New hires and promotions in the Acadiana business scene
Caroline Trahan has joined Pixus Digital Printing as architectural signage specialist. Trahan has returned to the area after living and working in Maui. She has more than 25 years of experience leading client projects and working with architects and designers on innovative products and installations. She previously owned Caroline Signs Inc. and was lead designer/sales manager for Insignia Graphics.
Genevieve "Jenny" Martin-O'Rourke has joined Investar Bank as senior vice president and private banking relationship manager. Martin-O'Rourke has 43 years in banking, having worked the past 17 years for IberiaBank, most recently in private banking. Before that she worked 26 years at First National Bank of Lafayette. A Scott native, she received an associate's degree from UL Lafayette.
Allstate agent Drake Pothier has qualified for membership in the 2014 Million Dollar Round Table, the premier association of financial professionals. Pothier joins an elite group that strives to stay on the industry's cutting edge while serving its clients with exemplary performance and the highest standards of ethics, knowledge and productivity. Pothier has represented Allstate since 2013, providing customers with life insurance products, annuities, long-term care and disability insurance. He earned the Personal Financial Representative title after passing the NASD Series 6 securities license exam and completing an extensive Allstate training curriculum. He is also appointed with the registered broker-dealer Allstate Financial Services. Founded in 1927, the MDRT is an international independent association of more than 38,000 of the world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 450 companies in 74 countries. The Drake Pothier Agency is located at 1508 Kaliste Saloom Road.
J. Brady Mouton was promoted to senior vice president, commercial lending, at Tri-Parish Bank. Mouton has been with the Eunice-based bank since 2008 and has more than 20 years of banking experience. Mouton earned his BS degree in business administration from UL Lafayette and joined Tri-Parish bank after serving as director of business recruitment for LEDA, as well as working for a number of commercial banks. The bank also announced that it hired Billy J. Babineaux Jr. as executive vice president and chief lending officer. He is working out of the Lafayette office. Babineaux earned his BA degree in economics from LSU in 1990 and completed studies for his MBA from UL in 1997. He also completed the Graduate School of Banking, conducted at LSU, in 2005 and in 1998 completed the National Consumer Credit School, held at the University of Oklahoma. He has more than 20 years of banking experience. Throughout his career, Babineaux has been active in civic and economic development endeavors across the region. He is a director of the Lafayette Workforce Investment Board.
Holbrook Multi Media founder and CEO Bob Holbrook was honored with the 2014 Silver Medal at the American Advertising Federation of Acadiana's ADDY Awards for his outstanding work in the advertising community. Established in 1959, the Silver Medal Award program is the highest accolade presented annually by the local ad fed for outstanding contributions to advertising and for furthering the industry's standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern. In a video tribute to the award winner, quotes from past and present clients were featured, including Van Eaton and Romero, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, PR firm Irving Morris and attorney Glenn Armentor. Holbrook consults for companies worldwide and is a guest speaker for a number of universities. He founded the company, a Lafayette-based hybrid production and marketing agency, in 1977.
At the late April dedication ceremonies for the opening of the new Sales Training Room at UL Lafayette's B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration, Latter & Blum CEO Robert "Bob" Merrick surprised Dean Joby John, his staff and students with a personal check. Combined with an original $60,000 from Van Eaton & Romero for sponsorship of the business school's STR, the total donation grew to $120,000. New Orleans-based Latter & Blum is the parent company of Van Eaton & Romero. Merrick responded to the request of local broker/owners Nancy Van Eaton Broussard, Gail Romero and William Bacqué to facilitate the original donation and upon learning of the needs of the school of business chose to make a personal donation as well.
Right Angle was honored with a Davey Award for its design of the Bayou Vermilion District website. While the BVD is best known for the living history museum and folklife park Vermilionville, it challenged the local agency to create a website incorporating its environmental efforts as well. Since 1984, the organization has worked to beautify, conserve and manage sites along the Vermilion, ensuring the preservation and enhancement of the river for generations to come. The resulting website earned the advertising and branding agency a Silver Davey award. Established in order to honor the achievements of "Creative Davids" in an industry of Goliaths, the Davey Awards are judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, advertising and marketing firms.