All aboard: Local entrepreneur Beverly Arceneaux has opened an Expedia CruiseShipCenters franchise at 12654 Perkins Road. According to a news release, Arceneaux recently came out of retirement to open the franchise, which offers cruise vacations and more through its 225 locations across North America. Expedia CruiseShipCenters is part of Expedia Inc., one of the largest travel companies in the world. The local franchise will offer personal travel consultations in person, via email or by phone. In the meantime, Arceneaux is actively recruiting travel consultants to work full-time or part-time.
Going down: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Nov. 26 decreased from the previous week’s total, The Associated Press reports. The state labor department figures released today show initial claims fell to 2,029 from the previous week’s total of 3,068. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,554. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,547 from the previous week’s average of 2,664. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Nov.12 decreased to 22,984 compared to 23,066 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 23,171 from the previous week’s average of 23,371.
New market: Lafayette-based IberiaBank is expanding into Greenville, South Carolina, and has hired longtime South Carolina resident Samuel L. Erwin to serve as executive vice president and regional president. According to a news release, Erwin most recently served as regional president for upstate South Carolina for United Community Bank, where he led the bank’s retail and commercial loan efforts. “Our expansion strategy into new markets is predicated on recruiting outstanding leadership and teams to successfully deploy our market-centric business model that focuses on serving client needs,” says IberiaBank CEO and President Daryl G. Byrd in a statement. IberiaBank already has 199 bank branch offices and three loan production offices in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Read the full announcement.
