Renee Areng, Ben Berthelot, Susan Holliday, Mark Mouton or Dave Domingue will become the top tourism official in the parish. Rob Robison, a member of the selection committee charged with finding a replacement for Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission Executive Director Gerald Breaux, says the field was narrowed Wednesday to five candidates: Renee Areng, Ben Berthelot, Susan Holliday, Mark Mouton and Dave Domingue.
"I feel like we have a good field of candidates," says Robison. The committe is looking for a well-rounded candidate who has experience not only in tourism but also government and business.
Areng, executive VP for sales and marketing at the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau, was convention marketing manager at LCVC from October 1990 to November 2002; Berthelot is director of Lafayette Consolidated Government's Community Development department; Holliday is ED of the Lafayette Bar Association, bar foundation and law library; Mouton is director of business retention and expansion for LEDA; and Domingue is operations coordinator and office manager for Le Centre International.
Letters were mailed this morning to the other applicants who did not make the cut. Twenty-one men and women applied for the top job.
The selection committee, which also includes Hilton General Manager James Thackston, businessman Thomas Rogers and Holidome General Manager Ed Buchert, will conduct phone interviews with the five finalists and may pare down the group before conducting face-to-face interviews, Robison says.
The committee hopes to make an offer May 1, with employment to begin no later than June 1. The full LCVC board will have to approve the choice.
Breaux will help with the transition process for about a month, as his last official day is June 29. He is retiring after nearly 31 years on the job.