People & Flashes

PEOPLE & FLASHES

New hires, promotions and other news from Acadiana's business community

Kari Walker has joined Keaty Real Estate as a commercial/residential real estate agent. Walker, who moved to Lafayette in 2003, has been a strong supporter of improving Acadiana through the revitalization of Downtown. She volunteers her time at Festival International and the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau. Walker most recently worked for a health carerelated nonprofit in fundraising and marketing.

Adam Beazley has been named partner and a member of the board of directors at Architects Beazley Moliere. Beazley’s father, Charles, is the firm’s president. The younger Beazley, who joined the firm 13 years ago as an intern, has a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from UL Lafayette. He worked as an industrial designer for a local guitar manufacturer before earning his master’s degree in architecture and being certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He also was named an Accredited Professional by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Joseph Mitchell was named CEO of Acadia General Hospital. Interim CEO Glenn Dailey returns to his role as associate administrator. Mitchell has 25 years of experience in executive health care management, senior operations and clinical administration, having most recent served as president of Trinity Hospital Twin City in Dennison, Ohio. Prior to that he worked as CEO at River Valley Medical Center in Dardanelle, Ark.,, Eureka Springs Hospital in Eureka Springs, Ark., and Holdenville General Hospital in Holdenville, Okla. Mitchell has a master’s degree in health services administration from Arkansas-Little Rock and a BS in nursing from Central Arkansas.

MidSouth Bank has hired Jonathan Richard as VP/commercial loan officer for its Lafayette market. Richard comes to MidSouth Bank from Whitney Bank, where he worked for the past 14 years, spending the last five as a commercial lender. Richard has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from UL Lafayette. Also having joined the bank is Ellen G. Bordelon, who is serving as banking center manager for the St. Martinville location at 200 W. Port St. The St. Martinville native has 20 years of banking experience with Whitney Bank, starting her career as a teller in 1996 and working her way up to a branch management role in 2008.

In February, the Louisiana Department of Education enacted new eligibility requirements for the Louisiana Child Care Assistance Program to help working families afford child care assistance. The following are now eligible to reap these benefits from CCAP: families who work a minimum of 20 hours per week; students enrolled in school or job training full-time, regardless of total hours enrolled; and families of children with special needs who require at least 15 hours per week. Because of this program, For My Child Learning Center, a division of Unitech Training Academy, opened in March and is now accepting enrollment for children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years old. The learning center offers a creative curriculum approved by the Louisiana Department of Education.

In March Global Data Systems Inc. launched NOMAD, a fully mobile connectivity experience enabler that allows businesses to operate seamlessly and securely, wherever they are. The “network in a box” provides redundant LTE connectivity, enables business flexibility and discards the hassle of a typical office install without losing features and security typically found in traditional WiFi hotspot devices. End users can show up, plug in and go to work, according to company officials.

Troy LeMaire has joined Acadian Companies’ IT department as IT and HIPAA security officer. LeMaire has almost 20 years of IT and HIPAA experience, having previously served as IT manager and HIPAA security officer for a gastroenterology clinic in Baton Rouge. He held similar IT roles with Home Bank and Heart Hospital. LeMaire earned his MBA from Tulane University.

Mary Bui McCullough has joined Patterson State Bank’s Lafayette loan production office as a senior loan officer/ originator. McCullough has 20 years of mortgage lending/advising experience. A native of New Orleans, she moved to Lafayette in 2009.

Jerry K. Greig has earned The National Association of Corporate Directors’ CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight. Greig, who is a retired chief information officer of Fugro Chance Inc. and currently serves on the board of directors of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, is among the first 17 graduates of the course. Graduates earned this credential by completing the NACD Cyber-Risk Oversight Program taught by the SEI CERT department of Carnegie Mellon University. The multimodule program improves corporate directors’ understanding of cybersecurity risks, details the respective responsibilities of the board and C-suite executives in cyber-risk oversight, and engages participants in a cyber-crisis simulation.

The first two passenger vessels built by local shipbuilder Metal Shark for New York’s new NYC Ferry are now in service. The Incat Crowther-designed, 149-passenger, USCG Subchapter T passenger ferries were built at Metal Shark’s Franklin shipyard. HNY Ferry Fleet, a Hornblower subsidiary, is running the passenger vessel service in the city. The ferries were produced from start to finish in less than nine months, according to Metal Shark.

The fifth annual CajunCodeFest coding competition was held March 29 – April 1 in the UL Lafayette Research Park. The event, hosted by the Center for Business & Information Technologies at UL and CGI, brought more than 100 participants together to transform local parish data into Smart Community engagement apps and tools. Participants included middle, high school and college students; professional developers from local tech companies; and community leaders. Local mentors from Waitr, the Lafayette Parish School Board, Halliburton and teachers helped the student teams during the competition. Ten teams built Smart Community applications specifically designed to encourage citizen engagement in the Lafayette community. The winning teams took home $5,000 each, and the winning student teams received Apple iPads. First Place Winner — Popping and Locking the Stack, team members: Hayes Guidry, Joseph “Alex” Fontenot, Blake Glaub, Joy Norwood, Ben Norwood, Connor Stanford and Dillon Boudreaux. Runner Up/Team Favorite — Thrive or Die, team members: Geoff Daily, Michelle Nguyen, Johnathon Wright, Demian Neidetcher and Brian Stanford. Best College Student Team — Band of Squanchers, team members: Andrew Yoshimura, Zachary Kirby, Keegan Lange, Chad Galloway, Ryan Baird, Jacob Bernard, Hoang Pham, Connor Lambert, Robert Indorf and Austin Pohlmann. Best K-12 Team — David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy Coding Krewe, team members: Nolan Marone, Dylan Martin, Fernando Martinez and Marcos Garces with team mentors Austin Clark, Halliburton; Alex Lanclos, Waitr; and Justin Centanni, Lafayette Parish School Board member.