Briefing: News, notes and charts to keep you in the know

Business Report and Junior Achievement will honor six Baton Rouge individuals and companies at the 2023 Business Awards & Hall of Fame gala in March. This year’s winners, as selected by a panel of independent judges, are:

Hall of Fame Laureate Jim Roland, CEO, Window World of Baton Rouge

Hall of Fame Laureate Bill Borne, founder and CEO, Amedysis (posthumous)

Executive of the Year:

Tina Holland, president, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University

Young Businessperson of the Year:

Mathew Laborde, president and CEO, Elifin Realty

Business of the Year (100 or more employees):

Benny’s Car Wash Justin Alford

Business of the Year (fewer than 100 employees):

Orion Laboratories David Slaughter

All of this year’s honorees will be profiled in the March edition of Business Report and honored at a gala on Wednesday, March 14, at the Crowne Plaza Baton Rouge. Sponsors of the event are Franklin, Capital One, Hannis T Bourgeois and Genesis 360.

DIGITS

8,858+

Net new residents who moved into the Baton Rouge metro in 2021, according to BRAC research.

Nominations are open for the 2023 class of Influential Women in Business. The awards honor professional women making an impact in the Capital Region.

Nominate: Go to BusinessReport.com/ events for details; the nominating deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3.

BOOK REVIEW

Develop and expand your leadership abilities through daily exercises and challenges designed to help you grow into the leader you want to be while preparing you for the job you were made to have. That’s the premise of THE 5 WEEK LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE, the Wall Street Journal bestseller by Patrick Leddin. The book has 35 daily challenges to develop leadership skills as well as habits to get you noticed—and promoted. BONUS: Leddin will be in Baton Rouge Feb. 1 to speak at the Elevate Your Leadership and Your Team event.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

$18.7 MILLION

Sales tax collections in East Baton Rouge Parish for September 2022

SALES TAX TRACKER

S O N D J F M A M J J A S

2021 2022

270 265 260 255 250 245 240 235 230 225 220 215 210 205 200

$257,500

Median home sale price for East Baton Rouge Parish for November 2022

REAL ESTATE TRACKER

N D J F M A M J J A S O N 21 2022 13-month comparison

Unemployment percentage 5.0 4.8 4.6 4.4 4.2 4.0 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2

2.8%

East Baton Rouge Parish unemployment rate in October 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT TRACKER

N D J F M A M J J A S O 21 2022

SOURCES: U.S. Department of Labor, East Baton Rouge Parish Finance Department, Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors, Louisiana Workforce Commission.

LESSON LEARNED

NEWS FLASH

23

Number of property insurers to either go broke or flee Louisiana since 2020’s Hurricane Laura, causing a crisis in the property insurance market and prompting state Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon to propose an incentive program to lure more companies to write policies in the state. Absent that, Donelon wants legislators to address the problem, preferably in a special session.

“Most big things take time to achieve. I am a fast mover and like to see results quickly. But over the years I’ve grown to learn that timing is everything and that persistence is often more important than speed when it comes to getting things done.”

BEVERLY HAYDEL is president and CEO of Sequitur Consulting

SAY WHAT?

“This is not an easy decision because there are pension retirement funds that are at stake. However, the court is duty bound to follow what’s consistent with the law.”

Baton Rouge District Judge

RONALD JOHNSON

during a December hearing granting a preliminary injunction to stop Sheriff Sid Gautreaux from diverting a portion of BREC’s 2022 property tax collections— nearly $2 million—into a state retirement fund. BREC filed a lawsuit in November arguing that the remittance, which has been happening with BREC and other parish taxing entities since 1989, is illegal.

MENTORSHIP

The Mentor: MONIQUE CENANC, former Jones Walker partner and currently assistant general counsel and corporate secretary for Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

“Monique continues to mentor and guide me. A few standout practice points are the importance of teamwork— regardless of seniority—personal connections and always being meticulous.”

AMY MARTIN

ALEXANDRA LAYFIELD is a partner and corporate & securities team leader at Jones Walker LLP.

DESIGN

WALK-ON’S SPORTS BISTREAUX served up its latest restaurant prototype—the Wildcat—which debuts with a franchise location in Central. The smaller design has seating for 200-plus diners and the big selling point is it requires less upfront costs and more layout efficiency and flexibility for franchisees.

DIGITS

8.3

EV chargers per 100,000 residents in Louisiana, ranking the state last on a per capita basis, per software firm CoPilot. Louisiana officials say they are working to expand the charging network, aided by $73 million in federal funds.

assurance - consulting - tax - technology

At P&N, our foundation is a traditional accounting firm, but our approach and services are anything but conventional. We thrive on challenge and are problem-solvers at heart. Calling on the collective knowledge of the 550+ members of our team — whose experience spans multiple industries — we create custom approaches backed by data, delivered by nationally-recognized professionals who help clients translate risks and challenges into actionable opportunities. When you work with P&N, you can expect experienced guidance, leading-edge technology, and scalable support from our wide suite of services.

Creating Clearer Paths For Client Success.

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Postlethwaite & Netterville. A Professional Accounting Corporation

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