Andre Fruge, president and CEO of Louisiana Capital CDC, has been appointed to the Louisiana Economic Development Board of Commerce and Industry by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The board advises the LED business incentives division regarding applications for tax incentive programs, including enterprise zone, quality jobs, restoration tax abatement, industrial tax exemption, industry assistance and tax equalization. Fruge has extensive banking industry experience in commercial lending and as a continuing education instructor for the American Institute of Banking. He has also served on the National Association of Development Companies board of directors, representing CDCs in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. He is currently NADCO’s vice chairman for education and external affairs. Additionally, he is a member of the Development Company Funding Corporation board of directors. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UL Lafayette and is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.
Downtown Lafayette Unlimited, the non-profit focused on the preservation and vitality of the city’s downtown district, has named Ryan Petticrew marketing and events manager. In his new role, Petticrew will champion an upcoming branding effort, foster partnerships and organize events to enhance the area’s function as an arts and cultural hub. Petticrew most recently served as public relations director at BBR Creative, where he was responsible for public relations strategy and implementation. Petticrew is president of Rebuilding Together Acadiana, which provides free housing repair to low-income homeowners. He also serves as a board member of the Acadiana Advertising Federation and Kiwanis Club of Acadiana. He is a participant with the Community Foundation of Acadiana’s civic leadership committee and the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. A Lafayette native, Petticrew earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations from UL Lafayette.
Mark Mouton has been named director of business retention and expansion for the Lafayette Economic Development Authority. He is responsible for managing LEDA’s business visitation program, hosting the LEDA Networking Luncheon, and providing assistance with tax incentives, job training programs, and ombudsman services to existing businesses in Lafayette Parish. Mouton spent the last seven years employed with AT&T, most recently serving as a senior training manager for AT&T call centers in the West Region. He is a graduate of UL Lafayette with a degree in business administration-marketing.
Cox Greater Louisiana has promoted David Bourque to manager of its Acadiana network operations and engineering and Aaron Hilliard to manager, field service. Bourque has more than 25 years of technical experience in the cable industry with TCA and Cox. He recently served Cox as system support engineer and chief technician after serving in a succession of supervisor roles. In his new role, Bourque will assume responsibility for leading Cox’s Acadiana network engineering organization. Hilliard previously served as field service supervisor for Cox Greater Louisiana. He joined the local system two years ago from Cox New Orleans, where he began his career in 2001 as a technician before progressing in a series of supervisory roles. In his new role, he will be responsible for managing contractors and their staffs in both the Baton Rouge and Acadiana markets. Also at Cox, Mark Fisher has been hired as director of support services. In his new role, Fisher will be responsible for directing security, fleet and facilities operations throughout Cox’s 13-parish south Louisiana service area, which includes two operations centers, 13 service centers and more than 500 vehicles.
Lafayette native Monica L. Franques has been promoted to retail branch operations manager at First Bank and Trust of New Orleans, leading a team responsible for functions that provide critical support to the company’s branches in Louisiana and Mississippi. That support includes branch operations, audit and administrative functions. Franques also manages the bank’s security program and ensures that the organization meets its obligations under the federal Bank Secrecy Act. Before joining the bank in 2004, she was operations manager for Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co.
When thinking of “green,” Van Eaton & Romero real estate agents Arla Slaughter and Lori McCarthy don’t want you to think the word only pertains to general landscaping or the rainforest. They want you to think of real estate.
The two Van Eaton & Romero agents have teamed up to offer buyers information about energy efficient, money saving, and earth friendly real estate trends. In stride with some of the nation’s leading environmentally active real estate brokers, Lafayette’s top residential real estate company is taking a proactive step toward the practice of using sustainable resources and encouraging environmental stewardship. Slaughter and McCarthy have the distinction of being Acadiana’s first EcoBroker real estate agents. Green realty is a phenomenon that is being championed by the Colorado based company EcoBroker, which educates real estate professionals and builders about green building practices and sustainable resources. The movement is spreading across the country through networks of educated and knowledgeable real estate agents who are advocates for greener home renovations and greener home buying decisions.
Realtor Emily Foreman has joined Professional Advantage Realty in River Ranch. A fourth-generation Realtor, Foreman brings a wealth and depth of experience to both buyers and sellers. A graduate of Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Leadership Program, Foreman has earned accolades for her real estate skills, including the 2005 Rising Star Award and the 2006 President’s Award for the Realtor Association of Acadiana. She also is active and involved in the community, currently serving as a board member of the Realtor Association of Acadiana and as a member of the 2008 Leadership Lafayette class. Last year she was public relations chair for the RAA.