Cou-Yon’s Cajun Bar-B-Que celebrated the grand opening of its Port Allen location on July 29 with a “ribbon-chopping” ceremony. Co-owners Michelle Rabalais and Shawn Oubre teamed with Paul Mladenka of Shreveport to create the Cajun-themed Port Allen location as the flagship for future franchises.
EMCO Technologies has started an internal supplier diversity program, which encourages the use of women-owned and minority-owned vendors as suppliers. To launch the program, EMCO Technologies has joined two regional supplier diversity organizations, the Women’s Business Enterprise Council South and the Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance.
Louisiana Lottery’s fiscal revenue topped $381.1 million, the second-highest total overall and highest since 1993. The company reported that scratch-off games, which range in price from $1 to $10, set a record. Louisiana Lottery also transferred to the state $135.9 million in proceeds earmarked for public education.
MedVance Institute, a health care career-training provider, will add an emergency management specialist program at its Baton Rouge campus this fall. The eight-and-a-half-month program will offer 11 courses and teach students how to manage emergencies, promote public health and safety, and provide disaster preparedness training.
TraceSecurity, which provides security compliance and risk management solutions, has signed its 1,000th customer, ESL Federal Credit Union. The Rochester, N.Y.-based credit union has more than 290,000 members, 18 branches and nine operating units.
Zehnder Communications has been named one of six U.S. companies—and one of 50 companies worldwide—to partner with Layar, a cell-phone browser application that opened the next generation of Augmented Reality marketing. Layar uses technology that blends computer-generated information into real-time, on-screen images similar to the yellow first-down marker on football telecasts.
AWARDS/HONORS
The Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has received the Gold Service Award from Meetings & Conventions magazine. The award recognizes convention and visitors bureaus that have excelled in professionalism and dedication in their service to meeting professionals.
Baton Rouge General’s Milton J. Womack Heart Center has been designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. As part of the program, designated hospitals are required to undergo periodic re-evaluation. This review process ensures that Blue Distinction Centers continue to meet rigorous, evidence-based quality thresholds that are established in collaboration with expert physicians and leading professional organizations such as the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Cathi Williams and Ginger Maulden, sales associates for ERA Stirling Properties’ Ascension office, have received the Certified Residential Specialist designation from the Council of Residential Specialists, which is a nonprofit affiliate of the National Realtors Association. The designation recognizes agents who have met specific requirements, including the completion of advanced courses, and have demonstrated professional accomplishments in experience and education.
Dr. Kelly J. Scrantz has been named board chairman for The NeuroMedical Center Clinic. Scrantz, who joined the center in 2006, is board eligible with the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He succeeds Dr. Thomas Flynn, who established the NeuroMedical Center in 1978 when he hired a fellow neurosurgeon and neurologist. Today, The NeuroMedical Center consists of a clinic, surgical hospital and a rehabilitation hospital with more than 25 physicians specializing in the neurosciences and more than 400 employees that provide care to patients in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s Communications Department recently received several national honors for outstanding public relations and marketing projects. The department received a Golden Achievement Award for its “Learn the Facts” marketing campaign, Merit Award in Print Newsletters, External Audience for its “Education Matters,” honorable mention in Excellence in Writing for Public Information Officer Sonya T. Gordon’s “First Year Teacher is an Educational Knockout” and honorable mention for Electronic Newsletter, External Audience for “Superintendent’s eNews” by Gordon and Webmaster Demetris Blakes. The department is under the leadership of Chris Trahan, the director for community and community engagement.
Four nurses at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center—Holly Delatte, Jill LeBlanc, Kym McCoy and Patricia Ramirez—have received the DAISY Award For Extrordinary Nurses. The award, presented in collaboration with the American Organization of Nurse Executives, is part of the DAISY Foundation’s program to recognize the superhuman efforts nurses perform every day.
Gulfport, Miss.-based Hancock Bank ranks No. 12 on U.S. Banker magazine’s list of the top 100 mid-tier banks. The ranking is based on average of return on equity for a three-year period ending in 2008.
Jairo Alvarez, owner of Alvarez Construction Company, was named Volunteer of the Year by the ALSAC/St. Jude Board of Directors. Alvarez was honored for his service to the Dream Home and Promesa y Esperanza campaigns.
Lafayette-based IberiaBank ranks No. 52 on U.S. Banker magazine’s list of the top 100 mid-tier banks. The ranking is based on average of return on equity for a three-year period ending in 2008.
Lee E. Melancon III, the director of academic affairs at the University of Phoenix’s Baton Rouge campus, has received the Academic Affairs Departmental Leadership award. The honor recognizes a director of academic affairs who best demonstrates a commitment to quality of process, procedure, compliance and communication at the departmental, inter-department, campus, college, regional and university levels.
The Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System has received the Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financing Reporting Award for the 2008 fiscal year by the Government Finance Officers Association. The award recognizes excellence for readily understood financial reports that are less technical in nature, while providing interesting financial, actuarial and historical information.
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation has been named one of the 50 top-performing property-casualty insurers in America by Ward Group for the eighth consecutive year. Cincinnati-based Ward Group is a management consulting firm recognized as the leading authority on benchmarking and best practices services for the insurance industry. Each of the 50 companies passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over a five-year period from 2004-08.
LSU assistant professors Donghui Zhang and Michael G. Benton have received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Achievement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The honor recognizes exceptional academic work by junior university faculty across several disciplines, including engineering, mathematics, life sciences and physical sciences. Zhang, a chemist, studies the design and synthesis of new materials, including polymers and molecules, with numerous nanotechnology and biomedical applications. Benton, the Gordon A. and Mary Cain professor of chemical engineering, studies the expression of genes under varying conditions of cellular growth.
Object 9 has received a 2009 Best of Baton Rouge Award in Art Design Services by the U.S. Commerce Association. The award recognizes companies that achieve exceptional marketing success in their local community and enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and clients.
Six attorneys in Adams and Reese’s Baton Rouge office were selected for Best Lawyers in America for 2010, and 56 of the firm’s practice areas were ranked No. 1 by state or market. Baton Rouge attorneys receiving the honor were V. Thomas Clark, insurance law; Richard B. Easterling, government relations law; E.L. Henry, government relations law; Daniel K. Rester, gaming law; and Robert C. Schmidt, employee benefits law. First published in 1983, Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey. For the new U.S. edition, more than 24,126 leading attorneys cast more than 2.8 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in the same and related specialties.
STUN Design and Advertising has received an American Web Design Award for the Noelie Harmon Web site. The award, sponsored by the publication Graphic Design USA, recognizes the power of a well-designed site to attract audiences, communicate information, generate engagement and response, and market products and services. Under the direction of Chuck Sanchez, Brynne Fischer designed the graphics, including the logo, and Blake Cason completed the site layout.
Trish Himel of Capitol City Produce has received the Restaurant Partnership Legend Award by the Louisiana Restaurant Association. The award recognizes employees of suppliers to the restaurant industry with at least 20 years of service at one establishment. Himel has worked in Capitol City Produce’s customer service department since 1978.
ACCREDITATION/CERTIFICATION
Catherine Nipper, a commercial interior designer at Woman’s Hospital, has received LEED accreditation from the United States Green Building Council. LEED accreditation provides employers, policymakers and other stakeholders with assurances of an individual’s current level of competence and is the mark of the most qualified, educated and influential green building professionals in the marketplace and their ability to accurately judge the development of high-performance, healthful, durable and environmentally sound commercial buildings.
