Taking the reins: The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Michael Gerard Duca, currently Bishop of the Diocese of Shreveport, as the new bishop of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Duca succeeds Bishop Robert W. Muench, who is retiring at the after serving in the Baton Rouge area since March 2002. Duca has served in Shreveport since May 2008 and is tentatively scheduled to be installed as the sixth Bishop of Baton Rouge on Friday, Aug. 24, at 2 p.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral. Muench was set to formally introduce Duca at a press conference this morning.
Fresh ideas: The Idea Village, a support hub for startups and organizer of the annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, has named a Jon Atkinson as permanent leader of the nonprofit two years after its co-founder and CEO Emily Madero left. Atkinson is a co-founder of the local angel investment fund Lagniappe Angels and the first director of Loyola University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development. Read the full announcement.
First things first: Business First Bancshares Inc., parent company of Baton Rouge-based Business First Bank, announced it was added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index on June 22 as part of the Russell Indexes annual reconstitution. The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3,000 U.S. companies. Business First has 19 offices, including 18 full-service banking centers, in Louisiana and Texas. Read the full announcement.
