A look at what's going on in the local business community.
Gary Keller, who retired from Opelousas General Health System late last year after serving as president and CEO for eight years, has rejoined Schumacher Group as executive vice president. Keller has as long history with Schumacher Group, where he first served as executive VP and principal in 1995. It was under Keller's leadership that Schumacher grew from $3 million in annual revenues to $270 million in the first 12 years of operation and expanded from Louisiana into 16 states. After retiring from Schumacher in 2007, Keller continued to serve as a board member before being named CEO at Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital, where he remained until moving over to Opelousas General. A native of Baton Rouge, Keller began his career in hospital administration in 1975 at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. He earned a BA from LSU in 1968 where he was a Distinguished Military Graduate. In 1975 he completed his MA in management and supervision from Central Michigan University. He has previously held major leadership positions with Quorum Health Resources and Hospital Management Professionals, as well as conducted an active consulting practice. Schumacher Group also announced that Keith Cantrell of Dallas has been promoted to the newly created position of chief revenue officer, an executive level position in which he will oversee revenue operations for its emergency medicine, hospital medicine and urgent care divisions. The Texas native has more than 15 years of health care revenue cycle management experience on both the provider and payer side. He joined Schumacher as senior vice president of revenue operations last year, having previously worked for EmCare, Pinnacle Anesthesia, Deloitte Consulting, KPMG and Arthur Andersen.
In late January, marketing, advertising and public relations agency Graham Group announced staff and management changes. Veteran Graham Group employee Kathy Andersen, who previously served as vice president/account supervisor, has been promoted to senior vice president/account service. Andersen is responsible for supervising all strategic planning associated with client accounts. Cori Webre, who has been with Graham Group since 2005, handling several of the agency's prominent accounts, has been promoted from account executive to senior account executive. She expands her oversight of projects to include coordinating marketing and media plans and assisting with creative strategy and direction. Graham Group also announced the return of Mary Coleman, who has assumed the position of production manager. Coleman is responsible for maintaining the production schedule throughout the creation process to ensure timely and accurate results for the company's clients and managing the production bidding process. Coleman first worked for the Graham Group in 1990. New to the team are Candace Domengeaux and Lori Joubert Cherry. An account executive, Domengeaux previously worked as a marketing and communications professional for more than 17 years with a variety of organizations, including TMP Worldwide, SRJ Marketing and Baylor Health Care System. Cherry joins Graham Group as public relations account executive and is responsible for developing and implementing earned media strategies. She recently served as the deputy commissioner of public affairs for the Louisiana Department of Insurance and spent 10 years in the corporate communications division of Southwest Airlines.
MidSouth Bancorp Inc. announced that businessman Leonard Q. "Pete" Abington has been named to its Board of Directors and to the Board of its subsidiary, MidSouth Bank. For the past 28 years, Abington served as Chairman of Many, Louisiana-based Peoples State Bank, which merged with MidSouth Bank in December. Now serving on MidSouth Bank's Directors' Loan Committee and the Bank Compliance and Bank Building Committees, he remains active in the operations of the bank. A lifelong Many resident and Louisiana Tech alumnus, Abington formed the one-bank holding company PSB Financial Corporation in 1984 and purchased the outstanding shares of Peoples State Bank. He was the bank's primary shareholder until its merger with MidSouth Bank. For three decades, Abington owned and operated automobile dealerships throughout the state and now works as a real estate developer and cattle farmer. He also is a partner in nursing homes in Many, Mansfield, Zwolle, Rosepine, Kinder, Lake Charles, DeQuincy and Pineville.
In March 2012 Advance Products & Systems completed a 65,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at 108 Asset Ave., the same location of a 2010 fire that destroyed its manufacturing facility. In December the company held a dedication and blessing of the new facility by Msgr. Charles Mallet. APS presented a $1,000 check to the Lafayette Firefighters' History Organization for its fundraiser for the refurbishment of a 1924 fire engine to be used in parades.