Doug Meaux has joined Graham Group Interactive's Web development team as operations manager. He works out of the firm's Lafayette office and also supervises staff in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans offices. Meaux previously was general manager/business development manager at Firefly Digital and also worked for Global Data Systems.
Shannon Lynd has been promoted to senior vice president of production at Bizzuka Inc. Lynd manages all product and client-side implementations and plays a critical role in Bizzuka's user interface design and development. A graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in management information systems, Lynd joined Bizzuka three years ago with programming and marketing experience. Bizzuka also has hired Brian Bille as director of marketing. Bille will develop and manage all aspects of the company's integrated marketing strategy, including public relations, trade shows, direct response campaigns, and multi-channel sales programs. A UL Lafayette grad, Bille has more than nine years of business and marketing experience and previously was director of marketing and communications for BodyMasters.
Fred Reggie of Fred Reggie Associates LLC was the featured speaker at the Southwest States Resource Conservation and Development Association's annual meeting at the Lafayette Hilton. His topic was volunteerism and how to maximize volunteer efforts through unique recruitment and training practices. Fred Reggie Associates provides consulting services to non-profits and small businesses, assisting them with volunteer training, sponsorship development and strategic planning. For 10 years Reggie served as national director of the St. Jude Dream Home program.
Brady Mouton has joined Regions Bank as vice president of business development for the Lafayette area. He previously served as director of business recruiting at LEDA. Mouton is responsible for managing commercial banking relationships and new business development for the Lafayette area. He graduated from UL Lafayette and has 12 years of banking experience. Additionally, Regions Financial Corp., parent company of Regions Bank, has completed its merger with AmSouth Bancorporation. AmSouth's 30 locations in south Louisiana will be merged into Regions' banking system within the next 12 to 18 months.
Scott Dore' has been promoted from lead programmer to research and development manager at Firefly Digital. The Lafayette native graduated from UL Lafayette with a bachelor's degree in computer science and has been with Firefly for five years. Additionally, Erica Doyle has joined the firm as account service manager. She will also assist in client marketing, web strategy and project management. Doyle is originally from Ville Platte and graduated from UL with a bachelor's degree in marketing. She recently worked as assistant manager of Ann Taylor Loft in Lafayette and previously served as a store manager for Abercrombie & Fitch for five years.
Gulf Coast Bank has promoted the following to assistant vice president-branch managers: Janice Richard Morvant, Erath location; Carey Chopin, Ambassador Dover; Maria Lopez Pitre, 1405 Kaliste Saloom; Cathy Roy, 4310 Johnston St.; Heather Frederick Dawson, Maurice; Kristin Blankenship, downtown Congress Street; Anna B. Langlinais, Delcambre; Ray L. Dugal III, Abbeville Wal-Mart. Additionally, Jennifer "Jenny" Milligan, who oversees all aspects of lending processing and approval and supervises the loan servicing department, was promoted to vice president of the main branch on South State Street in Abbeville, and Micah Brooks Cockrell has been named investment representative. Cockrell, who works out of the bank's 711 Congress St. location, is licensed to sell life insurance and has a Series 7 broker's license, allowing him to sell fixed annuities, variable annuities, mutual funds, stocks and bonds.
The History Channel and American Association of State and Local Historians announced that the Acadian Museum in Erath has been chosen to receive a $3,500 grant to recognize the museum's outstanding preservation work in the wake of Hurricane Rita. The grant will assist in further restoration of the museum and help rebuild its collections after it was flooded with 2 feet of storm water in 2005.
Applications are being accepted through March 30 for the St. Martin Land Company 2007 Scholarship. The scholarship program is now in its second year. It was established by the Community Foundation of Acadiana, and the scholarship application and selection process is being administered with the assistance of St. Martin Bank and Trust Co. Community Foundation of Acadiana will annually award the scholarships (monies come from the St. Martin Land Company Scholarship Fund) to two St. Martin Parish residents or students. Applicants must be a St. Martin Parish resident or student in a private or public school in St. Martin Parish and may be recommended by any currently employed teacher of a public or private secondary school system in St. Martin Parish, a St. Martin Land Company Board member or a St. Martin Bank designee. Two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded and may be used in any established and accredited university, college, community college or trade school with the approval of the Scholarship Selection Committee. The award is to be presented in conjunction with the recipients' graduation ceremony. For more info, contact St. Martin Bank's Michelle Broussard at 394-7851.
Kelly LeBlanc has joined MidSouth Bank as retail store manager of its banking facility on Camellia Boulevard, located on the bottom floor of River Ranch's Onebane Law Firm building. She will oversee the day-to-day operations of the corporate-style retail store and develop new business in the Lafayette market. LeBlanc previously worked as a branch manager for Fidelity Bank in Baton Rouge and has more than five years of banking experience. She has a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Arkansas. Also at MidSouth, Janice Landry has re-joined the bank as retail store manager of its Breaux Bridge banking center. Landry has 29 years of experience, previously managing Whitney Bank's Johnston Street branch. Before that, she spent 15 years at MidSouth Bank ' working her way up to retail store manager and then training director. A Milton native, Landry replaces Cory Spring, who was transferred to MidSouth Bank's Johnston Street location.
James M. Dill, principal partner of The Dill Firm in Lafayette, has been re-elected to the Trucking Industry Defense Association's board of directors. TIDA is an international organization whose members defend the trucking industry in personal injury, property damage and worker's compensation claims. TIDA serves more than 1,000 members from the trucking industry, including in-house counsel, trucking attorneys in private practice, claims, safety, and risk management professionals at trucking and truck insurance companies and claims servicing organizations.
A number of telecom companies with Lafayette operations made it onto DiversityInc.'s annual Top 50 Companies for Diversity, with AT&T earning the No. 3 spot and Verizon Communications ranking 6th. The monthly business magazine's Top 50 companies hire 42 percent people of color (these minorities make up only 29 percent of the U.S. work force). Such minority groups also account for 25 percent of these companies' management, versus 12 percent nationwide. While the biz pub's Top 50 list represents only 5 percent of the U.S. work force, it employs 17 percent of the college-educated people of color. Jacqui Vines, who serves as general manager of Cox Greater Louisiana, says diversity is a critical part of Cox's culture, values and operations. Cox Communications moved up from No. 32 to No. 25 on the list. "It is truly a business priority throughout the company," she says.
The Lafayette Young Lawyers, a section of the Lafayette Parish Bar Association, announced that Lafayette High School won the Judge Richard N. Ware IV Memorial Statewide High School Mock Trial State Competition held in Gretna, and team member Jean-Paul Jacquet won the Best Student Attorney Award. This marks the first time a team from the Acadiana area has won the state tournament. Lafayette High School's team will go on to represent Louisiana in the National High School Mock Trial Championship May 10-12 in Dallas. The competition introduces high school students to the legal profession and affords them an opportunity to participate in a trial experience by acting as attorneys and witnesses in a courtroom setting.