Lafayette-based advertising agency BBR won eight American Advertising Awards, including six Gold awards and two Silver awards, presented by Lafayette’s American Advertising Federation chapter, AAF Acadiana. Additionally, three individual achievements were awarded to BBR employees:
a Special Judges Award, Electronic Producer of the Year and the competition’s top honor, the Silver Medal Award. The American Advertising Awards is the advertising industry’s largest competition. Winners, chosen by a panel of judges, are recognized for their creative excellence in advertising. The Acadiana ceremony’s highest honor was bestowed upon Monica Hebert, BBR’s director of media services and 23-year veteran of the marketing industry. This award recognizes a leader in the community who has made outstanding contributions to advertising as well as areas of social concern. BBR also won a Gold Stevie Award in the Fastest Growing Business of the Year category at the 13th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Stevies are the world’s preeminent business awards for female entrepreneurs, executives and employees and the organizations they run. In 2016 BBR was named to the Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest Growing Private Companies.
Lenny Lemoine, president and CEO for The Lemoine Company, delivered the keynote address to graduates during South Louisiana Community College’s Spring 2017 graduation in the Cajundome Convention Center. More than 400 students were candidates for graduation. Lemoine Company leaders recently invested $30,000 to support student scholarships through an endowment at SLCC. The endowment will support SLCC’s College to Church effort, which brings educational opportunities to underserved populations through religious congregations. The $30,000 Lemoine investment will be matched with $20,000 from the Louisiana Board of Regents for a $50,000 total endowment. Last year the company earned the No. 9 spot on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Private Companies in the region with $185 million in 2015 revenues; in 2013, Lemoine was named ABiz’s Entrepreneur of the Year.
CPA Ann M. Pham has been named partner at the accounting firm Phillips, Goodson & Co. Pham has 10 years of experience with the firm and an extensive background in tax, accounting and auditing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UL Lafayette and a master’s degree in accounting from LSU. She obtained her CPA license in 2011.
Lafayette General has opened a comprehensive sleep center as part of Neuroscience Center of Acadiana, located at 136 Hospital Drive. Drs. Adam Foreman and Kevin R. Hargrave have teamed up as co-medical directors of Sleep Center of Acadiana at Lafayette General, to form the only comprehensive sleep medicine facility in Lafayette with two neurologists board certified in sleep.
Mike Wolff has been named director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana, leading efforts to identify the needs mostly of small and medium-size manufacturers and build MEPOL’s capabilities to meet those needs. MEPOL is operated by LCTCS in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and a national network of Manufacturing Extension Partnerships. MEPOL provides a full range of services to manufacturers and can connect manufacturers to workforce development services offered by all 13 LCTCS colleges. Wolff held several roles during more than 25 years working for TJ International and Weyerhaeuser in Natchitoches. Since leaving Weyerhaeuser in 2014, he has served as vice president, economic development, for the Natchitoches Community Alliance Foundation; the manufacturing center coordinator for the Central Louisiana Technical Community College; and as a business coach providing business acceleration services for the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. He has an MBA from Tulane University and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Texas A&M University. He lives in Natchitoches.
Acadian Companies’ marketing and public relations department has welcomed two new staff members, Digital Content Specialist Beth Chiasson and Marketing Specialist Shelley Duran, and promoted Caitlin Russo to senior marketing specialist. Chiasson’s primary role is to oversee social media and web communications for Acadian’s six divisions across three states. She has 15 years of communications experience, having previously handled public relations for the Lafayette Public Library and Lafayette Utilities System, as well as television news producing in both the Lafayette and Tampa, Fla., markets. The Lafayette native received her bachelor’s degree in mass communication from LSU and her MBA from UL Lafayette. She is a graduate of Leadership Lafayette XXVIII, currently serves as president of the Public Relations Association of Louisiana and is communications chair of Leadership Institute of Acadiana. Duran is overseeing marketing management and strategy for divisions Acadian Total Security and Safety Management Systems. She graduated from UL with a bachelor’s degree in public relations in 2009. She has experience working for print magazines and ad agencies in New Orleans and most recently served as a copywriter for LHC Group. A native of Moss Bluff, Duran is also a graduate of Leadership Iberia and is a One Acadiana ambassador. Russo has been a marketing specialist with Acadian since September 2014. She writes press releases and external communications, monitors news coverage, manages social media and oversees marketing strategy and campaigns for Acadian’s six divisions. Additionally, she assists with the company’s internal communications. The Lafayette native holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from UL. She also serves on the board of the705 and Keep Lafayette Beautiful.
Philip T. DeBaillon has joined Gordon Arata Montgomery Barnett, the newly named law firm resulting from the merger of Gordon, Arata, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan with Montgomery Barnett. The firm has offices in New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Houston. DeBaillon, a fifth generation attorney, is an associate in the Lafayette office where he focuses his practice on representing trustees as well as creditors, such as banks and financial institutions, and debtors in bankruptcy matters in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana. DeBaillon previously served as a trustee in a Chapter 11 case before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. During law school, he interned for Judge Ed Broussard of the 15th JDC. He received his J.D. from Loyola University and bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from UL Lafayette.
Gene Brown has joined C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates’ underwater acoustics imaging division as a technical consultant. Brown has more than 35 years of experience in applied research and development. He earned a master’s degree in oceanography with a hydrography option in 1981 and went on to work as a physical scientist/oceanographer at the Naval Oceanographic Office Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. He earned his Ph.D. in computational physics in 2004 from the University of Southern Mississippi.