What do you see as Baton Rouge’s greatest assets – biggest differentiators – in attracting investment and talent?
“Our greatest strength starts with the fact that Baton Rouge is a large city sitting right on the Mississippi River; we have a major port and six railroad services. The second strength is the petrochemical industry. At one time in the early ’70s, everybody worked for a plant—your dad, my dad, everybody. Houston’s probably number one in petrochemicals, but we’re right behind them as far as industry. The third thing is LSU. Baton Rouge is riding on the coattails of LSU. Everybody knows LSU. Those are the three things that shine more than anything else—assets that Baton Rouge has that others don’t have.”
Are there assets the Capital Region needs to leverage more effectively?
“We are leaving behind too many individuals because they don’t know what opportunities exist. Walk out of this room and ask someone on the street about these public-private programs, and they have no idea they’re available. In our industry, we saw an opportunity to improve lives by starting with young people. We pay students for good grades and offer scholarships at every branch. The objective is reward for education. There are ideas like that in every company, but there’s no shared vision. We don’t say, “That’s a great idea—let’s do it together.” We’re all busy doing our own thing, heads down, trying to help our employees and industries, but we’re not sharing them or collaborating across industries in the Baton Rouge Community. Because of that, the general population has no clue what’s available to them.”
What challenges must the Capital Region overcome to meet the workforce needs of the future economy?
“During COVID, about 50% of our frontline staff turned over. These weren’t back-office jobs — they were tellers and branch staff. Many found remote work with out-of-state companies. The reality is banking has changed. Many jobs that once required only a high school education are disappearing. We’re replacing those roles with back-office positions that require computer science, data analytics, and accounting skills. We’ve struggled to fill those jobs locally. We primarily develop and promote talent from within, but we have had to recruit from out of state for some key positions. Students don’t realize the range of careers available in banking — CPAs, data analysts, IT professionals. Education and communication about existing career paths is a real gap, and that’s true not just in banking, but across Baton Rouge.”
Baton Rouge residents are notoriously self-critical about their own city. Why is that, and how do we fix it?
“We give the bad actors the microphone. We do it all the time. The newspaper does it. The TV stations do it. Radio does it. We are so bad about amplifying that one dissenting voice. We’re not waving the Baton Rouge flag to promote the good things that are happening. Last week, for the first time, I got to see a downtown suite apartment overlooking the city and the river. It was amazing! I knew we were developing some areas downtown, but I had no idea of how impressive it turned out. It provides a great residential option for professionals. The owners of the apartment said, “We love it down here. We walk our dogs; we go eat over here. Anytime there’s an event, we can walk to it.” It felt like the beginning of the Nashville and Austin experience in Baton Rouge. We’re just on the cusp. But it’s going to take more focus, more vision, and less focusing on the negative. Its time to change the narrative and highlight all the good things we have going on so that we inspire more goodness.”
Get out your crystal balls. What is your five-year outlook for your organization and the Capital Region?
“One of the top priorities over the next few years is continued financial education across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. The need is real, and under our current system, it’s not being met. We’ll continue testing and implementing new digital technologies so that consumers and businesses have faster more efficient access to capital. People will still buy things, and businesses will still need to borrow to grow. We’ve seen significant consolidation in the financial industry, and I don’t see that slowing down. At Pelican, we’ve completed 16 mergers, and I expect we’ll continue at least one per year. In the long run, consumers will benefit from more services and more opportunities but all in a digital world.”
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