On staff: Baton Rouge-based management consulting firm Emergent Method has hired Anthony Napolitano as its vice president to oversee the company’s newly formed technology services business unit. Napolitano has more than 15 years of experience in providing information technology and business consulting services, including serving as a director for CGI Group. For the past four years, he has served as deputy project manager for Louisiana’s Common Access Front End technology implementation and transformation project, where he led efforts on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Napolitano’s hire comes just weeks after the company hired Norisha Kirts as a senior consultant. Kirts formerly was director of development at the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business.
More inclusive: Baton Rouge has made some progress over the past year in establishing laws and policies that ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual residents are treated equally, according to the latest annual report on LGBT inclusion from the Human Rights Campaign. Baton Rouge scores a 32 out of a possible 100 points in the report. While that’s still considerably lower than many other U.S. cities—including New Orleans, which has a score of 91—it’s up sharply from a 22 score last year. In the 2013 report, Baton Rouge scored a 7, which was among the lowest scores of any U.S. city. The HRC Municipal Equality Index evaluates cities on 41 criteria that fall under five categories: nondiscrimination laws, municipal employment policies, inclusiveness of city services, law enforcement and municipal leadership on matters of equality. See the report on Baton Rouge and access the scores of cities across Louisiana and the U.S.
In the works: Jeremy Alford, publisher and editor of LaPolitics, is teaming up with New Orleans-based freelance journalist Tyler Bridges to write a book on Louisiana politics that will be released late next spring. Alford and Bridges initially set out to write their own books—one that Alford began reporting on at the Washington Mardi Gras earlier this year and another that Bridges started following his coverage of Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards’ improbable victory this fall. But the two decided to team up as co-authors on a single book that the two say “promises to be a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of this year’s elections,” according to a news release. Though the book, as yet untitled, will “cover all of the intriguing politics of this unforgettable year,” Alford and Bridges say it will focus primarily on the governor’s runoff between Edwards and Vitter.
