COMPANY NEWS
Community Coffee Co. announced the grand opening of its newest sales and warehouse location in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City location is the first in Oklahoma and joins 29 other sales locations across the south. It will serve as a sales and distribution center for the Oklahoma and Texas region.
A local team has developed an algorithm to help universities and other educational institutions predict retention rates. GoalKeeper has hired dezinsInternational to bring its idea to completion through custom programming and web development. This algorithm includes a list of interventions and an evaluation of program effectiveness, such as tutoring and individual counseling sessions to keep retention rates higher.
AWARDS | HONORS
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Elected to the Capital Area United Way board of directors are Stephanie Anderson, Woman’s Hospital; Mark Brantley, Jacobs Engineering; Ty Hingle, Mattress Direct; Pastor Raymond Jetson, Star Hill Church; Kelli Joseph, St. Helena Parish Schools; Danny Montelaro, Regions Financial Corp.; Aaron Stanford, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management; and Erin Monroe Wesley, Baton Rouge Area Chamber. New board officers are: Ralph Bender, Manship Media, board chairman; Stephen Toups, Turner Industries Group, chairman-elect; Randy Young, Kean Miller, secretary; Stanford, treasurer; Joanie Montelaro, community volunteer, resource development chairwoman; Jesse Hogard, Cellcontrol-Technology to Stop Distracted Driving, community impact chairman; Dr. Stewart Gordon, Louisiana Healthcare Connections, community impact chairman-elect; Matthew Rachleff, I-Mpact, communications and marketing chairman; Stan Levy, FUSE, communications and marketing chairman-Eeect; Robert Schneckenburger, JP Morgan Chase and Whitney Vann, WBRZ, major gifts co-chairs; Mark Brantley, Jacobs Engineering, Gottlieb Society chairman; Pat Van Burkleo, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Baton Rouge, community partner agency representative; and Mike Albano, The Dow Chemical Co., past board chair/governance committee. The 2014 campaign cabinet chairman, Stevie Toups of Turner Industries, was recognized along with his campaign cabinet volunteers for the success of the 2014 Workforce Campaign, raising more than $9.4 million through community contributions. The Big Five Awards—the organization’s most prestigious awards—were awarded to Lumehouse, Outstanding Media Award; McMains Children’s Developmental Center, Community Impact Award; Albano, Outstanding Board Member Award; Methanex, Standard of Excellence Award; and Edy Addison, Myron Falk Award.
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Cardiovascular Institute of the South’s 14 clinic locations have been designated as Level One “WellSpots” by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Well-Ahead initiative. CIS clinics represent 14 of 38 Level One well-spots in the state. Well-Ahead designates as WellSpots places and spaces that have implemented voluntary, smart changes to encourage healthy lifestyles for all Louisiana residents. CIS has received the highest designation of Level One for programs such as a tobacco-free campus policy, which was instituted in 2009, and an employee wellness program, which includes employee screenings and provides health challenges, workshops, coaching and more for employees.
Six students who attended high school in the Greater Baton Rouge area were awarded scholarships by the Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Foundation to further their culinary and hospitality-related studies at a post-secondary institution. In total, the LRAEF, through its Scholarship Fund, awarded $70,000 in scholarships to 33 students. The Greater Baton Rouge-area recipients who received scholarships are Tate Jones, Johnson & Wales University; Jordan McClelland, Thien Nguyen and TaShira Green, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University; and Mica Salter and Traci Vincent, Louisiana Culinary Institute.
Ochsner Medical Center has again been ranked among the best hospitals in the country in six medical specialties, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2015-16 Best Hospitals rankings. This is the 15th time since 1996 Ochsner has been recognized among the Best Hospitals in America. Ochsner was ranked No. 1 in Louisiana and was recognized among the Best Hospitals in Southeastern Louisiana.
Seventeen Baton Rouge attorneys from Phelps Dunbar were named to the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers. Those recognized are: Jeffrey Barbin, gaming law; Jonathan Benda, banking and finance law; Shelton Dennis Blunt, commercial litigation; Allen Darden, commercial litigation, litigation/intellectual property, litigation/patent, and trademark law; Susan Furr, employment law/management, labor law/management, litigation/labor and employment; Paul Guarisco, energy regulatory law; Karleen Green, employee benefits (ERISA) law; J. Alan Harrell, litigation/environmental; Michael Hunt, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, and litigation/construction; H. Alston Johnson III, appellate practice and workers’ compensation law/employers; Thomas Kiggans, employment law/management, labor law/management, and litigation/labor and employment; Steven Levine, environmental law and railroad law; Richard Matheny, tax law; Marshall Redmon, insurance law, professional malpractice law/defendants and reinsurance law; P. Ragan Richard, banking and finance law, franchise law, and real estate law; Randy Roussel, banking and finance law, and real estate law; and John Shirley, energy law and government relations practice.
Five Baton Rouge attorneys from Phelps Dunbar were designated as “Lawyer of the Year” for 2016 by The Best Lawyers in America. The Lawyer of the Year award is presented to one lawyer in a particular practice area and metropolitan area, and the lawyer has to have been recognized on the same year’s Best Lawyers in America listing. They are Susan Furr, employment law/management; H. Alston Johnson III, appellate practice; Thomas Kiggans, litigation/labor and employment; Richard Matheny, tax law; and Randy Roussel, real estate law. This was the second year in a row Roussel and Kiggans were named Lawyers of the Year.
APPOINTMENTS | MEMBERSHIPS
Tuncer “Tony” Arikol of Professional Engineering Consultants Corp. has been elected president of the board of governors of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Louisiana for 2015-16. Other Baton Rouge-area officers and board members elected at the association’s recent annual meeting include President-Elect Robert Schmidt of AECOM; board member Lynne Roussel of Terracon; and chapter president Laurence Lambert of Stantec.
Serving as officers on the Downtown Business Association board are Lauralyn Maranto of Visit Baton Rouge, president; Rick Volland of Capital City Grill/Stroubes/Jolie Pearl, vice president; Wade Iverstine of Kean Miller, secretary; Libby McKerley of Harris, DeVille & Associates, treasurer; and Gary Anderson of LiftFund, immediate past chair. Other board members include Gabe Vicknair, Downtown Development District; Chris Brooks, Launch Media; Margaret Chappuis, Hotel Indigo; and Robert Hebert, MayerIT.
David Laxton III has been appointed to the board of directors of Business First Bancshares, parent company of Business First Bank. He joins the board with more than 35 years of experience in the energy and distribution industries. Laxton previously served on the board of directors of American Gateway Bank from 1996 until its merger earlier this year with Business First Bank. He served as chairman for five years and also as chairman of the audit committee.
The following Louisiana Bar Foundation members have been appointed as chairs of community partnership panels and committees: Valerie Briggs Bargas, attorney with Kinchen, Walker, Bienvenu, Bargas, Reed & Helm, LBF treasurer and chair of the budget/investment and grants committees; Lana Crump, attorney with Kean Miller, chair of the LBF Capital Area CCP; Harry “Skip” Philips Jr., attorney with Taylor Porter, co-chair of the LBF annual gala committee; E. Jane Sherman, attorney at law, co-chair of the development committee; and Michelle Sorrells, with the law firm Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, co-chair of the LBF Kids’ Chance Scholarship Committee.
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Ann Wise has been appointed to serve a fourth six-year term as director of the Division of Administrative Law. The DAL is Louisiana’s centralized administrative hearings tribunal, which provides impartial administrative law judges who conduct hearings for dozens of executive branch agencies. The DAL docketed 15,874 cases during the 2015 fiscal year. Wise was the founding director of DAL and has served since 1996. She ranks as the second-longest serving director among centralized state administrative law courts.
PHILANTHROPY | GRANTS
The Louisiana Bar Foundation is awarding $5.8 million in grants statewide to nonprofit organizations that provide free legal aid to those in need. Receiving funding were Baton Rouge Bar Foundation ($54,404), Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center ($6,706), Chez Hope ($21,191), Loyola College of Law Clinic/Workplace Justice Project ($16,667), Martinet Legal Foundation ($5,556), Metropolitan Center for Women and Children ($35,976), NO/AIDS Task Force Louisiana ($5,556), and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services ($1,289,000).
