornervieW road P.o. Box 370 Gonzales, la 70737 225 644-6581 www.ascensionoaksnursingandrehab.com 170

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

Physical, Speech & Occupational Therapy Provided In Our Rehabilitation & Fitness Gym

improving Quality of Life 4/3/18 9:00 AM

CHAD CORNETT State Bank & Trust Company

CHRIS ELLIOTT Guaranty Media

Prior to joining State Bank, Cornett served in roles of increasing responsibility in public, nonprofit and banking sectors, most recently as senior vice president of commercial banking with Investar Bank. Before that, he held positions at Regions Bank, Universal Industrial Assets and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. He has previously been named among Business Report’s Forty Under 40 and is a past Boys & Girls Club Great Futures honoree.

DONALD BRINKMAN CSRS Inc.

ANGELA MUSSO Woman’s Hospital

programming, developing new local talent and expanding digital platforms. Elliott has been successful running several locally owned radio stations similar to Guaranty Media in Maryland, Kentucky, Texas and Colorado.

EDUCATION Willie Smith has been appointed acting chancellor of Baton Rouge Community College by the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Board of COMMUNICATIONS Supervisors. Smith has worked in Chris Elliott has been hired by the LCTCS and its member colGuaranty Media as the new opleges for the past 18 years. He erations manager after a nationIssue Date: 4-23-19 Ad proof #3serves as vice president for trainwide his ornew position, ingrevisions. and business partnerships for • Pleasesearch. respond byIn e-mail fax with your approval or minor • ADwill WILLbe RUNtasked AS IS unless approval or final revisions LCTCS. He recently served as acthe with leading are stations, received by the close of business today. five enhancing existing ing vice chancellor of workforce • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

ANTHONY EVANS Woman’s Hospital

BRAD STOCKWELL BioScrip Infusion Services Inc.

solutions at BRCC, and prior to that served as chief executive officer for South Central Louisiana Technical College from June 2017 to June 2018. Smith also previously served as vice president of academics and workforce solutions at South Louisiana Community College. ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION Donald Brinkman has joined Baton Rouge-based CSRS Inc. as new sector lead for southwest Louisiana and ports. He has more than 20 years of expertise in both the private and public sectors, with a focus on ports and municipal work. Brinkman has worked as the director of engineering, planning and development for

the City of Lake Charles, and most recently served as the director of engineering, security, maintenance and development for Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District. As part of his new role at CSRS, Brinkman will head up the business development efforts of the CSRS Lake Charles office. HEALTH CARE Angela Musso has been promoted to clinic nurse manager at Woman’s Hospital, overseeing GYN oncology, general surgery and maternal fetal medicine clinics. Musso began her career at Woman’s 18 years ago as a staff nurse in labor and delivery, and most recently served in the role of clinical educator for Physician Practice Management. Two new team members recently joined BioScrip Infusion Services Inc.’s Baton Rouge Ambulatory Infusion Suite. Brad Stockwell is returning to the team as a clinical liaison, and Kellie Elisar is joining the staff as a pharmacist in charge. Stockwell

Know Your Risk Number? Do you have a financial Plan? Income Plan? Road Map? Estate Plan? Social Security Plan? Healthcare Plan? Request a no-obligation meeting today with Brian Low to discuss your financial future. We focus on purpose driven investments to connect your values with your money.

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Brian Low offers securities and investment advisory services through Madison Avenue Securities, LLC (MAS), member FINRA/SIPC, and a Registered Investment Advisor. MAS and Brian Low Financial Group are not affiliated entities. Brian Low Financial Group is an independent financial services firm. Neither the firm nor its representatives may give tax or legal advice. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. Any references to protection benefits or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investment products. Insurance and annuity product guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

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MARCH 2019

Make Mine

MEDITERRANEAN LOCALS PRESERVE THEIR LEBANESE CULTURE THROUGH CUISINE

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To reserve your spot, call or email LIZ MCCOLLISTER at 225-421-8106 | liz@businessreport.com

YOUR BUSINESS

MOVING UP

has more than 20 years of experience as a registered nurse. Elisar has eight years of experience in retail pharmacy, delivering integrative patient care and unparalleled service. Dr. Anthony Evans has joined Woman’s Hospital as the medical director of gynecologic oncology at the Breast & GYN Cancer Pavilion, where he will specialize in diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the female reproductive system. Evans is one of only nine GYN oncologists practicing in Louisiana and the only fulltime Baton Rouge-based GYN oncologist. Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and gynecologic oncology, he most recently practiced in Wisconsin at Marshfield Medical Center.

KELLIE ELISAR BioScrip Infusion Services Inc.

RORY WINGETT Rouj Creole

Golf Club, working at The Masters twice. He also previously worked at The American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival, served as chef de cuisine at Hollywood Casino’s Celebrity Grill, and was a sous chef at City Pork.

INSURANCE Terry Hoyle has been promoted to a commercial lines producer and business risk consultant in Gonzales by BXS Insurance, HOSPITALITY a wholly owned subsidiary of Rory Wingett has been named BancorpSouth Bank. Hoyle has executive chef of City Group more than 30 years of experiHospitality’s newest Baton Rouge ence in risk management with restaurant, Rouj Creole, which Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #1insurance carriers as well as enopened in late June. Wingett has or minor ergy, maritime, utility and con• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval revisions. • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions struction companies. He holds previously completed a culinary are receivedat by the the close of business today. program Augusta National certifications in environmental • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

TERRY HOYLE BXS Insurance

MARY REBECCA MIX Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

auditing, safety administration and utility safety administration. He also maintains a property and casualty license. He was a former board member and is a current member of the Associated Builders and Contractors, South Central Industrial Association, Gulf Coast Safety & Training Group, and the Coastal Conservation Association. LAW Mary Rebecca Mix has joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana as vice president, deputy general counsel. Mix has nearly 20 years of experience in tax law, compliance and regulatory law, and corporate legal, administrative and policy work

JESS FREY Taylor Porter

CHANDEL MCDONALD LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center

to the nonprofit health insurer. Mix will provide legal services to all areas of the company and its subsidiaries and assist Michele Calandro, Blue Cross’ chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary. Mix will manage various units of the legal department. Mix comes to Blue Cross from DentaQuest, a $2 billion private dental insurance company based in Boston. Corporate and commercial transactions attorney Jess Frey has joined Taylor Porter as special counsel. Frey was formerly an attorney for Phelps Dunbar in Baton Rouge. Practicing law since 2001, Frey practices in the areas of contracts, corporate

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YOUR BUSINESS

MOVING UP

LIBBIE SONNIER-NETTO Louisiana Policy Institute for Children

DEANNA WHITTLE The Emerge Center

transactions, business, real estate and finance, focusing on business and finance transactions ranging from acquisitions, divestitures and mergers to general contract matters, formation for large and small companies and governance. His background in chemical engineering gives him an understanding of the business challenges that chemical plants face and assists him in formulating creative solutions for his clients. Frey is admitted to practice law in both Louisiana and Texas.

MANARD LAGASSE JR. Associated Grocers Inc.

serving law firm clients throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. She was a top client manager and a President’s Award recipient for top performance twice during her service to Thomson Reuters/ Westlaw. She also served as a legal recruiter and consultant for more than five years, and spent several years in practice as a real estate attorney in the Baton Rouge and the New Orleans areas.

NONPROFITS Libbie Sonnier-Netto is the new executive director of the Chandel McDonald has joined Louisiana Policy Institute for the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Issue Date: 4-9-19 Ad proof #1 Children. Sonnier-Netto beCenter as director offaxdevelopgan her career as an early child• Please respond by e-mail or with your approval or minor revisions. • AD WILL RUNmajor AS IS unless approval or final revisions hood interventionist working ment and gifts. McDonald are received the close of business today. was clientbymanager for Westlaw, with families who have children • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

with developmental disabilities. She has led teams of individuals in systemwide initiatives for the betterment of children, families, caregivers and practitioners. She served as a state director of two federal programs, managing multi-million-dollar budgets as well as developing and implementing pilot programs for children birth to age five in four states—including Louisiana— across multiple agencies and community partners to improve the efficiency and efficacy of direct services for children and their families. Deanna Whittle will take the helm as chief executive officer of The Emerge Center. Whittle succeeds Melissa Juneau, who served in the role for the past 12 years. Whittle has extensive experience from multiple sectors of the health care field. She began her career as a nurse at Woman’s Hospital and has since served in senior-level roles for multiple local organizations, including Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Ochsner

Home Medicare Corporation, and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. Most recently, Whittle served as vice president of the southern region at The Innovation Institute, a health care innovation company focused on transforming care delivery. Whittle will oversee the Emerge Enterprise, which includes The Emerge Center, The Emerge School for Autism and The Emerge Foundation. OTHER Manard Lagasse Jr., senior vice president and general counsel of Associated Grocers Inc., has been named president and CEO, effective immediately. Lagasse joined Associated Grocers Inc. in 2007 and has successfully managed several different departments during his tenure with the company. Prior to joining Associated Grocers Inc., Lagasse worked as an attorney for Allen & Gooch Law Firm and Juneau David Law Firm, and also has more than a decade of experience with Schilling Distributing Company in Lafayette.

& REHABILITATION CENTER, LLC

NURSING

8 2017

BSRIO NEZRE LV

Jefferson Manor is conveniently located in a quiet residential area of Jefferson Highway just minutes away from all major medical centers, numerous doctors’ offices and the offices of other health care professionals. Our facility is one of Louisiana’s most innovative leaders in quality long term care and is continually working to upgrade and improve our services, as evidenced by being one of the first facilities in our area to have an in-house nurse practitioner, leading our profession in electronic medical records, or by adding computer systems that are physically interactive and mentally engaging for our residents. Our amenities include carpeted private and semi-private suites, arts & crafts center, our beautiful in-house chapel, in-house rehabilitation and fitness center, day rooms ideal for a quiet afternoon show, a lively LSU ballgame, or an evening of cards or dominoes. Our rehabilitation programs including physical, speech and occupational therapy, offer our residents the opportunity of returning to their greatest degree of independence with many returning to their own homes. At Jefferson Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, we are committed to providing you the very best in Quality Care and Superior Service. 9919 Jefferson Hwy. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809 225-293-1434 www.jeffersonmanornursingandrehab.com 174

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

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YOUR BUSINESS

FLASHBACK

THE YEAR: 1984 THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO, the big buzz in The Red Stick was The Golden Bear. As Business Report detailed in an extensive cover package in July 1984, hopes were high that the planned Country Club of Louisiana—with a Jack Nicklausdesigned golf course as its centerpiece—would boost Baton Rouge’s national image and spur greater economic development. The stakes were high, with investors having some $14 million riding on the deal (including $6.5 million for the course, a $4.5 million clubhouse, and $1.5 million tennis and swimming facility) and initial memberships selling for $20,000 each. Nonetheless, few doubted the project would prove successful, including Nicklaus, who told Business Report: “Our guys have done a lot of market study as to what we think is going to happen in this area. From a golfing community standpoint, first of all, Baton Rouge is very ‘under golfed.’ The market study showed us that Baton Rouge would support this type of development.”

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McMains Children’s Developmental Center has been providing exceptional pediatric therapy services to children with disabilities and developmental delays since 1954.

We Can Help With: ADHD Autism Behavioral Concerns Cerebral Palsy Developmental Delays Down Syndrome Learning Disabilities Orthopedic Issues Sensory Disorders And Much More!

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www.mcmainscdc.org Issue Date: 7-16-19 Ad proof #5

• Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval minor revisions. 1805orCollege Drive, BR, LA 70808 | (225) 923-3420 • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

Tony Boagni, Financial Advisor

225.929.8435

fa.wellsfargoadvisors.com/tony-boagni “With its Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, its palatial clubhouse, rolling hills, lakes and stately homes, The Country Club of Louisiana and its attendant residential development could provide a calling card as tangible and as significant as the Mississippi River. The project stands to give Baton Rouge the recognition and credibility it could not buy with even with the most outlandish public relations campaign. ‘It’s going to help the image of Baton Rouge, and it’s going to help attract people to Baton Rouge,’ said Embree Easterly, chairman of Capital Bank, which has invested in the project. ‘This is going to be the finest development in Louisiana.’ Easterly’s enthusiasm is not only universal among those in any way associated with The Country Club of Louisiana, it’s infectious. Developers with projects miles away from the golf course like to talk about their proximity to the Nicklaus development as evidence of the marketability of their own building program. A handful of real estate agents eager to market homesites within the golfing community have practically fallen all over each other making overtures to the Jack Nicklaus Development Corp. in hopes of listing property within the 600-acre residential development.” —From the July 1984 issue of Business Report

+ ALSO FROM THAT ISSUE ... MAKING WAVES: Work is wrapping at Interstate 10 and Highland Road on Fantasea Park, which will be Baton Rouge’s first water park. With an anticipated opening date of July 28, the $10 million development is expected to draw as many as 30,000 visitors on opening day.

AG WIN: Louisiana farmers recently notched a win when Gov. Edwin Edwards announced he will not continue pushing for an end to the agriculture state sales tax exemption, which allows farmers not to pay the tax on farm machinery, feed, seed, fertilizer and diesel fuel.

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177

PASSION

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Mike Hogstrom FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, ONSITE DESIGN

“It’s all about my hometown of Missouri City, Texas. As a kid, I would play with the best friends I have in the world until the streetlights came on. All we needed was a yellow bat, a plastic ball and an open space. We’re all in our 40s now, with families and careers, but we still get together to chop it up several times a year. It’s something we can play with our children as they develop the same lifelong relationships. The game reminds me of friends, home and the seasons of life.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLLIN RICHIE

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BUSINESS REPORT, July 16, 2019 | BusinessReport.com

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