Business Report [May 2025]

MAY 2025 • BUSINESSREPORT.COM

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Meet nine women changing what leadership looks like.

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$7.50

Why do business and industrial leaders consistently place their confidence in Kean Miller?

H E R E AR E 92 R E A SO N S THEY TRUST KEAN MI LLER AS THEI R C OU NS E L .

LO U I S I A N A B A TO N R O U G E L A FA Y E T T E L A KE C H A RL ES N EW O RL E A N S SH REVEPORT T E XA S H O USTO N T H E WO O DL A N DS K E A N M I L L E R . C O M | L I N DA P E REZ C L A RK, M A N A GI N G P A RT N E R | L A - 2 5 -1 863 6

We are proud to recognize them in this special issue of the Baton Rouge Business Report.

Unlock the power of advanced technology with EisnerAmper.

From AI and machine learning to forecasting and resource planning, we help you harness data-driven insights and modernized systems to stay ahead of the competition.

Let’s get you ready. eisneramper.com/get-tech-ready

Audit Tax Advisory Outsourcing

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

At Our Lady of the Lake Health, we’re not just setting the standard – we are elevating it. From lifesaving treatments to groundbreaking research, what we do today is what others will strive to imitate tomorrow.

Our dedication to excellence has earned national recognition, and we are the region’s first and only Comprehensive Stroke Center. Our Lady of the Lake Heart & Vascular Institute brings the highest level of care to a single, healing environment.

Our mission guides us, and a spirit of excellence propels us – because the communities we are privileged to serve deserve nothing less. ololrmc.com/excellence

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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23 News

MAY 2025 • BUSINESSREPORT.COM

56 The charter challenge

BOLD by DESIGN Meet nine women changing what leadership looks like.

11 In The Know 13 Thought leader

Thrive Foundation Executive Director Morgan Hilliard shares her insights for fostering a thriving workplace culture.

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8 The power of quiet influence

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How one Baton Rouge native built a football manufacturing powerhouse.

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As enrollment grows, so do the questions: Are charter schools delivering on their promise?

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ON THE COVER Bold by design Meet nine Influential Women in Business who are changing what leadership looks like.

Listmakers: Woman-owned businesses, ranked by local revenue and employees Page 47

15 Meet The 500

Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association President Tommy Faucheux shares the quote from former President Ronald Reagan that has stuck with him and his most unusual job. Hint: It didn’t involve politics, but there was some lobbying involved.

Design: Hoa Vu Photography by Collin Richie

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Women Leading the Way Page 49

17 Entrepreneur

Screaming Peacock founder Julie Laperouse on how her side hustle became a full-time gig.

18 Executive Survey

The best advice doesn’t always come from a boardroom—it could come from your dad, your first boss, or even a barista. Local business leaders reveal the wisdom that has shaped their careers.

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CONNECT WITH US:

Viewpoint 71 Rolfe McCollister

Is Louisiana open for business, or lawsuits?

Your Business 75 Company News

businessreport.com

facebook.com/businessreport

78 Moving Up 82 Recharge

Jones Walker partner Raedtha A. Vasquez’s go-to recharge is the challenge and camaraderie of a Mahjong match.

x.com/brbizreport

instagram.com/brbizreport

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

Discover relationship banking at its best.

As a business owner, I know I can count on b1BANK to understand my goals and match me with the solutions I need to be successful.

Be Uncomplicated.

Drew Brees

b1BANK Client

Learn more at b1BANK.com

PU B LI S H E R B R I E FI NG

Publisher: Julio Melara Associate Publisher: Erin Pou

EDITORIAL Executive Editor: Penny Font Managing Editor: Allan Schilling News Editor: Holly Duchmann Staff Writers: Jordan Arceneaux, Cynthea Corfah, Dillon Lowe Contributing Writers: Sam Barnes, Kelli Bozeman, Maggie Heyn Richardson Contributing Photographers: Jackie Haxthausen, Don Kadair, Tim Mueller, Collin Richie

ADVERTISING

The power of quiet influence MAKE NO MISTAKE: Leadership isn’t about who talks the most in the meeting. It’s about who moves the needle.

I’ve seen it time and again: Volume doesn’t equal value. You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to be the most influential. Some of the most powerful leaders I’ve met in boardrooms across Baton Rouge are the ones who speak with precision, act with intention and lead with purpose—not ego.

That’s exactly what you’ll see in this issue of Business Report. Our Influential Women in Business honorees aren’t just headline-makers—they’re difference-makers.

And many of them don’t fit the old-school mold of leadership. They don’t pound the table. They don’t dominate conversations.

They don’t have to. Their results speak louder than any sound bite ever could.

Here’s what I want every executive reading this to take away: Leadership isn’t a personality contest. It’s a performance sport.

Think about it. Influence isn’t measured in decibels—it’s measured in impact. The quiet leader who builds a rock-solid team, keeps the culture tight and delivers quarter after quarter? That’s someone I want on my team.

We’ve all worked with “look-at-me” leaders—exuberant energy, little follow-through. But the ones who truly shape an organization from the inside out are the steady hands. The mentors. The people who build trust, not buzz.

Don’t mistake calmness for weakness.

Nor should humility be confused with passivity. Quiet leaders often have the deepest wells of discipline, the sharpest focus and the strongest track records.

And as executives, it’s incumbent upon us to cultivate environments where this form of leadership can flourish. Too frequently, organizations reward performers rather than true producers. It is time to challenge that paradigm. Let’s flip that script.

Start asking: Who’s coaching up talent behind the scenes? Who’s solving the problem before it hits your desk? Who’s making the decisions that make the difference?

Those are your MVPs. The women you’ll read about in this issue—some bold, some quiet, all exceptional—remind us that there’s no one way to lead. And in Baton Rouge, where business and community are deeply intertwined, that kind of leadership matters more than ever.

So here’s your challenge: Spot the quiet leaders in your organization. Acknowledge them. Learn from them. And most of all— elevate them.

Let the results do the talking.

Sales & Marketing Operations Manager: Kynley Lemoine Senior Multimedia Marketing Consultant & Team Leader: Kelly Lewis Multimedia Marketing Consultants: Rachel Andrus, David Burton, Nicole Crochet, Emma Walker Multimedia Marketing Consultant/Custom Publishing: Judith LaDousa Digital Operations Manager: Devyn MacDonald Partner Success Manager: Matt Wambles Digital Operations Coordinator: Sydney Deville Corporate Communications Strategist: Mark Lorando Content Strategist: Emily Hebert

STUDIO E Creative Director: Timothy Coles Custom Content Editor: Lisa Tramontana Business Development Manager: Manny Fajardo Creative Producer: Jessi Bajoie Post-Production Supervisor: Taylor Stoma Production Supervisor: Ari Ross

MARKETING Marketing & Events Assistant: Mallory Romanowski

ADMINISTRATION Business Manager: Tiffany Durocher Business Associate: Kirsten Milano Office Coordinator: Donna Curry Receptionist: Cathy Varnado Brown

CREATIVE SERVICES Creative Services Manager: Ellie Gray Art Director: Hoa Vu Senior Graphic Designers: Melinda Gonzalez Galjour, Sidney Rosso Graphic Designer: Britt Benoit

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Chief Technology Officer: James Hume Audience Development Campaign Manager: Catherine Albano Circulation and Client Experience Manager: Ivana Oubre A publication of Melara Enterprises, LLC Chairman: Julio Melara Executive Assistant: Brooke Motto Vice President-Sales: Elizabeth McCollister Hebert Chief Content Officer: Penny Font Chief Digital Officer: Erin Pou Chief Operating Officer: Guy Barone Circulation/Reprints/Subscriptions/Customer Service 225-928-1700 • email: circulation@businessreport.com Volume 41 - Number 33

Julio Melara, Publisher ©Copyright 2025 by Melara Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved by LBI. The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report (USPS 721-890 ISSN 0747-4652) is published monthly 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 $120.00 for 12 issues, with 2 additional issues published annually in April 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.

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

Expert Cancer Care

Close to Home

Jennifer Perone, MD Surgical Oncology Baton Rouge

Ochsner Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center have clinically integrated to provide advanced cancer care, right here in the Capital City. That means access to life-saving clinical trials for innovative therapies, more specialists and more resources for our patients. Through this collaboration, Ochsner is the first and only provider in Louisiana with a fully integrated cancer program based on MD Anderson’s standards and treatment plans. Learn more at ochsner.org/EndCancer.

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Ochsner Cancer Center – Baton Rouge

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Ochsner Medical Complex – The Grove

This ad design © Melara Enterprises, LLC. 2024. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700

ASK THE

EXPERT

HO ME LENDING

HOW CAN I CALCULATE AN ACCURATE MORTGAGE PAYMENT? To calculate an accurate mortgage payment, it’s crucial to understand its components.

Your payment will include principal and interest, property taxes, and homeowner’s insurance specific to the property of interest. Many generic online calculators may not provide the right loan program or accurately factor in private mortgage insurance (PMI), leading to unrealistic expectations about your total monthly payment. Starting with a thorough mortgage consultation with a seasoned loan officer is key to ensuring a positive experience.

WHICH CREDIT SCORE SHOULD I LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING A HOME? When looking to buy a home, mortgage companies consider scores from all three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. They typically use the middle score, disregarding the highest and lowest. For example, if your scores are 690, 740, and 795, the lender will use 740. While 850 is typically the highest possible score, many lenders can work with applicants down to the low 500s but may require some additional documentation to help build a better credit profile.

RYAN LARUSSA Producing Sales Manager NMLS #96565, Synergy One Lending

DO I NEED TO PUT DOWN 20% TO PURCHASE A HOME? The belief that you must put down 20% to purchase a home is a common myth. There are programs that offer 100% financing of the purchase price or offer conventional loans requiring only 3% down and FHA loans at 3.5% down. For our Veterans, 100% financing is common. Additionally, depending on the area, credit scores, and debt-toincome ratios, some loans may qualify for down payment assistance. In fact, during my conversations, I often find that clients are surprised to learn they can buy a home with a much smaller down payment than they expected.

Ryan Larussa is a Team Lead with 21+ years in the mortgage industry, known for his proactive, clientfocused approach. He helps streamline the homebuying process, saving clients time

WHERE DO I NEED TO START IN THE PRE-APPROVAL PROCESS?

and money. Servicing all

The pre-approval process begins with your mortgage advisor by gathering necessary financial documents and understanding your budget. It’s essential to consult with a lender who can review your financial situation and guide you through the steps.

This initial phase sets the foundation for a smooth home-buying experience. The preapproval process is the most important first step!

licensed in AL, MS, TN, and

IS GETTING THE LOWEST INTEREST RATE THE BEST DEAL FOR YOU? While securing the lowest interest rate is important, it’s not the only factor to consider for the best deal for your mortgage. You should also evaluate the overall loan terms, fees, and whether the loan features align with your financial goals. Some loans with slightly higher rates may offer better flexibility, lower closing costs, or additional benefits that fit your needs. IT’s essential to look at the complete picture, including how long you plan to stay in the home, do you have a savings or backup plan for future expenses? These are just a few factors to consider if the lowest rate is truly the best deal for you.

Synergy One Lending, Inc. | NMLS 1907235 | www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org | 610 W. Ash Street, Suite 1505, San Diego, CA 92101 | (888) 995-1256 | State required licensing information: AL Residential Mortgage Licensee #70829, LA, MS, TN, TX. Not affiliated with any government agency. All Loans are subject to underwriting approval. Terms and Conditions apply. Subject to change without notice.

4561 DURHAM PLACE SUITE C | 225-266-7441 | S1L.COM

of Louisiana, Ryan is also TX. He holds a Finance degree from Southeastern Louisiana University and volunteers with HP Serve and Trafficking Hope.

I NTELLIG E NCE B R I E FI NG

In The Know

News and notables to keep you connected PARKZEN’S BIG MOVE

$9.4M

ParkZen, an LSU-born parking technology startup, has been acquired by Texas-based Parking Guiding Systems Inc. Co-founded

by LSU associate professor Manos Chatzopoulos, ParkZen provides AI-powered real-time parking solutions. The acquisition builds on an earlier collaboration and is expected to expand ParkZen’s reach and accelerate innovation in smart parking technology. Get the details at businessreport.com.

Sale price of a data center inside Bon Carré Technology Park.

DartPoints, a Dallas-based data center operator, bought the nearly 90,000-square-foot data center as part of its U.S. expansion strategy. The same company acquired local data center operator and cloud service provider Venyu in 2023.

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The volatile workplace

Number of Influential Women in Business that Business Report is celebrating on May 20.

It all begins with our third annual Women’s Leadership Symposium—a powerhouse morning of inspiration, real-world leadership advice and bold conversations. Later that day, we’ll honor this year’s Influential Women in Business, recognizing standout leaders who are making an impact across the Capital Region.

Read about the honorees beginning on page 23.

ISTOCK IMAGES

Rapid change is creating volatility in the business and the workplace, creating new challenges for leaders. In this month’s episode of “Strictly Business,” leadership experts Melissa Thompson (left) and Adrian Owen Jones of Success Labs discuss how executives can adapt, strengthen teams and lead through disruption. The conversation will cover navigating generational dynamics, integrating emerging technologies like AI and anticipating market shifts. Both Thompson and Jones bring extensive experience in organizational strategy and leadership development. Register at strictlybusiness.businessreport.com.

$2.2M

Precision engineered

Amount that will be spent to revitalize the Perkins Road underpass. The project, expected to break ground this summer, targets landscaping, lighting and parking. It also includes new bike and pedestrian paths, among other quality-of-life upgrades. Credit the grassroots organization Envision Baton Rouge, which also has its sights set on Brooks Park and City Park. Get the details at businessreport.com.

Two major Baton Rouge engineering firms are joining forces. Forte and Tablada has acquired Professional Engineering Consultants, expanding its capabilities in water, sewer, public utilities and transportation. The combined firm will have 130 employees and remain locally owned, aiming to preserve Louisiana-based legacies amid growing out-of-state competition. Read more at businessreport.com.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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VISIONARIES WHO TRANSFORM

TOMORROW

Celebrating the extraordinary women shaping Baton Rouge’s future.

Window World of Baton Rouge proudly salutes the 2025 Influential Women in Business honorees. Your persistence, integrity, vision, and grit inspire us all and strengthen our entire community. Women have always been at the very center of progress, and your achievements open doors for generations to come.

We celebrate not only your professional accomplishments, but also how you’re building a better Baton Rouge. Thank you for showing us what true leadership looks like.

GetWindows.com | (800) GET-WINDOWS

I NTELLIG E NCE B R I E FI NG

1

PRIORITIZE CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION.

Hilliard holds in-person team meetings every Monday to discuss active projects and identify areas for collaboration.

She also holds one-on-ones every Wednesday, allowing her to check in personally with each team member, offer support and address needs proactively.

“These meetings keep everyone on the same page and help identify any type of cross-sectoral work that might need to happen,” Hilliard says.

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CELEBRATE WINS.

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INVEST IN REST AND RECOVERY.

Every Friday, Hilliard’s team members submit a report touching on their accomplishments for the week. This ritual helps the team track progress, celebrate wins and build momentum for the week ahead.

Recognizing the importance of mental wellness, Hilliard has introduced an annual staff retreat focused not on planning, but on rest. Activities like yoga and relaxation exercises are part of the agenda. The goal is to create a low-stress environment where her team can effectively recharge. Such retreats are a chance to “get away,” she says, meaning they shouldn’t feel like just another workday.

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As a leader, Hilliard believes that the tone she sets has a direct impact on her team’s morale and performance. Leaders must embody the collaboration, positivity and respect they want to see throughout their organizations.

A STRONG WORKPLACE culture doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built intentionally. Morgan Hilliard,

executive director of the Thrive Foundation, understands this point well. She has worked to create an environment where her team feels valued, supported and connected to her organization’s mission of ensuring the success of students at Baton Rouge’s Thrive Academy. Here are her tips for fostering a healthy, thriving workplace culture.

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How to foster a strong workplace culture

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BE A MODEL OF THE CULTURE YOU WANT TO CREATE.

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DON’T OVERLOOK ONBOARDING.

A strong start builds strong teams. Hilliard stresses the importance of comprehensive onboarding, ensuring every new hire has the tools, training and context they need to succeed.

Proper preparation empowers team members to feel confident and connected from day one.

She says we often try to rush through onboarding, and “it can come back to bite us.”

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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This ad design © Melara Enterprises, LLC. 2024. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700

MONTHLY WEBCAST EPISODE 28 MAY 21 | 11AM

SPECIAL GUESTS

DR. MELISSA THOMPSON & ADRIAN OWEN JONES SUCCESS LABS

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION

LEADING THROUGH VOLATILE CHANGE IN THE WORKPLACE THE ACCELERATING PACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION MULTIGENERATIONAL WORKFORCE DYNAMICS NAVIGATING MARKET COMPLEXITIES

SPONSORED BY:

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

I NTE LLI G E N CE CON N E CTI ON S

M E ET TH E 500

ISTOCK

Tommy Faucheux President, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association

DESTINATION OF CHOICE Rosemary Beach in Florida

FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT MEAL

CAUSES I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT

Holy Family Catholic Church, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Second Harvesters

THEME SONG

“The Road Less Traveled,” by George Strait

Veal with Dijon Gorgonzola sauce and Spaghetti G.O.P at DiGiulio Brothers in Baton Rouge, or any steak at Chophouse New Orleans

NASCAR fanatic

ADVICE TO MY YOUNGER SELF

FAVORITE MOVIE CHARACTER

Be more confident in your abilities.

LAST BOOK THAT MADE AN IMPACT

Maverick, played by Tom Cruise (at any age)

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, by John Meacham. It’s a great book about power, humility and kindness.

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QUOTE THAT HAS STUCK WITH ME R

HOW I STAY HEALTHY

TH E

Time in the sun. I need to be outside.

Fishing, beaching or by the pool. I need the sun!

MOST VALUABLE LESSON FROM A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE

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“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” – Ronald Reagan

MOST ADVENTUROUS THING I’VE DONE

Sitting front row at the start/finish line of the Daytona 500 is a rush like no other.

Trust in God and you can overcome or get through anything.

QUIRKY TALENT I play the trumpet.

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to the intersection of policy, industry and impact. With a career steeped in state government affairs, he has been a trusted voice in shaping public policy across the Southeast. At Dow Chemical, he led government relations for the region and was a key strategist behind public affairs efforts supporting Dow’s Louisiana operations. A recognized leader in business and civic circles, Faucheux is a past chair of the board for GNO Inc. and has held influential roles with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the Public Affairs Research Council and the American Chemistry Council. He also played a pivotal role in local economic growth as part of the St. Charles Parish Economic Development Council.

Whether driving statewide initiatives or strengthening community ties, Faucheux brings a deep understanding of how policy moves from boardroom to Main Street.

HOBBY OR INTEREST

P

TOMMY FAUCHEUX IS no stranger

ISTOCK

FAVORITE LOCAL HIDDEN GEM

MOST MEMORABLE PIECE OF WISDOM I’VE RECEIVED

DiGiulio Brothers in Baton Rouge

“Be a gentleman.” Both in personal and professional life. From a longtime mentor and friend.

BEVERAGE OF CHOICE

Bourbon: Blanton’s on a big block of ice

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This Q&A is extended content from the Capital Region 500, a special edition produced by Business Report that profiles the Capital Region’s most powerful and influential business leaders. Visit try.businessreport.com/capitalregion500/ for more information.

2024

M UST R EAD

In The Venture Mindset, Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev and tech executive Alex Dang unpack how top venture capitalists make bold bets and achieve extraordinary outcomes—and why their decision-making principles can benefit any business leader. Based on two decades of research and conversations with top venture capitalists and founders, the book introduces a mindset built around calculated risk, rapid learning and a bias toward action. The authors argue that success in today’s environment requires more than operational efficiency; it demands the kind of thinking that fuels innovation and embraces uncertainty. This isn’t a startup playbook but rather a leadership guide for executives looking to stay competitive and future-focused, no matter their industry. The authors reframe failure as part of the growth process, spotlight the value of diverse thinking and emphasize long-term alignment and talent as key levers of success. The Venture Mindset offers a practical, inspiring look at how to lead with greater agility and vision—ideal for any C-suite leader ready to think bigger and bet smarter.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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Rooted in relationship

Kelly Hurtado, VP/BSF, Past Influential Women in Business Honoree, Kodi Guillory, Owner/President Sustainable Design Solutions, Whitney Boyd VP/BSF Past Top 40 Under 40 Honoree

Congratulations to our friend and client Kodi Guillory for the well deserved honor of being named one of Business Report’s 2025 Influential Women in Business.

“My experience with the Bank of St. Francisville has been exceptional. The personalized service and genuine attention from the staff make me feel truly valued as a customer. The ability to call or text my banker directly provides unparalleled convenience and fosters a level of trust and accessibility that is hard to find.”

– Kodi Guillory, P.E., Owner/President Sustainable Design Solutions

5700 Commerce Street St. Francisville

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

5505 Highland Road Baton Rouge

I NTE LLIG E NCE E NTR E PR E N E U R

1 Key to Success

DON KADAIR

“The keynote is a conversation between me and the audience, and it’s a lot of laughs and a few tears and some really good takeaways.”

Julie Laperouse FOUNDER, SCREAMING PEACOCK

YEARS AGO, WHILE in a leadership program at LSU, Julie Laperouse completed a well-trodden personality assessment that placed participants in one of four bird categories: dove, owl, eagle and peacock. Laperouse was a peacock, the friendly, attention-loving group defined as excitement seekers who prioritize people, communicate well and hate monotony.

“I wasn’t just a peacock,” Laperouse recalls. “I was the most peacock, peacock you could possibly be.”

In other words, a screaming peacock. The name became a natural fit for the business Laperouse would start in 2008 that offered corporate training, keynote speaking and team building. It played to her lifelong love of theatrics and public speaking.

Laperouse ran Screaming Peacock as a robust side hustle that served high-profile corporate clients, while also juggling full-time work. She served as managing director of Emergent Method and, most recently, chief talent officer at Advantage Capital.

But balancing a rigorous travel schedule while raising four daughters under the age of 16 was starting to wear thin, Laperouse says. In 2024, she began casting about for a professional solution that would yield more flexibility, quickly discovering the answer was close at hand. It was time to focus

exclusively on Screaming Peacock.

“I had amassed a significant book of clients with Screaming Peacock,” she says. “I asked a handful of them to lunch last year and said, ‘If I were to be more available, what could I do for you?’ And every single one of them said, ‘We want to help you relaunch Screaming Peacock.’”

Clients that had used her training services booked additional work with Laperouse and referred her to other clients.

Laperouse says her differentiator is audience engagement. Her talks and trainings employ humor and interactive exercises to help participants feel comfortable and retain material.

“My goal is that you will absolutely walk away thinking differently about something, and you will have enjoyed the time you spent in this training,” she says. “I think that is so undervalued in adulthood.”

As a working mother, she has also created talks and workshops aimed at women.

“I have a special connection with women who are out there really trying to put themselves into their careers and have a fulfilling life outside of work,” she says. “Sometimes the decision isn’t perfect, but you just have to say it’s the right decision for now.”

—Maggie Heyn Richardson Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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I NTELLIG E NCE B R I E FI NG

SU RVEY SAYS

Words to lead by The best advice doesn’t always come from a boardroom—it could come from your dad, your first boss, or even a barista. We asked local business leaders to spill the wisdom that has shaped their careers. Here’s what they had to say—straight from the top.

“Fail fast, learn faster: Don’t fear failure.

Instead, fail fast, learn from your mistakes, and iterate quickly. Nothing has to be perfect. Again: You either win or learn, you never lose.”

“Do right by people and they will do right by you.”

“Implementation requires initiative. Great ideas are important but executing an idea all the way through to implement it in practice is crucial.”

“Don’t lose the passion for what you do. Your heart has to be in whatever you lead.”

PEYTON FINICAL, co-founder, Sasquatch

ANDREA TEPE, chief of staff for athletics, LSU

WILLIAM THIBAUT, principal, Coleman Partners Architects

LAURA SIU NGUYEN, founder, Night Market BTR

“Do the right thing. For employees, for colleagues, for business partners, for your customers and clients—just do the right thing.

I’ve never made a bad decision when I ask myself, ‘What’s the right thing to do here?’”

MYLES LAROUX, partner, Highland Wealth

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

“KNOW YOUR WHY.” MADISON DEWITT, partner, Phelps Dunbar

“Operate with the heart of a mission-driven organization but the strategy of a business. Focus on a clear mission, diversify funding, maintain transparency, and invest in your team.”

“Don’t let anyone outwork you.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

MATTHEW MISTRETTA, owner/director of player development, Total Diamond Performance and Louisiana Mariners baseball

MORGAN HILLIARD, executive director, Thrive Foundation

“Be kind and be a leader. This is what I tell my kids every day when I drop them off at school.”

ZACH CORBIN, director of marketing, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

“If someone gives you an opportunity, especially if it is challenging, take it.”

KATHRYN MANNING, executive vice president and chief risk officer, b1Bank

“Make time to get to know every employee at your company. It’s easy to be tied up in executive meetings, but the input every employee at your company has to offer is important. Ask them how they are doing and what is going on in their work and personal lives. This builds genuine relationships that pay dividends. People will be more honest over a meal or a drink than in an anonymous employee survey.”

CLAYTON SAMSON, director of technology, MAPP

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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30°45’15”N | 91°18’71”W

Local Expertise.

National Reach.

Your local Baton Rouge real estate experts, now backed by the tools, technology, and national network of the #1 Brokerage.

Find your agent at compass.com

Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by equal housing opportunity laws. #1 based on 2023 closed sales volume. T. Velt, “eXp, Compass top 2024 RealTrends Verified brokerage rankings for second year,” HousingWire, Online, HW Media, 3/22/2024 https://www.housingwire.com/articles/exp-compass-top-2024-realtrends-verified-brokerage-rankings-again/

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

I NTELLIG E NCE B R I E FI NG

TH E N U M B E R S

Billion-dollar

BOOM

The business boom is officially on. In just five months, Louisiana has racked up not one, not two, but three multibilliondollar megaprojects. We’re talking tech titans, energy giants and manufacturing powerhouses all planting serious stakes here.

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Meta is coming to Louisiana in a huge way.

In December, the tech giant announced plans to build a $10 billion data center in Richland Parish, which at the time of the announcement was the largest single capital investment in Louisiana history. Not only will it create some 5,000 construction jobs over the I C next several years, but once complete, it will house O SS EA SI PA USA VIA TH 500 direct new jobs supporting Meta’s global digital infrastructure. The 2,250-acre campus will help keep the internet humming while planting Richland Parish firmly on the map for future tech investment. A sleepy corner of northeast Louisiana is about to be a nerve center for one of the world’s most powerful companies.

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Meta’s $10 billion data center

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung delivers remarks as President Donald Trump, second right, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry stand in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

Hyundai’s $5.8 Billion Steel Project Next up: a powerhouse play in the industrial sector. Hyundai Steel is rolling into Ascension Parish with a $5.8 billion advanced manufacturing complex that’s set to redefine U.S. steel production. This high-tech facility will make eco-friendly steel products for Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing, delivering a crucial supply chain boost. The project is expected to create more than 1,300 permanent jobs with an average salary of $95,000, plus thousands more during the construction phase.

This first-of-its-kind site marks Hyundai’s inaugural North American steel facility, establishing a fully integrated, made-in-America supply chain to support its automotive manufacturing operations across the U.S.

And late last month, Woodside Energy Group said “yes” to a $17.5 billion investment to build a liquefied natural gas production and export facility in Lake Charles. Dubbed the Louisiana LNG Project, this will be one of the largest energy investments in U.S. history, poised to produce up to 16.5 million metric tons of LNG per year starting in 2029. Louisiana currently has four operational LNG export terminals—more than any other state—and is responsible for 61% of the nation’s LNG exports. The state ranks third in the nation for natural gas production and holds 6% of all U.S. natural gas reserves.

A Woodside Energy worker on the Shenzi platform off the coast of Louisiana in the Green Canyon protraction area

COURTESY WOODSIDE ENERGY

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Woodside Energy’s $17.5 Billion LNG Facility

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Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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Congratulations Regions Bank congratulates Amy Province for being recognized as one of Greater Baton Rouge Business Report’s 2025 Influential Women in Business.

Amy Province Market Executive Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking amy.province@regions.com 225.388.2761

regions.com © 2025 Regions Bank. Regions and the Regions logo are registered trademarks of Regions Bank. The LifeGreen color is a trademark of Regions Bank.

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BOLD by DESIGN Meet nine women changing what leadership looks like.

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cross boardrooms, job sites, courtrooms, classrooms and C-suites, this year’s Influential Women in Business honorees are redefining leadership in the Capital Region. They come from a range of fields—engineering, law, banking, education, health care and economic development—but share a common approach: They lead with clarity, commitment and a sense of purpose.

Some have launched firms or guided multimillion-dollar projects. Others have built community programs, shaped policy or helped open new doors for future leaders. Their influence is measured not only by job titles or accolades, but by the lasting impact they’re making on their industries and the people around them.

Each year, Business Report’s Influential Women in Business edition spotlights the achievements, challenges and perspectives of women who are helping move Baton Rouge forward.

They’ll also be honored at our annual Influential

Women in Business celebration, on Tuesday, May 20, at the Crowne Plaza Executive Center, bringing together colleagues, peers and supporters to hear directly from the honorees about their leadership journeys. The event is presented by Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge, b1BANK, Kean Miller, Window World and Woman’s.

The luncheon follows the third-annual Women’s Leadership Symposium, a half-day event held that same morning at the Crowne Plaza. The symposium features panel discussions, breakout sessions and time for connection, with a focus on sharing strategies for leading with confidence and navigating today’s professional challenges.

Tickets are available for each event individually or as a combined experience. Get all the details at businessreport.com/events.

In the meantime, take a moment to meet this year’s honorees. Let their stories inspire you. And if you’re wondering what the future of leadership looks like in Baton Rouge … you’re looking at it.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLLIN RICHIE

C O V E R S T O RY

The GROWTH strategist Paige Carter is driving billions in investment—and creating life-changing opportunities.

I

t’s a moment Paige Carter remembers well.

In her role as a project manager with Louisiana Economic Development more than a decade ago, she was conducting a site visit at IBM’s temporary Essen Lane location while its downtown Client Innovation Center was under construction, and a young employee walked in “just glowing.”

Asked why his spirits were so high, he explained that thanks to this job, he had been able to purchase his first car the previous evening. “He said, ‘Most of you don’t know but my mom has been dropping me off at work since I started,’” Carter recalls. “He said that before he started there, he thought he was going to have to move out of Louisiana and away from his family to get a job. He was just glowing with pride for what he was able to accomplish.”

This is a memory Carter, who now serves as LED’s chief business development officer, frequently shares with her team when members need a little motivation. “That was when I really recognized the tangible impact that we were having on individuals and on multiple generations of families who get to stay close to each other,” she says.

The IBM investment in Louisiana, which brought hundreds of jobs to the Capital City and then more to Monroe, is only one of many successful projects that Carter has had a hand in throughout her career. The Arizona native moved to the Pelican State shortly after graduating from Arizona State University, and she rose through the ranks at LED to become director of business development.

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Her next career stop was the LSU Foundation, where she created and oversaw a new office of industry engagement. During her tenure there, the university saw its largest industry investment: a $245 million health care partnership with Our Lady of the Lake Health and LCMC Health. “We were looking at how we could cultivate the workforce of the future,” she says. “I

The Influence

Paige Carter is shaping Louisiana’s economic future by leading high-impact business development efforts that have brought billions in investment and thousands of jobs to the state. Her strategic vision is not only driving record-setting growth but also creating opportunities that change lives and strengthen communities for generations.

was essentially creating an economic development team at the institution— fostering alignment between higher ed and industry with the vehicles for that being philanthropy and research funding.”

LED came calling again in 2024. The department was being restructured thanks to the passage of Senate Bill 494, aka the “Positioning Louisiana to Win” bill, and the door was open for Carter to once again help the state attract new businesses—and keep its best and brightest.

“What I really love to do is build things, and build strategy that’s targeted toward a potential outcome,” she says. “Getting to come back to LED and essentially rebuild business development in a way that I felt would help evolve industry was something I couldn’t say no to.”

It’s been less than a year since Carter returned to LED, but the department has already seen more than a 250% increase in potential capital expenditures in the state, as well as over 200% job growth in the pipeline, she reports.

“It’s really unfathomable, the type of growth we have seen through implementing new strategies, and that’s everything from how our team operates to assessing new incentives and tax reform,” she says.

Those strategies have paid off in recent announcements like the planned $5.8 billion Hyundai steel plant and Meta’s selection of Richland Parish for a $10 billion artificial intelligence data center.

And there’s more where that came from: Carter says there is more than $130 billion of potential investment in the pipeline now, all classified as “highly viable opportunities.” But she says what she loves most about her job goes back to that encounter with the young IBM employee years ago.

“Multigenerational impact and social mobility are very important to me,” she says, “being able to ensure that the next generation has more opportunities to fill their potential than I had.

There are very, very few careers that can actually make that type of decision and have an influence on that reality.

And it’s an unbelievable benefit and privilege to be able to do that.”

—Kelli Bozeman

C O V E R S T O RY

Paige Carter Chief Business Development Officer, Louisiana Economic Development

C O V E R S T O RY

Regina Davis Baton Rouge Refinery Manager, ExxonMobil

C O V E R S T O RY

The STEM champion Regina Davis is redefining success in industry and community impact.

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few years into her career, Regina Davis made a mistake that could have gotten her fired—or so she feared at the time. Instead, it became an impactful lesson in servant leadership.

“I discovered that I’d overlooked a number in an important report to ExxonMobil management, which changed the entire calculation, and my heart dropped,” Davis says. “I was close to tears. In my mind, I’d made a huge mistake, and I thought they were going to fire me. But the global planning manager’s response sticks with me to this day. She said, ‘OK, let’s figure out how we respond to this.’

“She could have flown off the handle or been indifferent. Instead, she took the time to work toward a resolution while also speaking words of encouragement to me. She even became a bit of a cheerleader.” Instead of crying, Davis felt empowered.

More importantly, the incident provided her with a model for servant leadership that she would use in later roles.

Today, as manager of ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery, she proactively seeks opportunities for growth when mistakes happen.

“To paraphrase Michelle Obama,” she says, “success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives. Don’t get me wrong—we’re in a business. I want to have the safest, most reliable and most profitable operation. But the primary motive of

a servant leader is to help people get to their full potential and to provide them with the means to get there.”

At a personal level, Davis understands the impact one person can have on another. She wouldn’t be where she is today without someone else’s help. “During a summer camp in middle school, several ladies in

The Influence

Regina Davis manages ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery, one of the company’s largest and most complex operations. Her leadership style, shaped by early career experiences, emphasizes developing people’s potential alongside achieving business goals. She is also active in mentoring young women and supporting STEM education in the Baton Rouge community.

the community took their time to tell us about their careers,” she says. “It ultimately put me on the path to becoming an engineer, even though at the time I didn’t really understand what an engineer did.”

She would go on to earn a degree in chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University as a first-generation college graduate, then land her first gig at ExxonMobil’s Chalmette Refining as a process contact

engineer. While there, she would be promoted to roles of increasing responsibility, while also earning her MBA from the University of New Orleans.

In 2008, Davis was transferred to Fairfax, Virginia, and then in 2012 to the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas. In 2017, she relocated to the Strathcona Refinery in Edmonton, Alberta, where over a period of years she would be promoted from technical manager to operations manager and eventually to plant manager in 2021.

It’s no wonder that Davis has become a champion for women and minorities in industry. She plays a critical role in ExxonMobil’s annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day,” participates on the Capital Area United Way’s Women United Executive Committee, mentors female students at Thrive Academy, and tutors in math at Istrouma Middle Magnet School. “I love having conversations with young women and finding out their interests,” she says. “And if they’re interested in science or math, I encourage them to think about a STEM career, and potentially engineering.”

In the process, Davis hopes to give others the same “leg up” she was given back in middle school. “I have an extreme need to give back because of the impact that people had on me when I was younger,” she says. “My passion is the underserved community, and in particular females. That’s what resonates with my heart.”

—Sam Barnes

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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C O V E R S T O RY

Kodi Guillory Owner and President, Sustainable Design Solutions

C O V E R S T O RY

The ENGINEER In a male-dominated field, Kodi Guillory is paving her own path and building more than infrastructure.

K

odi Guillory is used to being the only woman in the room.

As a civil engineer, she’s part of a field that’s dominated by men. In fact, a 2020 demographic report by the American Society of Civil Engineers showed that only 14% of the civil engineering workforce was female. But for Guillory, that statistic only spurs her to strive harder toward success in her work as founder and president of Sustainable Design Solutions, a 6-yearold engineering firm that now has offices in both Louisiana and Georgia.

“I know the importance of making sure my voice is heard and making sure that people understand that what I have to say matters,” she says. “I’ve also connected on a deeper level with other women I’ve met in my career, because we all have that experience.”

Guillory’s childhood ambition was to shoot for the stars in a more literal sense. “I wanted to be an astronaut even into my senior year of high school,” she says. And though she was accepted to an out-of-state aeronautical engineering program, a suggestion from her physics teacher inspired her to consider biological engineering at LSU. She earned her bachelor’s degree in that discipline and then stayed on to obtain her master’s in civil engineering.

After spending four years working as a civil engineer with CDM Smith and then nearly eight years as an engineering supervisor for the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana, Guillory parlayed her experience into a business of her own.

She launched Sustainable Design Solutions in 2019 and has gone on to manage large civil works projects totaling more than $1.5 billion.

“I saw that there was a need and an opportunity,” she says. “I had gained a lot of experience by working in both the public and private sectors, and I felt that it was time for me to see if I could provide services to both public and private clients.”

The Influence

Kodi Guillory is breaking barriers in a male-dominated field while leading a fastgrowing civil engineering firm that’s managing more than $1.5 billion in infrastructure projects across the South.

Through Sustainable Design Solutions, she’s not only improving communities but also mentoring the next generation of engineers to lead with confidence and purpose.

The firm, which offers a range of environmental and civil engineering services ranging from water resources and drainage to roadway design and coastal projects, started with a single location in Baton Rouge but later added an office in Shreveport, where the firm now plays an integral role in the Clean Water Shreveport program, and another in Atlanta.

The Baton Rouge location leans heavily into design work, with significant projects related to the MovEBR initiative and supporting the city’s drainage services after COVID through funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Guillory credits her company’s growth to hard work and perseverance, along with “a little bit of luck.”

Additional expansion is part of her vision for the future, though she is intentional about not growing too fast and maintaining the firm’s high-quality standards.

Outside the office, Guillory confesses to being a “real soccer mom” who prioritizes her 8- and 10-year-old sons’ athletic endeavors and other activities. The boys also have their own beanbag chairs in her office, so they often have the chance to see their mom leading her team of 20 employees up close. “It is a balancing act,” she says. “It’s really about managing schedules and leaning on the support system my husband and I have built.”

Leading by example and giving her employees the freedom to make decisions and recommendations are the hallmarks of Guillory’s management style. As a small firm, SDS makes a concerted effort to help new hires fresh from college develop into wellrounded engineers who can work on a variety of types of projects.

“I think a great leader helps to develop, mentor and encourage their staff to think independently,” she says.

“I want to give them the space to be able to grow.”

—Kelli Bozeman

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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C O V E R S T O RY

The TRAILBLAZER

Michelle Hardy is reshaping perceptions—and the future—of industrial construction.

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ichelle Hardy had zero experience in construction when she first entered the doors of Turner Industries some 13 years ago. Today, she’s on track to become the first female chair of Associated Builders and Contractors’ Pelican Chapter, which boasts the largest compilation of industrial contractors in the state.

Initially hired as a one-person team to run Turner’s United Way campaign, Hardy is now a vice president overseeing a team of eight employees across 20 states that also manages the contractor’s internship program, sustainability and diversity initiatives, and disaster response efforts.

“We’re kind of a catch-all team,” she says. “When someone needs something and they don’t know where to go, they come to us first. I always tell people that we’re the customer service of Turner.”

Hardy’s rapid rise can be chalked up to a leadership style grounded in “continuous learning, curiosity and kindness,” in addition to a solid work ethic influenced at an early age by her mother and grandmother.

“My mother began her career as a receptionist in an ophthalmology clinic and finished as a CEO of a large medical practice and ambulatory surgery center,” she says. “Just watching her succeed instilled a deep appreciation for the value of perseverance.”

In equal measure, Hardy’s grandmother shared her own life lessons.

“As a cafeteria worker, she was always smiling and was so kind that it showed me that it doesn’t matter what you do

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… you do your job to the best of your ability.”

Hardy says success in life boils down to attitude. In that vein, she has never considered being a woman in the industrial sector a challenge. “The one thing I’ve learned, especially in heavy industrial construction, is that a lot of what we achieve in our career is based on merit,” she says. “It has nothing to do with gender.”

The Influence

Michelle Hardy is breaking new ground in the male-dominated industrial construction sector, proving that leadership is earned through values, vision and grit. Her influence lies in building inclusive pathways for future leaders, championing workforce development, and showing up—on job sites and in boardrooms—with authenticity and purpose.

So, it was no different when ABC’s Pelican Chapter offered Hardy a seat as “the only woman at the table.” In January 2026, she’ll officially become chair and begin overseeing the chapter’s strategic goals. “It has never been about being a woman or a man,” she adds. “It’s about proving that I have the values and skill sets to be someone respected at the table.”

Not surprisingly, Hardy has

developed a passion for mentoring both women and men about the vast number of opportunities in the industrial construction space, a task made increasingly important by a persistent labor shortage.

She currently chairs ABC’s Women in Construction Committee, which spreads the word about job opportunities, and last fall participated on a speakers’ panel during the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance’s inaugural Women in Industry Forum in Gonzales.

She also journeyed to Galveston, Texas, in April to attend a similar event sponsored by Galveston College.

“I’m constantly out doing that … that’s part of my job and I love it,” Hardy says. “I don’t think women are aware of the opportunities in this industry. Sometimes I feel I have to jump up and down and wave my arms to get their attention.”

These days, you’re likely to find Hardy at Turner jobsites in Pittsburgh; St. Paul, Minnesota; Salt Lake City or a host of other locations. “You name it, and I go there,” she adds. “If you want to get to know Turner, you have to go out in the field. Those men and women, working day in and day out, that’s who we are.”

Hardy is easy to spot, because she’s the only Turner employee wearing flame-resistant clothing with pearls.

“My grandmother would always wear pearls,” she says, “and the one thing I’ve learned is that when you go out into the field you must be exactly who you are.

If you pretend to be something you’re not, they’ll eat you up and spit you out.”

—Sam Barnes

C O V E R S T O RY

Michelle Hardy Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Relations, Turner Industries

2025

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8:15 – 11:15 AM

Anita Byrne

SSA Consultants

Karen Breaux EisnerAmper

Krista Raney

LSU Foundation

Regina Davis

Tyler Litt

ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery

HireLitt

Sinella Aghasi

Louisiana Old Governor’s Mansion

Monica Vela-Vick The Dugan Law Firm

Taylor Jacobs LSU Athletics

PANEL:

PANEL:

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PRESENCE: DEVELOPING YOUR DISTINCTIVE LEADERSHIP VOICE

WHY OR WHY NOT? THE POWER OF PURPOSEFUL DECISION-MAKING

Every leader must develop their own effective leadership style that aligns with both their strengths and their organization’s needs. This panel explores how successful leaders have developed and evolved their unique leadership approaches to drive results. Panelists will share concrete examples of how they’ve adapted their leadership style across different contexts and organizational cultures while maintaining consistency and credibility. Learn practical strategies for developing a leadership presence that resonates with diverse stakeholders and drives organizational success.

Every career is built on a series of pivotal decisions—choosing when to say “yes,” when to say “no,” and when to take a calculated risk. This session dives into the strategic decision-making process that drives professional growth and career advancement. Panelists will share their journeys, highlighting key moments of opportunity and challenge, and offer guidance on aligning decisions with long-term goals.

KE YNOTE SPE AKER

JULIE

LAPEROUSE

Julie Laperouse has been screaming all her life, but made it a profession in 2008 founding her training and speaking business Screaming Peacock. She challenges and energizes clients through customized training courses, engaging keynote addresses, executive coaching, and people strategy. The Baton Rouge Business Report Influential Women in Business honoree speaks and trains on leadership, thriving as a woman in business, public speaking, working with humans, team building and more. She is considered an expert trainer and facilitator with an impressive track record of high-performing professional clients.

MAY 20, 2025 • THE CROWNE PL A Z A 2025

2025 HONOREES: PAIGE CARTER

Chief Business Development Officer, Louisiana Economic Development

REGINA DAVIS

Complex Refinery Manager, ExxonMobil

KODI GUILLORY

President, Sustainable Design Solutions

11:45 AM – 1:15 PM

MICHELLE HARDY

Vice President, Turner Industries

MEGHAN PARRISH

Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Baton Rouge General

LUNCHEON

AMY PROVINCE

Join us as we recognize the 2025 honorees!

This year’s Influential Women in Business will also participate in a special panel discussion.

Market Executive, SVP, Commercial Banking, Regions Bank

KRISTI RICHARD

Member; Co-Chair, Uplift Women’s Initiative, McGlinchey Stafford

LAURA VINSANT

Executive Director, Teach For America Greater Baton Rouge

KELI ZINN

Executive Deputy Athletics Director & CEO, LSU Athletics

All Women’s Leadership Symposium attendees will be entered in a drawing to win free tuition to their choice of the Business Report Leadership Academy or Business Report Selling Academy. Valued at $3,885

SEATING IS LIMITED! FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR BOTH EVENTS, SCAN THE QR CODE Special thanks to our sponsors:

C O V E R S T O RY

Meghan Parrish Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Baton Rouge General

C O V E R S T O RY

The COMMUNICATOR Meghan Parrish’s authentic communication strategies have bolstered Baton Rouge General’s reputation and made it more visible in the community.

W

hen Meghan Parrish was fired from her first college internship at a local advertising agency, she was devastated. It made her wonder if she had chosen the right career path and whether she could be successful.

Despite her rocky career start and a series of odd jobs later, the 46-year-old’s journey resulted in her spearheading multiple successful marketing campaigns and transforming Baton Rouge General’s reputation through her role as vice president of marketing and communications for the local hospital system.

“I was never somebody who felt like they had a calling or knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Parrish reflects. “I was good at writing, and I enjoyed it, so I kind of gravitated toward the majors that had a lot of writing in them. I ended up in public relations and found it fun. That was important to me, to enjoy what I do and have fun going to work every day. And I think I found that.”

Parrish joined BRG in 2015 as director of communications, just a few months after the Mid City emergency room shut down. Two years later, she was promoted to her current role, where she has created marketing and communications strategies to help grow inpatient market share from 17% to 25% by focusing on authenticity and visibility.

As a natural team player and idea generator, she launched and led large-scale events, such as Holiday Lights at Baton Rouge General, the Protect Your Pumpkins campaign and pink pumpkin patches for breast

cancer awareness, Mammos and Mimosas, and The Healthy Men Project. She also helped build a marketing team of 10 that produces internal and external communications for three hospitals and 30 clinics, employing grassroots marketing efforts and targeted digital marketing tools.

The Influence

Meghan Parrish leads the communications and community relations strategy for Baton Rouge General, creating marketing and communications strategies that have helped grow inpatient market share from 17% to 25% by focusing on authenticity and visibility.

Parrish takes pride in having daily lunches with her marketing team and promotes a working-momfriendly environment among her peers. She also encourages her team to adhere to a work-life balance that doesn’t require them to miss milestones and family events.

But it’s not always pink pumpkins and holiday lights for the Walker native. With a professional history in crisis communications, she has developed media and communications strategies for use during some of the hospital system’s most trying times and leadership transitions. During

the COVID-19 pandemic, she led organizational vaccine logistics and communications and pushed for operational changes to improve holistic patient care.

Before stepping into her role at BRG, Parrish was on the communications team for former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Looking back, she says it served as a great training ground and she enjoyed the chaos of the position.

Outside of her work life, Parrish is a wife and mother of two teenagers. She and her daughter Elise volunteer together with the National Charity League, where Parrish is the River Road chapter’s vice president of membership. She is also a member of the Baton Rouge Rotary, St. Joseph’s Academy Mothers’ Club and volunteers at local organizations throughout Greater Baton Rouge.

With a decade of experience at BRG and years of diverse job and community roles under her belt, Parrish has become a respected and friendly leader both inside and outside of the office. Though she may not have known where her journey would lead her, she has learned a lot along the way.

“Something I didn’t realize when I was younger and starting out was that I was always scared to speak up,” she says. “In a meeting, I would look around and assume that everybody else had thought of what I was thinking. I didn’t realize till later that you would be surprised. Not everyone is thinking what you’re thinking and your perspective can be helpful. So don’t be scared to speak up.”

—Cynthea Corfah

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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C O V E R S T O RY

The BANKER

Amy Province is focused on listening and deepening client relationships.

“I

’m not a bell ringer,” Regions Bank Market Executive Amy Province says. “I strive to do my best and to win, but I also don’t have to ring the bell and say, ‘Look at me.’”

Measured and soft spoken, Province has led Regions Bank’s operations for Baton Rouge and the surrounding area since 2022. She’s known as a thoughtful tactician, keeping a sharp eye on market trends to help her corporate and municipal clients meet their goals.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions operates in 16 states and has the fourth-largest market share in Greater Baton Rouge with a 7.2% penetration. “[That means] we have 92% opportunity to grow and help lead healthy financial futures for businesses and consumers in our market,” Province says.

Her affinity for numbers goes way back. A Springfield native and the first in her immediate family to go to college, Province graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a degree in finance. She worked as a teller throughout college, where she came to see the intrinsic value of the local bank to the community.

“I think that really set the foundation for learning how to serve others and be helpful in providing a service or a solution,” she says.

Province embarked on a banking career straight out of college, accepting a position in Regions Bank’s credit department. She quickly advanced into portfolio management, and within 18 months of her start date was an official banker.

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Working directly with customers, Province saw the importance of listening and deepening client relationships in order to be a better adviser and partner.

“All banks offer basically the same lineup menu of services, but the thing that differentiates a banker is their ability to connect with the client, understand their needs and provide

The Influence

Along with leadership skills that help set Regions Bank’s growth strategies for Greater Baton Rouge, Amy Province brings serious client-facing financial management skills, having earned the highly regarded and globally recognized Certified Treasury Professional designation in 2013. She has served as market executive for the Capital Region since 2022.

solutions and advice,” she says. “I really learned that early in my career— how important it was to develop those relationships and earn my value.”

Province would later leave Regions for an opportunity with a small community bank but returned when then-Baton Rouge market executive Danny Montelaro recruited her back.

Province says returning to Regions held more robust opportunities for advancement.

Opportunity quickly knocked.

Montelaro retired shortly after her return, and Province was asked to take over the area presidency. She has continued to serve as a portfolio manager to her existing clients, while also leading the bank’s operations, which include a team of 215 employees, and commercial, retail, consumer, private wealth and mortgage lines of business.

It may surprise Capital Region traffic-fatigued residents to know that Province continues to live in Springfield. It’s where she and her husband have chosen to raise their two young children. Province says she can’t let go of its small-town charm.

The commute is just another part of her day—one usually filled with work calls. The goal is to extract every ounce of productivity she can before shifting into mom mode.

“My car doubles as an office,” she says.

Province is a strong believer in community service, and encourages Regions associates to get involved in volunteerism or board work based on their personal passions. For her, that has meant serving on the boards of numerous local nonprofits, including Life of a Single Mom, the Manship Theatre and the YMCA of the Capital Area, where she currently serves as board chair.

It might sound like canned sentiment, she says, but Regions Bank has a mission to make life better for the communities it serves.

“As market executive, it’s personal to me,” she says. “Our focus is to remove barriers to success and to help more people succeed and thrive.”

—Maggie Heyn Richardson

C O V E R S T O RY

Amy Province Senior Vice President/ Market Executive, Regions Bank

C O V E R S T O RY

Kristi W. Richard Member, McGlinchey Stafford & Co-Chair, Uplift

C O V E R S T O RY

The CONNECTOR

Kristi W. Richard arms her community with transformative information and resources.

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ecoming a teacher and lawyer has been on Kristi W. Richard’s radar from a young age. Growing up with an attorney father in criminal and family law, she learned what areas of the legal system she wanted to avoid.

“I like to be there for the marriages of the businesses, not the divorces,” says Richard, a transactional and regulatory attorney and partner at McGlinchey Stafford law firm.

After graduating from law school and earning her MBA in 2009 during the Great Recession, Richard says she stumbled into insurance regulatory work. The mergers and acquisitions she intended to pursue weren’t as active during the economic downturn, so she was asked to fill the void in the insurance regulatory space.

Early in her career, she was brought onto calls with clients such as General Motors and other automobile manufacturers, advising them on the ins and outs of insurance and automobile ancillary product regulation.

Her willingness to pivot and a deeprooted passion for law and business led her to be on the legal team for multimillion-dollar transactions such as the merger between Eatel and RTC in 2019, guide GM on how to introduce an ancillary product on a national scale, and work with lawmakers to craft special legislation for a $3.2 billion health care initiative aimed at improving health and welfare in Louisiana.

After years of hard work as one of the youngest partners at her firm, the 42-year-old mother of two achieved one of her proudest accomplishments: becoming an equity partner at McGlinchey Stafford in 2024.

When asked about her life’s purpose, Richard says it is to leave her community better than she found it—and

she’s doing just that. In 2021, she coled the relaunch of Uplift: McGlinchey Women’s Initiative to provide empowering environments for the firm’s women attorneys to support one another. She also co-founded the Powerful Voices – Women in Leadership series in 2019, a program to engage professional women in business and legal communities in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Richard’s commitment to women, underserved communities and education goes beyond the legal industry.

She is also a longtime board member

The Influence

This equity partner who has been involved in highstakes multimillion- and multibillion-dollar deals also advocates for professional women in business and legal communities.

and the secretary at YWCA Greater Baton Rouge, where she played a key role in developing and licensing the Community Bail Fund, a transformative initiative that helps indigent, nonviolent individuals secure bail, ensuring they don’t remain incarcerated due to financial hardship.

“There are so many women who are stuck in situations because they don’t have the power to change their current situation,’ Richard says. “If you could help even the smallest thing, so that they can free up the time to work on themselves, it empowers women on any level to change their situations and be mobile. My point is never to give someone something that they don’t deserve.

It’s to put them in a position where they can have the skills and the capacity to be considered for those positions.”

The Opelousas native served on the Junior League of Baton Rouge’s executive management team and board of directors until 2020 and has since remained involved as a sustainer, chairing the legal ad hoc committee. At the 2024 Dancing with Big Buddy competition, she raised nearly $20,000 to support under-resourced youth with mentoring, academic and social support. This year, she took on a new role as a board member of the Friends of LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden.

Time management is essential for Richard. With a color-coded calendar, she juggles her law practice, teaching and motherhood. After tucking in her 8-year-old and 10-year-old children for bed, she spends the evenings grading her LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business students’ assignments and reviewing coursework.

She began teaching sports law at LSU in 2012 as an adjunct professor before transitioning to a full-time instructor in 2022. After more than five years in sports law, she moved into business law, where she developed the online LSU business law course and teaches it to hundreds of students in person and online.

Her favorite way to unwind from her hectic schedule is by spending time with her children and traveling. She enjoys going on trips and immersing in different cultures with her family.

Richard is just two continents away from reaching her travel goal of visiting all seven continents. She aims to travel to Africa and Antarctica before she turns 50.

“As St. Augustine once said, ‘The world is a book, and if you don’t travel, you only read one page,'” Richard says.

—Cynthea Corfah

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

39

C O V E R S T O RY

The education ACTIVIST Teach for America lit a fire that still fuels Laura Vinsant’s mission.

S

he thought she had it all figured out.

Pursuing her bachelor’s degree in public relations at LSU and working as an intern in the university’s athletic department, Laura Vinsant had her sights set on working in sports administration after graduation. But a campus visit from the founder of Teach for America changed everything.

“Wendy Kopp came to LSU and talked about the incredible story of Teach for America’s founding and her deep belief that all kids deserve a great education,” Vinsant recalls.

“That was when I learned that Teach for America had been in Baton Rouge since its founding in 1990. Hearing that story of her dedication and her resilience through so many challenges inspired me that this was a place where I could really make an impact.”

A native of Arlington, Texas, Vinsant signed on as a Teach for America corps member after graduation, committing to spend two years teaching in underserved public schools. Her assignments put her in second- and third-grade classrooms at North Highlands and Scotlandville elementary schools.

“As soon as I met my students, I knew that this was going to be the path that I would stay on,” she says.

“And that’s true of most Teach for America alumni; 90 percent of them are not coming from an education background, but 65 percent of them will remain working in education after their two-year commitment.”

Vinsant moved from her

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

second- and third-grade classrooms over to TFA’s recruitment team after two years, helping to fill the organization’s teaching roster with graduates of universities in Louisiana and around the Southeast. “I really noticed that the needs are so great, and I wanted to play a role in getting more leaders on college campuses involved in this effort,” she says.

The Influence

As executive director of Teach for America Greater Baton Rouge, Laura Vinsant leads efforts to recruit, support and retain passionate educators in some of the region’s highestneed schools. Her work is helping to address critical teacher shortages while expanding opportunities for students and strengthening the future of public education in Louisiana.

After serving in a few roles with Teach for America Greater Baton Rouge, Vinsant became the region’s executive director in 2015. Her days are spent doing everything from offering career guidance to TFA alumni and engaging with local school leaders to connecting with financial supporters and spending time with the 40 corps members in this TFA region, all of whom she says are “really

passionate about students and the work that we do.”

One of the most recent additions to Teach for America’s offerings is its Ignite Fellowship, which matches college students with elementary school students for one-on-one reading skills tutoring in a virtual setting for at least three hours each week.

By the next school year, Vinsant says more than 285 Ignite Fellows will be working with local students.

“There’s lots of data that tells us that this is actually making a difference in students’ overall engagement in school,” she says. “Mentorship is built into it, and we’re really excited about that.”

Vinsant says the biggest challenge for TFA’s local region is the same one every other region across the country faces—and the very challenge that TFA sets out to address. “The need is so high, and there are so many vacancies compared to the number of people who are stepping into education,” she says. “No one organization is going to ever be positioned to solve all of that.”

But even as Vinsant guides the TFA Greater Baton Rouge team in taking on these trials, the memories of working with students in her own classrooms are what keep her going. “I got to see kids read sentences for the first time, and there is nothing more magical than that in my mind,” she says.

“Reading unlocks a lifetime of learning, and that feeling is the magic that I still hold onto whenever things may be challenging.”

—By Kelli Bozeman

C O V E R S T O RY

Laura Vinsant Executive Director, Teach for America Greater Baton Rouge

C O V E R S T O RY

Keli Zinn

Executive Deputy Athletic Director/ COO, LSU Athletics

C O V E R S T O RY

The SPORTS executive Keli Zinn didn’t just break into college athletics. She’s helping reshape it.

S

he didn’t know it at the time, but Keli Zinn’s persistence on a youth baseball team foreshadowed her future as one of the nation’s top executives in college athletics.

An exceptional youth athlete, Zinn was the first girl in rural Grant County, West Virginia, to compete on a boys’ baseball team when there were no options for girls. She went on to letter in three varsity sports and earned the sole Athlete of the Year award at her high school—the first female to do so.

Zinn would make a career out of athletics, but not before serious soul searching. After high school, she left her small hometown of Petersburg and enrolled at West Virginia University.

It was a tough transition. While a lauded tennis player, she lacked the talent to play in Division 1 competition. With her identity as an athlete jettisoned, she felt adrift. Her grades suffered and she struggled to find a suitable major.

An insightful academic adviser finally tapped into her personal passions and recommended Zinn try WVU’s sports management curriculum.

“I didn’t even know that option existed at the time,” Zinn says. “But just being in any way associated with the world of sports sounded good.”

It was a game changer. She loved her courses.

Accustomed to juggling part-time jobs to pay expenses, Zinn sought work in WVU’s athletic department.

No paid positions were available but

she volunteered for more than a year, taking on any task. Eventually, the associate athletic director for governance and compliance recognized Zinn’s commitment and offered her a job. The hook was set. Zinn found her calling.

Passion bred momentum, and new opportunities presented themselves.

Upon graduation, the WVU athletic department offered Zinn a graduate assistantship with free tuition toward

The Influence

Keli Zinn has packed a lot of success into her short tenure at LSU. Along with seeing strong return on renegotiated contracts, she engineered LSU’s participation in the NIL documentary series The Money Game, which streamed on Amazon Prime.

a master’s degree. The financial stability was appealing, but she turned it down to accept a paid internship with the Big East Conference.

Success there led to full-time opportunities with the University of Maryland athletic department.

Within six months, she was offered the number three job in the department and worked as an assistant athletic director for the next five years.

With her stock on the rise, West Virginia recruited her back. Zinn rose through the ranks at WVU, becoming

a deputy athletic director and continuing to develop a name for herself among the community of athletic department executives across college sports. LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward got wind of her accomplishments and extended her an offer in 2022 to be his COO. “I’m grateful to Scott for taking a chance on a young lady from West Virginia,” Zinn says. “The job is everything I’d hoped it would be and more because the people are just tremendous.”

Zinn works on both external and internal operations at LSU, an appealing split lens for someone with sights set on ultimately becoming an athletic director. No, it doesn’t bother her in the least that she’s one of the few women in the field.

In her three years at LSU, Zinn has tackled some of the most dynamic issues affecting college athletics today, including an ever-shifting NIL landscape as well as a new revenue-sharing mandate that has schools like LSU paying out $20.5 million to athletes this year. Zinn’s ongoing focus has been to find new ways to maximize revenue through renegotiating contracts, new sponsorships and stronger fan engagement.

No question, sports is a business.

But it’s something else besides, Zinn says.

“It’s one of the significant unifiers across all walks of life—young, old, Black, white, male, female,” she says.

“There’s not a lot in our world that can bring people together in a place of joy, excitement and passion like that.”

—Maggie Heyn Richardson

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

43

C O V E R S T O RY

Voices of INFLUENCE LEADERSHIP ISN’T JUST about action—it’s about the ideas and values that inspire it. We asked this year’s Influential Women in Business honorees to share the advice, experiences and ideas that have shaped them. Their answers are honest, inspiring and full of the kind of wisdom you’ll want to remember.

Read more of their insights at businessreport.com.

Go-to advice It’s not a mistake if it can be fixed. As a young associate attorney thinking I was about to lose my job, I had senior partners unequivocally tell me that, help me fix it and then not mention it again in a negative way, which helped me grow tremendously. Recently, one of these same partners came into my office on a project I was running and said he thought he made a mistake. I smiled and said, “Someone wise once told me it isn’t a mistake if it can be fixed,” and we quickly got to work on figuring it out.

—Kristi W. Richard

Taking a risk I found myself pregnant and unmarried the summer before my senior year of college. I was majoring in chemical engineering, which was already a very demanding degree, but now I had to figure out how I would manage as a single mom. My parents encouraged me to drop out and come home because I didn’t have a support system.

The challenge with that plan was that there were no public universities in my hometown of New Orleans that I could afford that offered chemical engineering. Coming home would mean I would not be able to graduate in engineering and could even mean that I would not graduate at all.

This was probably the first time in my life that I “defied” my parents and made my own decision to remain at Louisiana Tech.

It wasn’t easy, but it was the first time that I took a risk to ask for help. I asked for help from the campus counselor. I asked for help from my college professors. I asked for help from friends. And it paid off. I graduated with a strong GPA, a great job at a Fortune 500 company and with a 1-year-old daughter.

The scared and timid young girl that entered that university left a confident young woman that knew she had the ability to succeed, even in the face of adversity.

—Regina Davis

Inspiring song “You Are My Sunshine.” Any version.

My children love it and request it every night before bed. It reminds me of them instantly.

—Amy Province

Leadership lesson learned “Candor without compassion is cruelty.” I have a very straightforward and transparent leadership style—people know where I am at due to my directness. Balancing the clarity with mindfulness of people’s communication style and preferences allows me to strike a balance to be effective. Ultimately, the goal is effectively communicating with the other person.

—Paige Carter

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

C O V E R S T O RY

Dinner guest If I could have dinner with any woman living or from history, I would choose my grandma Goldizen. She passed away 15 years ago and her actions always reflected God’s grace to others. She was a quiet strength in the midst of challenges, a calm within the storm. I would ask her how she managed to embody such grace to others, regardless of circumstances.

—Keli Zinn

Advice to my 25-year-old self Learn to enjoy life. Remember to step back from time to time because I sometimes get lost in the details and I don’t appreciate the journey and accomplishments. Don’t focus on the next project; enjoy the beauty of the project or event. Celebrate!

—Michelle Hardy

When things get difficult

Success defined Success, to me, is about striking a balance between professional achievements and personal fulfillment. As a hands-on mom and business owner, my most successful moments are when I can juggle a thriving company while being present for my family.

Supporting my household through school projects, piano recitals, soccer matches and cheering on my children and husband are what make me truly successful.

—Kodi Guillory

There’s a part of me that loves a work crisis. I’m most energized when things get crazy at the office. But it’s definitely harder to stay focused when things are tough at home.

In those moments, I really lean on my team. We’re all human, and we all have times when we need a little help. I’m lucky to work with people who are supportive, organized and know how to keep things moving when someone’s running at half speed.

—Meghan Parrish

A guiding principle That grounding in hope—while staying clear-eyed about challenges—will always win the day. And ultimately, that we all want to see children thrive, even if we hold different beliefs about how to get there. This advice reminds me to stay focused on the students we serve, to seek common ground and to stay curious about others’ perspectives. It’s a powerful compass in moments of complexity or disagreement.

—Laura Vinsant

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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HERE’S WHAT A FEW OF OUR PATIENTS HAVE TO SAY:

“

Dr. Eggadi is truly fabulous. She took the time to ask questions to familiarize herself with my medical history. She was easy to talk to, and she talked TO me not AT me, which is so refreshing. I’ve already recommended her to several people and will continue to do so.

—ANNA B.

“

“

Absolutely love Dr. Montcalm. She has such a great bedside manner. I could not be more pleased with how she handled my son. He felt at ease the entire time we were there and we just knew we were getting the best care possible. Thank you for being amazing!

—AMANDA R.

“

“

Love Dr. Talbot! She is the best doctor I have ever had. She actually listens to you concerns and offers excellent care options. She goes above and beyond to make sure you receive excellent treatment. In my experience, woman doctors are much more compassionate, caring, and listen to your symptoms and concerns.

—TERRI J.

“

“

I give thanks to Stephanie Frederic. She decided to do a biopsy of a bump I had. I got a phone call from her a week later and it was cancer and had to be removed. She did a fantastic job of not letting this go and staying on top of it. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for her!

—STEVE M.

“

BATONROUGECLINIC.COM

MAIN CLINIC AND PEDIATRICS 7373 PERKINS ROAD l BATON ROUGE, LA 70808 l (225) 769-4044

LISTMAKERS

Woman-owned businesses Ranked by local revenue and employees PREV. RANK

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COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE | WEBSITE

Lipsey's LLC

7277 Exchequer Drive, Baton Rouge 70884 225-755-1333 | lipseys.com

Brian Harris Automotive Group

11955 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-754-1200 | brianharrisautogroup.com

L&B Holdings LLC

708 U.S. 190, Port Allen 70767 225-387-0955 | landbtransport.com

Savard Labor & Marine Inc.

1772 Wooddale Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-930-0685 | savardgroup.net

Kleinpeter Farms Dairy LLC

14444 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-756-6435 | kleinpeterdairy.com

Brown Eagle

7808 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70815 225-769-1111 | browneagle.com

Corporate Interiors of Baton Rouge LLC dba CI Group 7150 Jefferson Highway, Suite 530, Baton Rouge 70806 225-963-9400 | the-cigroup.com

Emery Equipment Sales and Rentals Inc. 12181 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge 70817 225-753-0541 | emeryequipment.com

Cypress Roofing

1802 S. Sonny Ave., Gonzales 70737 225-450-5507 | cypressroofingla.com

LOSCO Inc. dba Louisiana Office Solutions Co. 7643 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70806 225-927-1110 | losco.com

Varsity Sports LLC

2055 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge 70808 225-383-8913 | varsityrunning.com

Coastal Environments Inc.

1260 Main St., Baton Rouge 70802 225-383-7455 | coastalenv.com

Baton Rouge Press Inc.

2621 East Perdue Drive, Baton Rouge 70814 225-275-8429 | brpress.com

Automatic Access Gates

13326 S. Choctaw Drive, Baton Rouge 70815 225-929-9670 | automaticaccessgates.com

Rhorer Mutual Industries Inc.

37376 Manchac Park Road, Prairieville 70769 225-673-5999 | www.rhorer.com

Fireside Antiques Inc.

14007 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge 70810 225-752-9565 | firesideantiques.com

Civil Design & Construction Inc.

3251 Southern Pacific Road, Port Allen 70767 225-765-1802 | cdcbr.com

Cypress Hemp

10771 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge 70810 225-963-1631 | cypresshemp.com

Baton Rouge Digital Products Inc. dba BRDP

11842 Cloverland Court, Baton Rouge 70809 225-291-5190 | brdp.com

CENTURY 21 Investment Realty

2435 Drusilla Lane, Baton Rouge 70809 225-291-2121 | c21ir.com

WOMAN-OWNED PERCENTAGE / CERTIFICATION OWNERS

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

LOCAL REVENUE EMPLOYEES

YEAR EST. LOCALLY MARKET AREA

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Laurie Lipsey Aronson Chair and CEO

$902 million 210

1953 National

Wholesale sporting goods distributor

70% / None Laurie Lipsey Aronson

Richard J. Martorana Platform manager

$201.62 million 200

1984 Louisiana

Automobile sales, parts, service

100% / None Millie Harris

Anthony Vielee, Vice President, Louis Vielee, President

$160.78 million 211

1984 U.S., Canada

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

Jill Savard CEO

$80 million NA

1998 U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico

Skilled and unskilled labor supply, EOR services

Sue Anne K. K. Cox President and CEO

$42.07 million 113

1913 100-mile radius near Baton Rouge

Fluid milk manufacturing and distribution

55% / None Sue Anne Kleinpeter Cox

Lela Mae Wilkes Owner and CEO

$22 million 200

1968 International

Integrated site logistics services to manufacturing facilities; third-party warehousing and fulfillment

100% / WBE Lela Mae Wilkes

Melony Breaux Fields Managing partner

$16 million 14

2016 National

Furniture for corporate, education, health care and government facilities

51% / None Melony Breaux Fields, Drew Marshall

Kelly Emery President and owner

$12.8 million 24

1966 South Louisiana

Full-line dealership: Bobcat MX, loaders, tractors, mowers, UVs; Bandit Forestry, JLG, Husqvarna concrete product, Felling and Belshe trailers

100% / None Kelly Emery

A.D. Carmouche, S.D. Michel, C.M. Cline Owners

$10.51 million 18

2019 Greater Baton Rouge and surrounding areas

Commercial and residential roofing and repairs

100% / None Caprice Cline, Samantha Michel, Alexandra Carmouche

Laurie Genius Chapple President

$7.65 million 41

1936 National

Full-line office products dealer: office supplies, office furniture, interior design service, printer supplies, janitorial and breakroom supplies

63% / WBE NA

Jenni Peters Owner

$6.39 million 42

2000 Louisiana

Retail running, fitness and lifestyle products

100% / None Jenni Peters

Beth Manly President

$6 million 32

1967 Northern Gulf Coast, Texas and Lower Mississippi Valley

Terrestrial and marine archaeological investigations; coastal preservation/restoration; living shorelines; permits and regulatory compliance

70% / None Betty Gagliano, Mark Gagliano, Kristie Gagliano

Patricia C. Prather Owner and president

$4 million 27

1984 Southern U. S.

Commercial web printer

100% / None Patricia C. Prather

Tina Glissman President

$3.81 million 18

2003 Louisiana

Security options including gates, gate operators, access controls and fencing for the industrial, commercial and residential markets

51% / WBE Tina Glissman, John Glissman IV

Courtney Rhorer Allen President and CEO

$3.6 million 20

1994 Louisiana

Railroad construction and maintenance, base and subbase construction, industrial, lawn and rights of way maintenance, earthwork and drainage

100% / WBE Courtney Rhorer Allen

Laura Alice Roland Owner

$3.16 million NA

1982 International

European antique, vintage and modern furniture; mirrors, lighting, garden and accessories

100% / None Laura Roland

Karla E. Weston President

$3.08 million 25

2005 Louisiana

Consulting engineering firm providing civil and cost engineering, land surveying, subsurface utility engineering (SUE) services

100% / WBE Karla E. Weston

Kristy L. Hebert Owner

$3 million NA

2017 U.S.

USDA organic cannabis/hemp products, oils, edibles, topicals, pet products

51% / MBE, WBE Kristy Hebert, Blake Bilger

Patricia Brignac Talbot Owner

$2.5 million 12

1955 South Louisiana

Office technology sales & services; color and B&W multifunction products to print, scan, fax and copy; wide format printers and scanners

100% / None Patricia Brignac Talbot

Jackie Miller Broker and owner

$2.5 million 5

1994 Greater Baton Rouge, Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, New Orleans

Committed to delivering extraordinary service and experiences that exceed expectations

100% / None Jackie Miller

88% NA 100% / WBE Jill Savard

DBA-doing business as NA-not available NR-not ranked e-estimate The Business Report presumes the provided information is accurate. Estimates are based on publicly available information and 2024 submitted data. Information about all firms that qualified will be available to subscribers on our website. To be considered for next year's list, please contact research@businessreport.com. Published May 6, 2025.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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This ad design © Melara Enterprises, LLC. 2024. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700

A DV E RT I S E M E N T

COMPANY INSIGHTS

Brecheen Pipe & Steel Celebrates 45 Years of Reliability, Customer Service and Growth

B

recheen Pipe & Steel has been a cornerstone of South Louisiana’s industrial sector for 45 years, serving as the region’s “go-to” supplier of structural steel and pipe. As a leading metals service center located in Port Allen, the company provides a comprehensive range of carbon, galvanized carbon, stainless, aluminum and exotic alloy steel to a diverse clientele—including the petrochemical, refinery, pulp and paper, sugar, fabricator and construction industries.

Brecheen Pipe & Steel distinguishes itself not only through its extensive product offerings, but also through its unwavering commitment to quality, service and the evolving needs of its customers. The company is the only locally woman-owned and operated steel distributor in the region.

Brecheen Pipe & Steel’s story is one of dedication, resilience and a commitment to progress.

Founded in 1980 by Don Brecheen, the company quickly established itself as a reliable supplier in the region. Danielle Brecheen began her career with the company in 1985 and, over the years, she honed her expertise in various roles, from generating orders and purchasing to sales. Her journey through a male-dominated industry has been marked by determination and a drive to excel.

“When I started, there weren’t many women in the industrial space, and it was difficult trying to develop long-term partnerships,” she recalls. “I had

CONNECT WITH US

to work faster, harder and smarter than my competitors to prove myself.”

Her hard work and perseverance paid off. She not only proved herself, but also became a champion for other women in the industry. She assumed the presidency of the corporation after her sister left the business in 2017 and her parents passed away a few years later. Danielle’s commitment to promoting women in this highly competitive industry is evident in her leadership.

“It has been very important to me to promote women into industrial sales and, ultimately, into leadership positions,” she says. “Because of the hardships and challenges I faced in the 1980s, I felt the need to promote more women.”

Brecheen Pipe & Steel offers a wide array of products and services, including a full inventory of carbon steel items; plate flame cutting services; plasma and oxy-fuel cutting services; cutting of slip and spectacle blinds, gussets, parts and decorative items; and stock lengths of galvanized steel and aluminum products, cut to specifications.

Danielle has diversified the customer base over the year, and the company is committed to maintaining its position as a reliable provider of steel and pipe products—while also adapting to meet future demands.

“We have geared our inventory toward our customers and what they require,” explains Danielle.

“If they ask for a hard-to-find item, 99 percent of the time we can locate it and end up with the order.” This can-do approach ensures that the company remains a valuable resource for its clients.

Brecheen Pipe & Steel recognizes that its employees are crucial to its success. The company is focused on providing on-the-job training opportunities that enable employee advancement and retention. As Danielle emphasizes, “It’s important because employee longevity is conducive to a strong, successful and expert team.”

Most employees stay until they retire, and Danielle estimates that there is more than 200 years of combined expertise in sales and sourcing materials at the company. With many significant projects on the horizon, Brecheen is committed to investing in its team to ensure it has the expertise and stability needed to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

The company’s dedication to its customers, its employees and its community, combined with a willingness to adapt and evolve, ensures that it will remain a leader in the steel distribution industry for years to come.

“We are good at what we do, and I’m proud that we’ve been able to sustain our business for 45 years,” says Danielle. “We plan to ride the wave of business into the future.”

2340 American Way, Port Allen, LA | 225.749.3638 | brecheenpipeandsteel.com |

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

SP EC I A L A DVERT I SI NG SEC T I ON

WOMEN LEADING THE WAY Today’s most dynamic industries are being transformed by women who are breaking barriers and building new opportunities. In Business Report’s special section Women Leading the Way, we celebrate the bold thinkers and fearless leaders setting the pace for progress. These profiles are a testament to the power of vision, resilience, and unstoppable ambition.

Issue Date: May 2025 Ad proof #2

Issue Date: May 2025 Ad proof #2

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SP EC I A L A DVERT I SI NG SEC T I ON

Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Melara Enterprises, LLC. 2024. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700

JENNIFER ROOD

MELISSA TERITO, CPA

Associate Executive Director for Cores and Resources, Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Partner, Sentinel Pension

WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS?

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

At Pennington Biomedical, I support life-changing research by overseeing the core labs and resources that power our science. My work helps translate discoveries in areas such as obesity, diabetes and dementia into real-world health solutions. I also contribute to military nutrition and performance research through our Center for Military Performance and Resilience. I’m proud to be part of a team dedicated to promoting metabolic health and preventing chronic disease—creating impact from cells to society.

To me, leading the way means following your heart— and not being afraid to challenge the status quo when you believe a decision is right for your company, your culture and your clients. It takes courage to break the mold, but true leadership often requires it.

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY IMPACTED BY YOUR COMPANY? As a researcher at Pennington Biomedical, I lead clinical trials that bring cutting-edge science to the citizens of Baton Rouge. These trials explore innovative approaches to preventing and treating chronic diseases. In addition to research, I also oversee several of Pennington Biomedical’s community programs, which provide free health assessments, nutrition education and food boxes.

IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN WITH ANY WOMAN IN HISTORY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? I’d love to sit down with Julia Child. She was an extraordinary woman and a trailblazer in the culinary world. A passionate educator, she had a remarkable ability to make even the most complex recipes feel approachable and fun. Despite facing numerous challenges in her career, she remained resilient and determined, always persevering with grace. Her legacy continues to inspire people to embrace the joy of cooking and the importance of sharing food with loved ones.

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WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS? Our business focuses on retirement plan consulting for employer-sponsored retirement plans. Our mission has two key aspects. First, we’re committed to providing a high level of service to our clients— taking tasks off their plate that they may not be well versed in, but that we specialize in. When we partner with clients, we want them to feel supported and genuinely cared for. The second aspect is designing retirement plans that benefit not only business owners, but also the employees who are vital to those businesses’ success.

HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE? I believe excellence starts with leadership—and it’s easy to tell when a leader is being authentic. That’s why I show up as myself every day. There’s only one Melissa Terito. I don’t have different personalities depending on the setting; I lead with authenticity and sincerity. I believe in what we’re doing, and I think our team sees that. It encourages them to believe in our vision and mission, too. But, authenticity is just as important as care. You have to genuinely care about your employees. It’s not enough to say it—you have to show it, because actions always speak louder than words.

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KANOA JO MIRE

LINDA CROCHET

Co-Founder, Capitol Wellness Solutions

Chief Operating Officer, Investar Bank

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU? To me, “Leading the Way” means setting the standard for compassionate, accessible, and knowledgeable care in the medical marijuana space.

It’s about being at the forefront of innovation— whether that’s through technology like our AI chatbot or expanding our physical presence to better serve patients. We lead by example, making wellness accessible and removing barriers for people who are suffering. It means earning the trust of our community.

WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS? Our mission is to provide safe, personalized, and convenient access to medical marijuana for individuals seeking relief from a wide range of chronic and debilitating conditions. We aim to educate, empower, and support every patient through professional guidance and compassionate care. Our vision is to become the most trusted and innovative medical marijuana dispensary in Louisiana, continuously expanding access and improving quality of life. We believe in meeting people where they are —physically and emotionally—and helping them find real, lasting relief.

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY IMPACTED BY YOUR COMPANY? Capitol Wellness Solutions has become a vital resource for those in the Baton Rouge area who are struggling with pain, anxiety, PTSD, cancer, and other serious conditions. By offering convenient locations, knowledgeable pharmacists, and telehealth services, we make it easier for people to access the help they need.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU IN YOUR BUSINESS? I’m inspired by an environment of continuous learning. I love digging into problems to fully understand the issues, working to remove the emotional noise, and focusing solely on the facts.

In my interactions with others, I use the phrase “peeling the onion” as a metaphor for analyzing layers of facts to reach the root cause of a problem — and we peel a lot of onions, day in and day out.

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY IMPACTED BY YOUR COMPANY? Investar provides a wide range of banking products and services tailored to meet the needs of customers and businesses alike. Investar employs associates within each local branch’s geographical area. We believe in giving back to the communities we serve, which is why we encourage our associates to volunteer and serve on boards of non-profit organizations— even offering paid time off to do so.

HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE? My leadership style is premised on collaboration and inclusivity. I believe it’s essential to leverage internal and external resources to your advantage. I can only hope my colleagues feel that I challenge with positive intent and bring in subject matter experts when needed. I ask a lot of complex questions in pursuit of deeper understanding (aka “peeling the onion”). This approach fosters an environment and culture where others have an opportunity to think more critically and view problems through a broader lens, ultimately pushing intellectual boundaries.

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ASHLEIGH CELEDONIA Port Allen Lubricants Plant Manager, ExxonMobil

KATE LIGHTFOOT Chemical Plant Manager, Baton Rouge Complex, ExxonMobil

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

For me, leading the way means creating a path and exposing the possibilities for others to follow. It means acting boldly, innovating and showing what can be accomplished when barriers are removed or when we are unafraid to try something new.

Leading the way means actively setting the example. I assume I’m always being observed and that my behaviors will be repeated by others. This results in a high level of self-awareness when I’m leading at ExxonMobil, interacting with the community at an event, the grocery store or the gym, and when I’m parenting my three children. I’ve learned that my words, actions and demeanor make a difference in the lives of others.

WHICH WOMAN INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME WHO YOU ARE TODAY? The woman who has most shaped who I am today is my mom. She showed me, through her example, what it means to be supportive and to show up for those around you. She taught me the importance of being part of the solution, acting with determination, and remaining committed. I am resilient because she taught me to be. Her influence is reflected in my leadership style, which centers on working alongside my team, supporting them and removing barriers as we work toward our goals.

HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE? I think of a culture of excellence as one where innovation and new ideas are encouraged, team members feel supported and setbacks are seen as learning opportunities. To foster this culture, I focus on building a team that is engaged and has a clear understanding of the broader organizational goals. I also work to recognize our progress by celebrating achievements and successes along the way.

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WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS? ExxonMobil’s business is to create products that improve quality of life and meet society’s evolving needs. In the Baton Rouge area, our role in operations is to ensure the protection of people and the environment while producing solutions across nearly every value chain at ExxonMobil. More than 6,000 employees in the Baton Rouge area work together to accomplish this mighty task every moment of every day.

HOW DO YOU FOSTER A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE? A culture of excellence begins with a focus on people.

As a leader, I must always demonstrate that I care— putting people first. I care for the whole person, not just the individual performing a job at ExxonMobil, and that must come through in every interaction.

When people know I care about them and am committed to their growth, a culture of excellence naturally follows—with everyone working together to reach our collective potential.

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KAYLA ANDERSON

BRITTNEY NKADI

Owner, Cradle & Bliss

President, Elite Waste & Construction Services

WHICH WOMAN INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME WHO YOU ARE TODAY?

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

My mom. As a wife, mother, educator and leader, she has always been a constant example of grace, strength and purpose. I’ve watched her pour into the lives of her family, students and colleagues with intention and heart—always working to uplift others and lead by example. Her commitment, compassion and unwavering drive inspire me daily to lead with integrity, serve with purpose and create meaningful impact through my own work.

To me, leading the way means being a pioneer in your craft—boldly stepping into uncharted territory, learning through trial and error, and uncovering innovative methods that can be passed down for generations. It’s about forging ahead with courage, even when others can’t yet see your vision, and creating a path for others to follow.

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU? To me, leading the way means using your passion and purpose to light a path for others—and sometimes for yourself—especially when that path is overlooked, undervalued or entirely uncharted. It’s about boldly creating space where it’s needed most and uplifting those around you, not just through words, but through action, compassion and vision.

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY IMPACT BY YOUR COMPANY? By reducing maternal stress, promoting healthy infant development and building a stronger postpartum village, we’re working to improve maternal mental health outcomes and reshape the narrative around what postpartum support should truly look like. Our upcoming community event, Bliss of Baton Rouge, is an extension of that mission—bringing together local birth workers, family wellness providers and maternal health advocates to connect families with vital resources, education and support in a celebratory, inclusive space.

HOW IS THE COMMUNITY IMPACTED

BY YOUR COMPANY? Elite Waste & Construction Services is proud to make a lasting impact on the communities we serve by prioritizing cleaner, safer environments. Through high-quality maintenance and construction services— including blight removal and highway cleaning—we help improve residents’ quality of life and create safer, more welcoming neighborhoods. We also actively volunteer year-round to support local initiatives, foster community pride and contribute to a cleaner, brighter future across Louisiana.

IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN WITH ANY WOMAN IN HISTORY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? If I could spend time with any woman from the past, I’d choose Linda Alvarado, CEO of Alvarado Construction. As the first woman of color to own and operate a successful commercial construction company in a historically male-dominated industry, her story deeply resonates with me. What inspires me even more is that she didn’t stop there—she went on to become an owner of a Major League Baseball team.

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Issue Date: May 2025 Ad proof #1

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TAMI TURNLEY

TAUNIA OURSO

Owner and Certified Coach, Ideal Weight Loss Solutions

Founder, Ourso Insurance Company

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU? Being acknowledged in Women Leading the Way over the past three years holds special meaning for me. It has shown me that no matter the hardships you face or the obstacles in your path, if you lean on your faith and believe in yourself, God will lift you up. He will use your experiences to place you in a position to help others.

WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND FOR YOUR BUSINESS? At Ideal Weight Loss Solutions, I use the ShiftSetGo protocol—a more holistic and effective approach to weight loss. My goal is not only to help clients lose weight, but also to guide them toward believing in their inner strength and understanding that they are stronger than their emotions. When clients believe in themselves and grow more confident in who they are, the weight loss follows naturally.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS? I absolutely love what I do and truly believe I’m doing the work I was meant to do. I’ve experienced every emotion that can lead to emotional stress eating— grief, divorce, hardship, and those days when you just don’t feel good about yourself. Because of that, I can genuinely relate to clients facing similar struggles and support them with empathy and understanding throughout their weight loss journey.

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WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS? At 26, I had a mini-stroke while pregnant with our third daughter. My employer’s insurance denied coverage, calling it a pre-existing condition after doctors discovered multiple, previously unknown heart issues.

That moment changed everything. I decided to get my insurance license to help others better understand their benefits and avoid the confusion I faced. Later, after being diagnosed with autoimmune conditions, I launched my own independent agency. With deep empathy and passion, I now guide others through their healthcare choices—making sure they feel supported and informed every step of the way.

WHICH WOMEN INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME WHO YOU ARE TODAY? Honestly, my three daughters inspire me the most.

Like any mom, the moment you hold your first baby, everything changes. Each of my daughters has her own personality, strengths and gifts. They’ve taught me the importance of meeting each individual where they are and encouraging them to use their talents.

IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN WITH ANY WOMAN IN HISTORY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? I would love to sit in the company of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was such a powerful advocate for others. One of her quotes that I keep on my desk is, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” But, the one I’ve held onto most this year is, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

She was strong, classy and a truly positive leader.

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MELISSA OTT President, Pelican State Credit Union

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ASHLEE BERGERON Owner and CEO, Studio C3:23 LLC

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

WHAT DOES LEADING THE WAY MEAN TO YOU?

In my career, I have always focused on the quality of my work and doing what is right for our members and employees. Leading the way means setting an example and demonstrating confidence in my ability to navigate challenges and overcome adversity. I hold myself to a high standard, and I do not take my influence lightly. My work practices and strategies must be consistent and professional — and they must also inspire others to work toward the same goal.

Leading the way means showing up as my highest self and choosing purpose-driven hustle over a chaotic grind. Through my life’s work, business growth and bold storytelling, I lead by example — proving you can build success without shrinking, serve without struggling and live boldly unapologetically. I didn’t always have a seat at the table, so I built my own — and I invite others to shine there too.

WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS?

WHAT IS THE MISSION & VISION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS?

Pelican was chartered as a state credit union in 1956, and I joined the team as a part-time file room clerk in 2002. Although I didn’t start the company, I’ve always approached my role with an ownership mentality. I’ve been driven to improve every process and make it the best it can be. Pelican is a Christian-minded organization with a mission to improve the financial lives of its members and the communities we serve.

We do this by offering competitive banking products and services that make a meaningful impact. Some days can be challenging in today’s evolving economic landscape, but this is a deeply rewarding career.

I am a visual branding strategist, but more than that — I’m a storyteller and a space-holder for transformation. My photography captures more than moments, it captures identity, confidence and power.

My mission is to help women see themselves — sometimes for the first time — through a lens of worthiness. The vision? To create a visual brand rooted in authenticity, impact and alignment — building a legacy that inspires others to own their story, charge their worth and show up fully.

WHICH WOMAN INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME WHO YOU ARE TODAY? I have been heavily influenced by my mom throughout my life. She and my dad own an antique store and ran a major antique festival for most of my life. She has always been present throughout my life without expecting anything in return. I am inspired by the relationships she has built in her community and her ability to pull everyone together to have fun and make a meaningful contribution.

IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN WITH ANY WOMAN IN HISTORY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? If I could sit down with any woman in history, it would be Frida Kahlo. She turned pain into art and refused to be boxed in — by men, society or even her own body. I’d want to know how she found beauty in the broken and how she stayed fully herself in every brushstroke.

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“It’s no secret that the real magic happens within schools through the direct work that teachers are doing with students every day.”

DON KADAIR

JARED LAMB, head of school, BASIS Materra

The charter challenge

BY DILLON LOWE

As enrollment grows, so do the questions: Are charter schools delivering on their promise?

WHEN JARED LAMB talks about BASIS Materra, where he serves as head of school, the pride in his voice is evident.

And that’s for good reason: Last year, the charter school was the only open-enrollment public school in Baton Rouge to receive an “A” performance letter grade from the Louisiana Department of Education.

For Lamb, BASIS Materra’s success can be attributed to a number of factors—its accelerated curriculum and its targeted interventions for struggling students, for instance—but he says its greatest assets are far and away its teachers.

“It’s no secret that the real magic happens within schools through the

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direct work that teachers are doing with students every day,” he says.

“And we look to hire the best to work with our students. We spend a lot of time not only recruiting great teachers to work here but creating conditions where outstanding teachers can see themselves making our school their home in the long term.”

Since opening its doors in 2018, BASIS Materra has steadily expanded, growing from a K-4 school to a K-10 campus with plans to serve K-12 by 2026. It’s part of BASIS Charter Schools, a national charter network that also includes Baton Rouge’s BASIS Mid City, a K-5 school that serves as a feeder campus for BASIS Materra. (To its

BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

credit, BASIS Mid City saw its performance letter grade rise from a “D” to a “B” last year.)

BASIS Materra’s success has helped it to stand out in a competitive charter landscape—a landscape that has evolved significantly in recent years as charter schools have become an increasingly influential force in Louisiana’s education marketplace. In Baton Rouge, roughly 30% of all public school students now attend one, and in New Orleans, charter schools make up nearly the entire public education system.

But BASIS Materra’s “A” letter grade frames it as something of an outlier among charter schools in Baton Rouge, raising an important

question: Are charter schools as a whole living up to their promise?

DIGGING INTO THE DATA At their core, charter schools are publicly funded but independently operated open-enrollment schools that are given more flexibility in their curriculums and general operations than traditional public schools in exchange for greater accountability. They must meet specific performance benchmarks or risk losing their charters.

Supporters argue that charter schools can offer a more innovative and personalized learning environment for students, potentially leading to better educational outcomes. Critics, however, often

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N E W S E D U CAT I O N

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raise concerns about funding and producing results. Established in oversight.

2012, NSBR is a nonprofit that has In Baton Rouge, there are curbeen instrumental in driving charrently 27 charter schools serving ter expansion in the city.

13,400 students.

“In terms of performance, we are Data from the Louisiana very, very optimistic and proud of Department of Education’s 2024 what we’re seeing,” Donoso says.

School Performance Scores sug“Seven of our charter schools imgests that charter schools in Baton proved by at least one letter grade Rouge are, on average, outperin the past year, and notably, not forming their traditional one single school dropped. public school counterTo us, that shows very STAT parts in terms of acconsistent progress ademic growth and across the city.” overall performance.

Last year, charSeventy-nine percent ter schools in Baton Number of students attending Baton of charter schools in Rouge increased the Rouge’s 27 charter Baton Rouge received number of students schools a performance letter enrolled in “high-qualgrade of “C” or better ity” seats by 19%, or last year compared to 50% 2,476 seats. A seat is conof traditional open-enrollment sidered high quality if a school public schools, and 40% of charter receives an “A” or “B” letter grade schools in Baton Rouge ranked in from the state or a “C” while rankthe top 25% of Louisiana schools ing in the top third statewide for for academic growth. academic growth. The number of Noemi Donoso, CEO of New students enrolled in high-quality Schools for Baton Rouge, says the seats in Baton Rouge’s open-enrolldata shows that the local charment district-run schools decreased ter ecosystem is maturing and by 1,000 to 25%.

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“I applaud (IDEA) for doing the right thing. It’s a perfect example of what sets charter schools apart from traditional public and private schools. Move kids forward or get out of the way.”

CAROLINE ROEMER, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools

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“What’s going to matter is not, ‘Did I choose a public charter or a public district-run school or a public magnet?’ It’s going to be, ‘Did I pick a school that worked for me and my family?’”

CHRIS MEYER, CEO, Baton Rouge Area Foundation and founder of New Schools for Baton Rouge, pictured during a visit to Celerity Dalton Charter School in 2017

BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

TIM MUELLER

BASIS schools were not the only charter schools in Baton Rouge to see strong results last year.

According to NSBR, GEO Next Generation High School and Madison Preparatory Academy were the two highest-performing open-enrollment high schools in the city, while Baton Rouge Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy and Prescott Academy respectively ranked in the top 1% and 6% of Louisiana schools in terms of academic growth in their first year of operation.

In addition to having high-quality teachers, Donoso says another key factor separating the highest-performing schools from the poorer performers is strong leadership.

“It feels kind of obvious, but whether it’s a charter school or a district-run school, what we’ve seen is that you’ve got to have a strong leader who knows how to prioritize students first and foremost and put students at the center when it comes to resources and decision-making,” she says.

N E W S E D U CAT I O N

“In terms of performance, we are very, very optimistic and proud of what we’re seeing.”

COLLIN RICHIE

While the data paints a clear picture of how charter schools in Baton Rouge are helping NOEMI DONOSO, CEO, New Schools to drive academic for Baton Rouge gains across the city, NSBR founder Chris Meyer is quick to point out that charter schools and traditional public schools should not be seen as in competition with one another and that overall academic performance across the entire East Baton Rouge Parish School System is also on the rise.

“I don’t think it’s right to look at this as an ‘us versus them’ situation because that was never the goal,” says Meyer, who stepped away from his role as CEO of NSBR in 2022 to assume his current role as CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

“What’s going to matter is not, ‘Did I choose a public charter or a public district-run school or a public magnet?’ It’s going to be, ‘Did I pick a school that worked for me and my family?’”

Meyer adds that while charter schools are not a silver bullet for all

that ails Louisiana’s education system, they have demonstrated their ability to improve outcomes for students who might have otherwise been stuck in underperforming schools because of where they live or how much money their families have.

A NEW MODEL Perhaps no one had a closer view of the early days of Louisiana’s charter movement than former state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who was a key architect of the post-Katrina education reforms that eventually transformed New Orleans into a majority-charter school system.

In the wake of the storm, the city’s struggling public schools were largely taken over by the staterun Recovery School District and converted into charter schools.

In the time since, student performance indicators—test scores, college readiness metrics, graduation rates—have improved significantly compared to pre-Katrina levels.

Pastorek points to New Orleans’ transformation as a proof point for

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N E W S E D U CAT I O N

“The all-charter experiment in New Orleans began in 2006, and almost 20 years later, we don’t have an ‘F’ school in the city of New Orleans. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

MARIE CONSTANTIN

PAUL PASTOREK, former Louisiana superintendent of education and a key architect of the post-Katrina education reforms that eventually transformed New Orleans into a majority-charter school system

the charter model’s potential.

“The all-charter experiment in New Orleans began in 2006, and almost 20 years later, we don’t have an ‘F’ school in the city of New Orleans,” Pastorek says.

“That’s quite an accomplishment.”

WHEN SCHOOLS FALL SHORT Despite the progress being made by many charter schools in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, recent controversies have brought with them renewed scrutiny.

IDEA Public Schools, a prominent charter network that got its start in Texas before expanding into Florida, Louisiana and Ohio, announced its exit from Louisiana earlier this year due primarily to poor academic performance.

Around the same time, the founder of Impact Charter School in Baker was accused of misusing $1.5

million in public funds for personal expenses.

But Caroline Roemer, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, says that while those controversies make for good headlines, they’re not indicative of any broader struggles for Louisiana’s charter movement.

On the issue of IDEA, Roemer says the charter network’s exit from Louisiana is actually a sign that the system is working as intended.

“IDEA recognized that they were not fulfilling their promise to improve outcomes for students and made a student-focused decision to step aside and let others do that work,” she says. “I applaud them for doing the right thing. It’s a perfect example of what sets charter schools apart from traditional public and private schools. Move kids forward or get out of the way.”

And when it comes to Impact, Roemer says the allegations against the school’s founder should not be used to discredit the vast majority of charter schools that operate aboveboard.

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“Financial mismanagement is not an issue limited to certain types of schools,” she says. “People with the wrong intentions exist in all walks of life. For decades, most charter schools have operated without the financial malfeasance we’ve recently read about in the news. Charter schools must adhere to rigorous financial standards. … Unfortunately, sometimes people figure out loopholes to the rules, creating an inaccurate perception that all charter schools are bad.”

Pastorek holds a similar view. He says situations like IDEA’s exit from Louisiana, while “anomalous,” are a product of the high degree of accountability that charter schools are held to.

“Overall, I think charter schools have been successful, but I think the idea that charter schools that don’t perform must go out of business is an important one,” Pastorek says.

One of the most common criticisms levied against charter schools is that they divert much-needed resources from traditional public schools, as funding for public schools is allocated based on student enrollment. The

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ON THE RISE: Since opening its doors in 2018, BASIS Materra has steadily expanded, growing from a K-4 school to a K-10 campus with plans to serve K-12 by 2026. It’s part of BASIS Charter Schools, a national charter network that also includes Baton Rouge’s BASIS Mid City, a K-5 school that serves as a feeder campus for BASIS Materra.

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PHOTOS BY DON KADAIR

N E W S E D U CAT I O N

national Institute for Youth in Policy, for instance, says charter schools tend to create financial instability for traditional public schools as enrollment shifts.

“When a new charter school opens, it must pull students away from the traditional public school system to fill its classrooms,” a statement from the institute reads. “Thus, the chronic overbuilding of charter schools results in massive revenue cuts for public schools in the same area.”

Meyer, however, calls that a “decade-old argument” that does little to address the broader issue of how families can best be empowered, while Roemer contends that public education funding should prioritize student outcomes above all else, including school type.

“Education dollars are following students to their public school of choice and in return, the charter school is held accountable to academic, financial and legal standards,” Roemer says. “Instead of arguing about who is getting the dollars, we should focus on funding formulas that ensure every student’s needs are met.”

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“The NFL would be the crowning achievement of my career. We don’t currently have the onfield contract, but every contract expires.”

PHOTOS XXXXXXXXXXX

CHRIS CALANDRO, founder and CEO, Big Game USA

Changing the game

BY DILLON LOWE

How one Baton Rouge native built a football manufacturing powerhouse.

MANY OF US in Baton Rouge are aware of the dominance of homegrown Marucci Sports in the world of baseball. The company, co-founded and helmed by Red Stick native and LSU graduate Kurt Ainsworth, makes the official bats of Major League Baseball, after all.

But did you know that nearly every football used in NCAA collegiate play can also be traced back to a Baton Rouge native and LSU grad?

Meet Chris Calandro, the founder, owner and CEO of Big Game USA. THE ORIGIN STORY Calandro, who graduated from Broadmoor High School in 1984

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and went on to earn a general studies degree from LSU in 1989, was never a star athlete, and he certainly didn’t set out to dominate the football manufacturing game.

In fact, his journey into the industry began more as a passion project than a business endeavor.

It all started with a high school football game.

Broadmoor had made it to the state championship in the early ’90s—a significant achievement for a relatively small program. Broadmoor ended up losing that game, but even so, Calandro wanted to commemorate the occasion by ordering a few custom footballs as gifts for the school’s coaches. But the major

BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

manufacturers wouldn’t entertain an order of just a few footballs. As Calandro puts it, the big brands essentially told him to “run along, Sparky.”

That rejection fueled Calandro’s entrepreneurial spirit. He bought three footballs from a sporting goods store and hand-painted them himself, and he soon realized there was a gap in the market for custom, small-batch footballs.

“I was like, ‘Man, I gotta believe there are other people like me out there who want a custom football but don’t want to order 100 of them,” Calandro says.

When a flag football injury left Calandro bedridden for a week, he used the downtime to make cold

calls pitching his commemorative footballs to every major college and professional team. Most hung up on him. Some outright laughed.

But a few took a chance on him, including Purdue University, the University of Texas and the Dallas Cowboys.

From there, Big Game USA was born.

Calandro had his sights set on more than just commemorative pigskins, though. To scale the business, he needed to make his way onto the field.

MARKET DOMINANCE What started as a side hustle has evolved into one of the most dominant names in

N E W S M A N U FA C T U R I N G

football manufacturing. From its 25,000-square-foot facility in Farmers Branch, Texas—Calandro relocated to the Lone Star State in the late ‘80s to be with his nowwife, Christiann—Big Game now produces on-field footballs at a pace of over 1,000 per day for the vast majority of NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, programs. And that number is growing every day.

A good deal of Big Game’s success can be attributed to the fact that Calandro didn’t only want to make footballs. He wanted to improve them.

From the start, Calandro made a concerted effort to source the best materials on the market, paying no mind to their costs. (Unlike his publicly traded competitors, he’s not beholden to shareholders, meaning he spares no expense.) He also spent hours upon hours studying televised contests, analyzing how quarterbacks gripped the ball, how fumbles happened and how the texture of the ball impacted performance. He was determined to make a better product.

“When I saw a fumble or an incompletion, I would slow it down

and stand up and get very close to the TV so I could understand the relationship between the player and the ball,” Calandro says. “And I still do that today. How a quarterback— or any skilled player, really—interacts with the ball has everything to do with how they perform.”

While Big Game USA’s first attempts at manufacturing on-field footballs produced mixed results, Calandro learned through trial and error, and his relentless pursuit of quality did eventually pay off. In the mid-2000s, Nike, which was expanding its footprint in college football at the time, tapped Big Game to manufacture footballs for five of its collegiate partner programs after its former manufacturer went under. The relationship proved pivotal.

Big Game made its college football debut in a 2008 contest between the University of Florida and the University of Hawaii. Calandro watched from home, anxious but excited. Fortunately, none of the balls deflated or popped, and the next year, Big Game went from supplying five collegiate programs to 80.

Today, Big Game produces

s n o i t a l u t a r g n Co Michelle Hardy Sustainer

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These Louisiana college teams use Big Game USA footballs Louisiana Tech University Ruston

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Baton Rouge

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette

on being named one of 2025's Influential Women in Business!

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The Junior League of Baton Rouge is an organization of more than 1,600 women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and with the improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

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! s n o i t a l u t a r g n Co REGINA DAVIS

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PASSION TO POWERHOUSE: Fueled by grit and innovation, Big Game has grown from a passion project into a powerhouse in football manufacturing.

HAND-PAINTED TO HIGH STAKES: Decades after painting his first footballs by hand, Chris Calandro leads a team that helps define college football Saturdays.

footballs for nearly every FBS program, including juggernauts like Ohio State, the University of Alabama and, of course, LSU. Calandro sees partnering with his alma mater as one of his greatest achievements.

“If all I ever did was make LSU footballs, I would’ve considered

that a career exclamation point,” he says. “The fact that we get to do that is something I’m incredibly proud of.”

Lauren Griffin, vice president of development for the LSU Alumni Association, says Calandro is the “embodiment of what it means to be an LSU Tiger.”

“His entrepreneurial drive, fun-loving and generous spirit and unwavering love for his alma mater are the values we strive to foster in all LSU alumni,” she says.

WHAT’S NEXT? Big Game has already left an indelible mark on college football,

but Calandro’s ambitions aren’t stopping there. He sees the high school market as a massive growth area—his company currently produces footballs for only 3,000 of the roughly 16,000 high school programs across the country.

And while Big Game is already the official football supplier for the

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N E W S M A N U FA C T U R I N G

newly formed United Football League, Calandro is hopeful that the company will eventually be able to secure an even bigger account: the National Football League.

Wilson Sporting Goods has held the exclusive contract to manufacture NFL footballs for decades. But as Calandro points out, no contract is forever.

“The NFL would be the crowning achievement of my career,” he says. “We don’t currently have the on-field contract, but every contract expires.”

Despite all of his personal successes, Calandro is quick to credit his 85 team members for their contributions. Among them are a few fellow LSU grads—“displaced Cajuns,” Calandro calls them— including Mike “Bones” Boniol, the company’s product specialist.

“I helped get things started, but when I got help is when we got good,” Calandro says. “We have a bunch of smart, hardworking people, and that’s really what makes us great.”

With steady growth in the collegiate and high school markets and eyes on the NFL, the future looks bright for Big Game. And at the center of it all is a kid from Baton Rouge who turned rejection into a booming business—proof that even an underdog can change the game.

PRECISION PROCESS: From custom stitching to precision shaping, Big Game’s hands-on process is built for performance at the highest levels of college football.

Congratulates

2025 INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN BUSINESS H O N O R E E

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LABOR OF CELEBRATING 400,000 BIRTHS More than just a milestone — it’s a reflection of the trust and care that have defined every delivery since 1968. From preparing for arrival day to welcoming home your bundle of joy, we offer support at every step of your journey. Thanks to our incredible team, world class physicians and state-of-the-art facility, you and your baby receive compassionate care before, during, and after delivery.

womans.org

VI EWPOI NT ROLFE MCCOLLI STE R JR.

THIS HAPPENED IN one decidedly unfoolish week in April: A headline in Forbes read, “Louisiana Is Litigating Away Its Economic Prosperity;” while a column in The Wall Street Journal carried this headline, “A Bad Business on the Bayou—Chevron finds itself the victim of a political alliance between the tort bar and Louisiana Republicans.”

Sadly, these were no jokes.

In a cosmic nod to irony, where was Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry chilling as these headlines burned across the nation?

Is Louisiana open for business, or lawsuits?

Rolfe McCollister Jr. is a contributing columnist.

The viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Business Report or its staff.

He and a handful of powerful state legislators were at a hunting lodge in Texas with a pair of influential trial attorneys hunting turkey and talking auto insurance, specifically about whether lawmakers will make it harder for lawyers to collect big payouts for clients injured in car accidents.

According to an article in The Advocate by Tyler Bridges, “Gordon McKernan, one of the two attorneys, flew House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, Senate President Cameron Henry and three committee chairpersons on his law firm’s jet on Monday (March 31) to the Tributary Sporting Club near Austin. Landry met them there.

They all returned Wednesday (April 2).”

Landry issued the invitations, and Protect Louisiana Values, one of his political organizations, paid for their stay at the hunting resort, lawmakers told Bridges. And where do you think the governor’s PAC got that money to pay?

Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. Louisiana politics in 2025 under

REFLECTIONS

EQUIPPED WITH A NEW HEART This feature is a tribute in honor of Business Report founders, Rolfe McCollister Sr. & Rolfe McCollister Jr.

Landry is entertainment and theater—and he seems to love it. We are just the audience, and it seems the legislators are his actors. But this show has been seen before in the days of Edwin Edwards. Brash.

Tainted. And entertaining the nation with a few good laughs. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

I think we are the “turkeys” and on the dinner menu. Our governor and his gang flew to Texas for a “secret meeting” to decide how to carve us up. They got caught— shame, shame, shame.

Have you gotten your insurance renewals for this year? I had one policy where the premium doubled.

I decided to call that the “Landry Tort Tax”—and I didn’t get to vote on it.

Politics, we’re told, makes strange bedfellows, and Mr. FarRight Republican was sleeping with the Democratic trial attorneys to help him capture the governor’s mansion in the primary. The bill for trial attorneys helping Landry get elected is coming due, and those of us with car insurance are picking up the tab.

Landry and our insurance commissioner, Tim Temple, consider insurance a “crisis,” but they are at odds on how to fix this mess in the legislative session. Some legislators say this is the state’s top problem, and the supporting facts exist.

According to the Cato Institute, Louisiana’s litigation environment is the third-worst in the country, and some refer to our state as “tort hell.”

Temple says that when someone gets in an accident in Louisiana, “we’re more than twice the national average to file a bodily injury claim and more than twice to litigate.” He adds, “Will trial lawyers who sue for massive, excessive payouts attack our solutions and call them harmful to consumers? Probably so.

THE WORD “HEART” in Scripture speaks to a person’s core passion. Notice Ezekiel 36:26-27. It speaks of Israel but also is a prophetic description of the new creation in Christ. It reads, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Not only does God give us a

From energy to insurance, I’m sick of how our state has historically sided with a few trial attorneys over Louisiana’s many citizens and job creators.”

Landry says, “There’s a lot of blame to go around,” and wants to find a “balanced approach” so he can “help citizens.” He claims the tendency to file lawsuits is a “cultural problem.”

Blah, blah, blah. Sorry, governor, if I don’t believe your words.

Actions speak louder, and I remember your veto last summer when you had a chance to do the right thing. This is a matter of who the people will trust. Based on the beating the governor absorbed from voters on his proposed constitutional amendments, I would say things are shaky.

Will legislators show some backbone and stand up for their constituents? Or do they know Landry, like Edwin Edwards, rewards his friends and punishes his enemies?

LABI is backing Temple’s bills, saying they “will signal Louisiana is open for business.” LABI says, “For far too long, we have failed to enact the reforms necessary to curb lawsuit abuse, prevent jackpot justice and attract more insurers to the state. The result has been a legal climate where lawyers cash in and Louisianans lose out, forcing them to shutter their businesses or relocate to friendlier states.”

We have lost too many jobs and too many people.

Axios reported on census data from the Pew Charitable Trust, which ranked states based on the percentage of their state budget coming from the federal government. Louisiana ranked No. 1 with 50.5%, with Alaska second (50.2%).

Over half of our funds come from Uncle Sam. That should concern us greatly Continued on page 73

new heart but puts His Spirit—Holy Spirit—within us to empower us and cause us to walk in and observe His Word. This is the equipping and the new empowerment. A new “heart of flesh” means a new ability to see and understand truth, a new delight in God and desire for God, and a new spirit that loves Him. If you need a new heart, receive it (Romans 10:9-10), and enjoy walking from it.

—Jeff Mitchell, Retired COL and Army Chaplain

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VI EWPOI NT ROLFE MCCOLLI STE R JR.

because Washington is looking to cut funding everywhere, and we are vulnerable. Anything that runs off companies or residents is bad for our future. Suing people and companies is not an industry on which to build a state’s economy.

STATE SUPREME COURT SCREWED UP After her outrageous behavior on the bench last year, I wrote in this column, “District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose should resign.” She didn’t. The Judicial Commission investigated the incident and other actions and rulings she made— and then the state Supreme Court screwed up by allowing this incompetent bigot to return to the bench by this summer. Shameful.

In her courtroom last year, Johnson Rose said to the prosecutor, “The young man doesn’t have any fricking felonies. And I know that the DA probably wants every young Black man in prison, but I don’t.” She added, “And this case is god---- four years old now. And that’s the best that y’all can come up with? You’re just going to what, stick every n----r in jail?”

And the Supreme Court is OK with this?

Chief Justice John Weimer opposed the decision. “While even experienced judges can make mistakes, the charges here demonstrate repeated mistakes, bias, and racially charged comments which have no place in a court of law, regardless of one’s level of experience,” he wrote.

The Advocate reported the state paid $100,000 of Johnson Rose’s salary in the eight months she was out while also footing the bill for another $60,000 to cover the salaries of ad hoc judges assigned to handle her docket in her absence. The taxpayers were ripped off.

In The Advocate, Justice Jay McCallum recounted each of Johnson Rose’s blunders from the bench in his dissenting opinion and said the majority decision by his colleagues amounted to a ninemonth paid vacation accompanied by a $15,000 bonus for Johnson Rose.

“We cannot expect better conduct from lawyers, unless we demand better conduct from judges,” McCallum said. Only Justices

Weimer, McCallum and William Crain dissented in this ruling. They deserve our respect and thanks.

Most of you may not be aware, but in 2001, the Baton Rouge Bar Association teamed up with the University of New Orleans Survey Research Center and polled members of the Bar Association and the Louis Martinet Society (African American attorneys). The survey was titled “Evaluating the Judges in Baton Rouge” and ranked all judges on their performance and competence in the courtroom. It was released to the public to hold judges accountable and was helpful for voters. I believe the BRBA should revive this survey to expose bad judges.

It’s sad that we can’t count on the state Supreme Court to hold its own accountable and provide us with justice when the evidence is so clear. In the case of Johnson Rose, justice didn’t seem to be blind. The justices appeared to let the view of their peer’s black robe influence them. They have lowered the standards, put citizens at risk, and called their own judgment from the bench into question. Sadly, we all lost.

75 YEARS OF

FRESH QUALITY SERVICE

COLE GETS IT DONE EBR School Superintendent Lamont Cole took on a huge challenge that none of his predecessors had the courage to do: closing and merging schools. He also did it with a unanimous vote of the school board.

The current buildings can accommodate 60,000 students, though there are fewer than 40,000 enrolled. The plan will impact 28 schools and involve more than 10,000 students and 1,400 staff.

Cole sought input from three community meetings and numerous small groups.

Change can be hard, but Cole provided the leadership that had been missing. Kudos to him.

HATS OFF! Congratulations to all of the Influential Women in Business honored in this issue. The Capital Region is fortunate to have such an impressive group of talented and successful women who are making an impact and helping lead the way in our community.

FIND YOUR LOCAL ASSOCIATED GROCERS RETAIL MEMBER STORE WWW.AGBR.COM

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It was a great opportunity for me to learn about myself and the instructors were interactive, impactful, relevant and thorough with their explanations.”

The Leadership Academy was impactful! The speakers, exercises and networking opportunities surpassed my expectation and provide me the tools and strategies needed to bring back to my organization.”

Great way to challenge yourself and become a more effective leader.”

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BLASIA RIVET

STEVEN CHUSTZ

Manager Performance Contractors, Inc.

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Senior Project Manager Group Contractors, LLC

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All rising professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, and small business owners are invited to join us in taking their leadership up a notch. Business Report’s Executive Leadership Academy is a transformative program that will take your career and your organization to new levels of success.

This has been one of the best professional investments in have ever made in myself.”

BRITTANY RELLE Co-Owner Custom Security Systems, Inc.

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The academy attracts a great group of area leaders with a lot of energy & real world situations & speakers that setup a great training experience.”

TIM KIMMEL Principal Providence Engineering and Environmental Group LLC

It is an invaluable experience where you get to hear, share with other leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds, personalities, and industries. We all learned from each other.”

JENNA FREDERIC Partner Hannis T. Bourgeois

YO U R B U S I N E S S C O M PA N Y N E W S

ACQUISITIONS Baton Rouge-based Bascom Hunter has acquired Candent Technologies, an Indiana-based provider of power systems for aerospace and defense applications.

The acquisition expands Bascom Hunter’s product offerings and strengthens its Xcelaero division.

Currency Bank has completed the purchase of b1Bank’s Kaplan branch, including deposit accounts and loans. With this expansion, Currency Bank now operates four full-service branches.

APPOINTMENTS MEMBERSHIPS Better Louisiana has announced its newest members for Q1 2025, representing a diverse group of leaders from across the state: The members are: Denise Bottcher, state director, AARP; Paul Brummett, president and CEO, JD Bank; Brian Haymon, CEO, Loadstar Product Handling Services LLC; Karl Hoefer, regional president, First Horizon; Jay Lapeyre, president, Laitram LLC; Todd Little, managing

member, Little & Associates LLC; Malcolm Murchison, special counsel, Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC; Matt Saurage, innovation manager, Community Coffee; Kevin Simpson, manager, Southeast policy, Shell; and Guy Williams, president and CEO, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust.

Better Louisiana was formed in 2024 through the unification of two respected organizations—the Committee of 100 for Economic Development and the Council for A Better Louisiana. Together, they advocate for data-driven, forward-looking policy solutions to spur economic growth and expand opportunity for Louisiana residents. The strategy: to be a catalyst for transformative progress across the state.

Renea Duffin, vice president of cancer support and outreach at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, has been appointed treasurer of the Association of Cancer Care Duffin

Centers’ board of trustees. With nearly two decades of service at Mary Bird, Duffin has led key initiatives expanding cancer prevention, screening and outreach throughout Louisiana and southwest Mississippi.

Peter Louviere, CFO of REV, has been elected chairman of the Louisiana Telecommunications Association board of directors. A longtime board member, he will serve a two-year term leading the 10-member organization representing over 2,500 employees serving 110,000 Louisiana homes and businesses.

Michele K. Sutton, FACHE and president/CEO of North Oaks Health System, has assumed the role of chair of the American College of Sutton Healthcare Executives. Sutton has held multiple leadership roles with ACHE, including governor and regent for Louisiana.

Nguyen

Caparotta

Jackson

Heitman

AWARDS HONORS The Public Relations Association of Louisiana Baton Rouge Chapter recognized four outstanding local professionals at its annual Red Stick Awards luncheon in April.

Honorees include: Laura Siu Nguyen, Member of the Year, Table Story Comms; Steve Caparotta, Communicator of the Year, WAFB; I’Tyonnie Jackson, Practitioner of the Year, Southern University Law Center; and Catherine Heitman, First Circle Award, Heitman Communications.

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YO U R B U S I N E S S C O M PA N Y N E W S

The Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance has announced the winners of its 2025 Contractor Safety Excellence Awards, recognizing outstanding safety performance across multiple service categories and workforce sizes.

Performance Contractors Inc. received the Hal G. Ginn Award and was also honored with an Innovation Award alongside Cajun Industries. Brown & Root Industrial Services earned the Community Service Award and placed in several safety categories.

In general construction and maintenance, RES Contractors earned first place in Division I, followed by Pipe & Steel Industrial in second and Claymar Industrial in third.

In Division II, Turner Industrial Maintenance took first, Cajun Industries placed second, and CAM Industrial Solutions took third. In Division III, Performance Contractors earned first, Brown & Root was second, and Turner Industries Group placed third. In specialty trades – environmental, Division I winners included Insight Environmental in first, Evergreen

North American Industrial Services in second, and United States Environmental Services (USES Group) in third. In specialty trades – soft craft, Division I winners included Industrial Specialists in first, followed by The Foust Group/Coating Services Inc. in second. In Division II, BrandSafway earned first, Turner Specialty Services second, and Petrin third. Division III winners were Apache Industrial in first and Brock Services in second. For specialty trades – hard craft, Division I was led by Pala Interstate in first, with ControlWorx, John H. Carter Company in second, and Reliant Recycling in third. SWAT earned first place in Division II, followed

by Triad Electric and Controls in second. MMR Constructors took first in Division III. In technical support, Precision Inspection Services led Division I, followed

by Loadstar in second and Austin Fire Systems in third. Division II winners included IRSIDNT in first, aXion Logistics in second, and Sentinel Integrity Solutions in third. Total Safety earned first

place in Division III, with PSC Group in second and Nalco Water, An Ecolab Company, in third.

Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson announced that 10 attorneys have been named to the 2025 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers and 12 more were recognized as Rising Stars, highlighting a broad spectrum of legal expertise across both its Baton Rouge and New Orleans offices. Super Lawyers from the Baton Rouge office include David R. Cassidy in tax; Murphy J. Foster III in construction litigation; Thomas R. Temple Jr. in civil litigation: defense; and Douglas K. Williams in personal injury medical malpractice: defense. Rising Stars from Baton Rouge include Danielle L. Borel in business litigation; Alexa N. Candelora and Joseph J. Cefalu III in civil litigation: defense; David C. Fleshman in construction litigation; Alexandra C. Hains in employment and labor; Kelsey Luckett in class action; Catherine B. Moore in health care; and Sarah A. Perkins in administrative law.

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Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters service, recognizes outstanding attorneys who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement across more than 70 practice areas.

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University will honor alumni at its 2025 Hall of Distinction ceremony: Distinguished Graduate Award: Vikki Lee Wilbon, founder of Rosebuds Inc., recognized for her work in community outreach and health education; Shining Star Award: Mary Kathryn Edwards, a Monroe-based nurse practitioner and mental health advocate; Rising Star Award: Tyler Vizier, CRNA and mentor, recognized for his leadership in medical recruitment and policy.

St. James Place has been named a 2025 Best Independent Living Community by U.S. News & World Report, the only Louisiana community to earn this distinction. It also received Emblem Awards for food and dining and activities and enrichment.

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BUSINESS REPORT’S EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY GRADUATES 2025 S PRING CL A S S

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Ashle’ Young

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Chief Risk Officer Investar Bank

Director, Health Equity & Belonging Workforce Culture & Inclusion , Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Inc.

Executive Director EnvisioNBR

President JH operating Company

Devyn MacDonald

Elizabeth Griffin

Fabie Bennett Derbigny

Heather Blaylock

Digital Operations Manager Melara Enterprises

Facility Manager Wampold Companies

Joshua Kozan

Joy Antoine

Manager Baton Rouge Water Company

Lyndsey Bain

Auditing Manager Young Life Baton Rouge

Rodney Anthony

Community Education Manager Woman’s Hospital

Data Analyst John Deere

Mandy Shipp

Interior Design Director Tipton Associates APAC

Kenyetta Sewell

Human Resources Director Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East

Michael Lasher

Director of Clinical Research Pelican State Credit Union

Regional Construction Manager Lemoine

Russell Gardner

Samantha Booker-Bienemy

Engineering Discipline LeaderT. Baker Smith LLC

Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Woman’s Hospital

Bryce Risher Partner DNA Workshop

Heather Jones

Caroline Rowley Marketing Director Benny’s Car Wash

James Bayard

Timothy Kimmel

Weston Moreau

Chief Lending Officer Essential Credit Union

CEO Shoppers Value Foods

Joshua Henderson

Area Director Young Life Baton Rouge

Sr. Manager Corporate Quality and Continuous Improvement Community Coffee Company

Certified Financial Planner Capital South Wealth Management LLC

Construction Services Manager Wesley Construction Company

Kimberly Koehl

Kristyn Starkovich

LaQuinton Nimox

Lindsey Junca

Miranda Thomas

Nicole Marchand

Gonzales Group Manager McKim & Creed

Communications Director EBRPHA

Steven Chustz

Senior Project Manager Group Contractors, LLC

CEO/Founder Rivalry Consulting

Partner DNA Workshop

Patrick Bull

Media Director DAA Media + Marketing

General Manager Cintas

Taylor Brian

Thomas Frazier

Associate Media Director DAA Media + Marketing

Project Manager BUILD Commercial Construction, LLC

LEAR N | CON N ECT | G ROW Environmental Principal Providence Engineering and Enviromental Group LLC

Danielle Satawa

VISIT B R LEADE RSH I PACADE MY.COM TO APPLY FOR FALL 2025 TODAY

VP/Trust Advisor Hancock Whitney Bank

Rod Braud

Owner/CEO Gonzales Electric Gates

Tiffany Anthony

Director of Business Enterprise UpLIFTD

YO U R B U S I N E S S C O M PA N Y N E W S

L’Auberge Baton Rouge has received the AAA Four Diamond rating for the third consecutive year, placing it among the top 6% of hotels evaluated nationally.

Leanne Redman of Pennington Biomedical Research Center has received the 2025 E.V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition, recognizing her groundbreaking work in women’s health and childhood obesity prevention. Redman serves as associate executive director for scientific education and director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center, where she leads the Reproductive Endocrinology and Women’s Health Laboratory. Over the past 15 years, Redman’s research has brought more than $50 million in funding to Pennington Biomedical.

She has played a national leadership role in shaping how nutritional science addresses fertility, maternal health and early-childhood metabolic outcomes. The researcher’s work continues to position Louisiana as a hub for pioneering health research.

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YO U R B U S I N E S S M O V I N G U P

Woman’s Hospital has been named one of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals 2025 by Newsweek and Statista for the third consecutive year, earning the highest five-ribbon designation.

EDUCATION River Parishes Community College will launch its new health information technology program this fall, preparing students for careers in medical coding, health information management and health care access. The program has been selected as a Future Education Model demonstration site by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Health Information Management, placing RPCC among a small group of institutions shaping the next generation of HIM education. This designation reflects the college’s commitment to aligning curriculum with real-world employer needs in a rapidly evolving health care landscape.

Program graduates will be positioned to meet growing demand in hospitals, physician practices and insurance companies.

BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

LAWRENCE BAKER JR. Lane Regional Medical Center

BART FOLSE Louisiana Independent Hospital Network Coalition

HEALTH CARE Lane Regional Medical Center has appointed Lawrence Baker Jr. as chief strategic initiatives officer and physician recruitment director. In this dual role, he will shape long-term strategies to strengthen the hospital’s service lines and lead physician recruitment efforts.

A 23-year U.S. Army infantry veteran and retired lieutenant colonel, Baker brings more than three decades of leadership experience, including six years in hospital administration. He will also guide community engagement and oversee the Lane Foundation’s philanthropic activities.

Bart Folse has been named CEO of the Louisiana Independent

REED PERÉ Danos

Hospital Network Coalition, a collaborative of more than 25 independent hospitals across the state.

He most recently served as chief operating officer of Bayou Bend Health System and brings private equity, consulting and executive leadership experience to the role.

Folse aims to unite member hospitals around shared challenges in health care access, cost and quality. He is also active in professional organizations and holds certifications in rural health and Lean Six Sigma.

RETAIL The Royal Standard has named longtime team member Emily Dykes as CEO. Dykes first joined

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JEFF SKAGGS LUBA Casualty Insurance Company

BRENT TOUPS LUBA Casualty Insurance Company

the company as a sales associate in 1999 and helped lead its growth to eight retail locations and more than 5,800 wholesale accounts nationwide. With a background in accounting and operations, she has been instrumental in the company’s expansion and supply chain development. She succeeds founders Mark and Krista Peirce and will lead the Southern lifestyle brand into its next era.

INDUSTRY Danos has promoted Reed Peré to president of production services, overseeing offshore and land production, technical services, coastal restoration and logistics. A 20-year energy industry veteran,

TYLER TRAWEEK Health and Safety Council Louisiana

SCOTT D. WILSON Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP

Peré joined the company in 2006 and has held multiple leadership roles, including vice president of business development. He is credited with improving operational performance and building strategic service lines that support longterm growth. As president, he will drive innovation across Danos’ production division.

INSURANCE Jeff Skaggs has been promoted to senior vice president of underwriting and loss control at LUBA Casualty Insurance. Since joining LUBA in 2022 as vice president of special projects, he has advanced initiatives in operational strategy and agent relationships. Skaggs

brings 38 years of insurance industry experience, including leadership roles at national carriers and Texas Mutual. In his new role, he will lead underwriting operations and collaborate with the sales team to reinforce LUBA’s market position.

LUBA Casualty Insurance has appointed Brent Toups as vice president, sales manager. He brings over 25 years of experience in workers’ compensation insurance, with prior roles in underwriting, marketing and premium audit. Toups will focus on expanding agency partnerships and driving LUBA’s market growth across the Southeast. A native of Thibodaux, he is also active in civic and conservation efforts in his community.

NONPROFITS The Health and Safety Council Louisiana has named Tyler Traweek as regional director of operations – East Louisiana.

Based in Gonzales, he will lead the launch of HASC Louisiana’s new regional office and drive

operational excellence in safety training and compliance. Traweek has extensive experience in HSE leadership across multiple industries and is known for improving safety culture and regulatory performance. His appointment supports HASC’s mission of elevating workforce readiness and risk prevention statewide.

LEGAL Veteran employment law attorney Scott D. Wilson has joined Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson as of counsel in the firm’s Baton Rouge office. With a legal career spanning more than 30 years, he has handled over 185 federal cases and more than 35 appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Wilson represents both employers and employees in matters involving discrimination, wage disputes, whistleblower claims and other labor issues. He also brings experience in commercial litigation and constitutional law.

Relationships that grow.

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People who make time to listen. Tools that make things happen in a flash. At Red River Bank, local talent and global technology work together every day, building your financial successes—and simplifying your life. Come bank with us.

We’re your people.

redriverbank.net | (225) 923-0232

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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Raedtha A. Vasquez Partner, Jones Walker

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The real beauty of Mahjong is in the shared laughter and camaraderie between friends.”

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BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025 | BusinessReport.com

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Lynn Whitty, Master Certified Sales Consultant

Gwen Wild, Vice President of Customer Experience

2025 MercedesBenz G 550

Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge congratulates this year’s class of Influential Women in Business! Your leadership, drive, and impact continue to inspire and shape our community.

Here’s to breaking barriers and building futures!

10949 Airline Highway • Baton Rouge (225) 424-2277 • www.mbobr.com

Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge

@MBOBR

@MBOBR

@mercedesbenzbatonrouge

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, May 2025

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