Dena L. Moore has joined The Family Tree as CEO, replacing Jim Walton, who retired in December 2008. Moore has a Ph.D. in rehabilitation education and research from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and a master’s degree in community counseling from John Brown University. She brings extensive experience in counseling, education, and program development to The Family Tree, having developed and implemented programs in both academic and not-for-profit settings over the past 12 years.
Keaty Real Estate has hired Darla Hebert as an agent. Hebert has five years experience in marketing, public relations and advertising where she guided marketing, creative, media and production tasks for clients in industries such as tourism, health care, retail and financial fields as well as business-to-business accounts. A native of Crowley, Hebert has a degree in public relations from UL Lafayette and has lived in Lafayette for more than a decade.
Carolyn T. Doerle of Doerle Food Service received one of Enterprising Women magazine’s 2009 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards, an annual tribute to North America’s top women entrepreneurs. The award winners and finalists were recognized March 11-13 at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where Walt Disney World Co. served as premier sponsor. This is the seventh anniversary of the gala awards celebration. Award winners were recognized in five categories of annual sales revenues, with Doerle’s category, annual sales revenues of more than $25 million, the highest.
Michelle Izzo-Voss has joined the Jacob Crouch Foundation as executive director. Izzo-Voss has worked in non-profit for 10 years, previously working with the Acadian Home Builders Association, Oil Center Renaissance Association and Faith House. She is a graduate of Leadership Lafayette class XVII, a past president of the Optimist Club of Lafayette and has served on the board of directors for Shining Light Foundation for the past six years. The Jacob Crouch Foundation was established in 2006 to provide suicide prevention and awareness through educational programs.
Bobbie Smith has joined the commercial division of Coldwell Banker Pelican Real Estate. She has been in real estate for 25 years and handled an array of commercial property types including retail, office, industrial, land and business opportunities. She is also a consultant for re-zoning issues and has extensive expertise in valuation analysis, marketing, restaurant site selection and disposition and commercial leasing and site selection. Smith is a member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors and the Realtor Association of Acadiana. Smith was a Million Dollar Producer from 2000-2008 for Latter & Blum.
Matthew Stuller, president and CEO of Stuller Inc., served as a featured guest at an educational forum at the Southern Jewelry Travelers Association Show in Atlanta. Stuller joined other select panelists to share his own unique perspective and insights to arm retailers with tools and tactics they will need to stay competitive in 2009 and beyond.
Jennifer LeMeunier has been promoted from branch manager of Home Bank’s Jefferson Street office to business development officer for the bank. She will help clients with their business needs, including commercial loans and deposits. LeMeunier has five years of banking experience and is a former small business owner. She completed the Louisiana Bankers Association’s school of supervisory training, the LBA’s commercial lending course and the American Institute of Banking’s principals of banking course. LeMeunier received her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in marketing and management from UL Lafayette.
Chris Blanchard, an account manager for the Acadiana Sir Speedy locations in Lafayette and New Iberia, has been recognized as a 2008 Gold Level Top Performer. The Top Performer Award is presented annually to recognize top achievers in the Sir Speedy franchise network. This year, Blanchard was one of only 20 salespeople who received gold level status from more than 300 worldwide.
Nicole Duplichan has been named sales manager at Century 21 Gateway Realty Inc. Duplichan assists agents in formulating their business plans, advises agents in listing and selling transactions, and provides ongoing technology education. Duplichan was named Rookie of the Year in 2006 and won the Master Agent Award in 2008. She has an MBA from LSU and is a former small business owner in Rayne. An active member of the Realtor Association of Acadiana, she chaired the Fair Housing Committe and was recently elected to its board of directors. Also at Century 21 Gateway Realty, Kellie Rourke, a sales associate with the Lafayette office, has earned the Certified Residential Specialist designation, which is awarded to experienced Realtors who complete advanced training in listing and selling and meet rigorous production requirements. Rourke has been a Century 21 Realtor for 10 years.
MidSouth Bank Regional Retail Manager Lisa Auzenne, a Lafayette native, has been promoted from assistant vice president to vice president. Auzenne manages and directs a group of seven retail stores in Texas, helping them maintain high levels of customer satisfaction while meeting sales and service goals. She has been employed by MidSouth Bank for 13 years and has a bachelor of science degree in general studies with a concentration in business administration. She also is a Certified Professional Trainer, at one time having served as MidSouth Bank’s training director.
Louisiana-based accounting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville was named one of the top 100 accounting firms in the U.S. by Accounting Today magazine. With more than $32 million in net revenue, P&N was ranked the 97th largest firm in the U.S. and is the only Louisiana-based firm to make the list. The 2009 list is the magazine’s 22nd annual report on the nation’s largest firms. Founded in 1949, P&N is the largest Louisiana-based accounting and business consulting firm and the third largest accounting firm in the southwest. The firm has locations in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Covington, Lafayette, Metairie, Donaldsonville, Gonzales and St. Francisville.
Cox Greater Louisiana recently presented Lafayette Education Foundation with a $10,000 check in support of the 11th annual LEF Teacher Awards and ReProm 2009.
Fenstermaker received the coveted Transportation Excellence Award in the category of innovative use of product or technology from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The award was given to Fenstermaker’s advanced technology division to recognize the innovative and combined use of underwater acoustics and high definition survey.
The Lafayette Young Lawyers Association raised approximately $6,000 plus hundreds of non-perishable items for the Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans and Acadiana via an event called “Great Harvest.” The event was held at the Blue Moon Saloon, with entertainment by Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boys. All attendees who made either a monetary or a food donation were given a Great Harvest shirt.
Lafayette-based Dupré Logistics’ Baton Rouge and Plaquemine fleets received Dow’s Gold Washer Award for 2008. The awards recognize logistics carriers that have no on-the-job OSHA violations and have worked more than 50,000 hours in the year. The Dupré fleet operating in the Baton Rouge area also received the award in 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2008, Dupré managed key logistics functions of the Dow products.
Local State Farm agents and representatives from the State Farm Louisiana field office presented a check for $15,000 to Lafayette Habitat for Humanity. The funds will be used to help build a home in the next phase of Habitat’s subdivision on East Gilman Road in Lafayette; 16 homes have been completed in the neighborhood over the last two years, and construction is beginning on the next six homes.
Breaux Bridge-based Farmers Merchants Bank & Trust Co. celebrated the opening of its new Lafayette facility at 1525 Ambassador Caffery Parkway with a ribbon cutting March 19. The management team includes CEO Fred H. Mills Jr., executive vice president and chief of commercial lending John Benoit, business development officer Robert Tujague, and Karin Guilbeau, branch manager for the new facility. Also included in the local team are assistant branch manager Heather Mason; and customer service representatives Timothy Wofford, Shannon Jeanbatiste and Lisa Forestier.