BATON ROUGE, LA (January 13, 2016) – The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) has announced its officers and board members for 2016, along with the inaugural members of the newly created LABI Emerging Leaders Council, a group of 40 distinguished entrepreneurs from each region of Louisiana that will meet regularly and offer unique insight to the organization on issues facing the state. The slate represents some of the top talent from the Louisiana business community and other organizations across the state.

John Finan, president and CEO of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (FMOL), will serve as the chair of LABI for 2016. He replaces Jay Lapeyre, president and CEO of Laitram, LLC, who becomes the immediate past chair. Art Favre, president of Performance Contractors, will serve as the board’s vice chair.

Additional LABI 2016 officers include:

Tim Stine (Secretary)
CFO, Stine Lumber Company (Sulphur)

Sonia Perez (Treasurer)
President, AT&T Louisiana (Baton Rouge)

The following includes the 18 new members on the 2016 LABI Board of Directors:

Jamie Burgess
Senior Vice President, Whitney Bank (Baton Rouge)

Michael Echols
Director of Business Development, Vantage Health Plan (Monroe)

Mark Joslin
CFO, Pool Corporation (Covington)

Gary Littlefield
President, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust (Baton Rouge)

Danny Montelaro
South Louisiana Area President, Regions Bank (Baton Rouge)

Spencer Murphy
General Counsel, Canal Barge Company (New Orleans)

Mark Myrtue
Treasurer and Corporate Secretary, Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (Covington)

Frederick B. Palmer
State Government Relations Manager – Southeast U.S., Shell Oil Company (New Orleans)

Nial Patel (Serving in the capacity of 2016 Chair of the Emerging Leaders Council)
Vice President, Cornerstone Government Affairs (Baton Rouge)

David Roberts
CEO, Excel Group (Baton Rouge)

Phillip Rozeman
President, Cardiovascular Consultants (Shreveport)

Donna Saurage
Manager, Community Coffee Company Holding, LLC (Baton Rouge)

Tony Simmons
CEO, McIlhenny Company (Avery Island)

Erich Sternberg
CEO, Starmount Life Insurance (Baton Rouge)

Jennifer Vosburg
President, Louisiana Generating LLC and Senior Vice President, NRG Energy Inc. (New Roads)

April Wehrs (Serving in the capacity of 2016 President of the Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
President, Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce (Denham Springs)

John Williams (Serving in the capacity of 2016 Trade Association Representative)
Executive Director, Beer Industry League of Louisiana (Baton Rouge)

Bill Windham
Owner, Windham, LLC (Bossier City)

Current members of the 2016 LABI Board of Directors (not listed above) include:

Clay M. Allen
Managing Partner, Allen & Gooch, A Law Corporation (Lafayette)

Robert Angelico
Attorney, Liskow & Lewis (New Orleans)

Joe Arroyo
President, Fire Extinguisher & Supply Company, Inc. (New Orleans)

James A. Babst
Attorney, Wegmann & Babst, LLC (New Orleans)

Ron Ballman
Plant Manager, Sapa Extrusions, Inc. (Delhi)

Bobby Barousse
Chief Financial Officer, Elmer Candy Corporation (Ponchatoula)

Terry Baugh
Chief Financial Officer, D & J Construction Company, Inc. (West Monroe)

Adrianne Baumgartner
Partner, Porteous, Hainkel & Johnson (Covington)

Andree Begneaud
Owner, Begneaud Manufacturing, Inc. (Lafayette)

C. J. Blache
Attorney, Roedel, Parsons, Koch, Blache, Balhoff & McCollister (Baton Rouge)

Boyd Boudreaux
President & CEO, JD Bank (Jennings)

Greg Bowser
Executive Vice President, Louisiana Chemical Association/Louisiana Chemical Industry Alliance (Baton Rouge)

Ayres Bradford
Business Development Director, Lincoln Builders, Inc. (Ruston)

Jane Brown
CFO, Steel Fabricators of Monroe, LLC (Monroe)

J.S. Brown III
President, Bruce Foods Corporation (New Iberia)

James B. Bulliard
Owner, Cajun Chef Products, Inc. (St. Martinville)

J.H. Campbell, Jr.
Executive Chairman, Associated Grocers, Inc. (Baton Rouge)

Karl J. Connor
Director of Government Affairs – Louisiana, BP (New Orleans)

Emile Cordaro
Government Affairs, American Electric Power (Shreveport)

Jaime DeLaCruz
HR Manager, Marathon Petroleum Company, LP (Garyville)

Christopher Dicharry
Partner, Kean Miller, LLP (Baton Rouge)

Maura Donahue
Executive Vice President, DonahueFavret Contractors, Inc. (Mandeville)

Eduardo DoVal
Louisiana Operations Site Director, The Dow Chemical Company (Plaquemine)

Keith P. Duet
Owner, Duet Wealth Management (Covington)

Denise Evans
CFO, Training Logic, Inc. (Ruston)

Ronald Evans
Owner, International Packaging Company, LLC (Gretna)

Courtney A. Fenet, Jr.
Vice President and Special Assistant to CEO and President, R. E. Heidt Construction Company, LLC (Sulphur)

William Fenstermaker
Chairman/CEO, Fenstermaker (Lafayette)

Wayne J. Fontana
Attorney, Fontana & Seelman, LLP (New Orleans)

Patrick Fontenot
CEO, Williams Progressive Life Insurance (Opelousas)

Justin Furnace
Corporate Manager of External Affairs, Hilcorp Energy Company (Houston, TX)

Todd Gregory
Vice President of South Central Group, Cintas Corporation (Mandeville)

Lane Grigsby
Chairman Emeritus of the Board, Cajun Industries, LLC (Baton Rouge)

George H. Guidry, Jr.
Regional Manager, State Government Affairs, Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC (Baton Rouge)

Gregory J. Hamer
President, B & G Food Enterprises, LLC (Morgan City)

Stephen J. Hamilton
Process Division Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical Company (Baton Rouge)

Lester Hart
General Manager, Nucor Louisiana (Convent)

Chris Haskew
Louisiana Market President, Capital One Bank Louisiana (Baton Rouge)

Tom Hawkins
President, Atmos Energy (Baton Rouge)

Mike Hayes
Public Affairs Manager, Sasol Chemicals USA, LLC (Westlake)

Mike Huber
Manager, Environmental Remediation, Axiall Corporation (Lake Charles)

Thomas E. Iles
Director, State Public Affairs, John Deere Thibodaux, Inc. (Washington, DC)

Michael T. Johnson
Founder/Owner, Johnson Siebeneicher & Ingram, Attorneys at Law (Pineville)

John F. Jones
Vice President, Policy & Federal Legislative Affairs, CenturyLink (Monroe)

Steve M. Jordan
CEO, Central Crude, Inc. (Lake Charles)

J. William Kight
President, Euroboard, Inc. (Monroe)

Christopher M. Kinsey
CEO, Kinsey Interests, Inc. (Shreveport)

Greg Luna
Senior Counsel of Legislative Affairs, CITGO Petroleum Corporation (Houston, TX)

Felicia Manuel
Vice President, Ville Platte Iron Works, Inc. (Ville Platte)

Martin Mayer
President, Stirling Properties, Inc. (Covington)

Marjorie McKeithen
Partner, Partner and Co-chair of Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Group, Jones Walker LLP (New Orleans)

Jude Melville
President, Business First Bank (Baton Rouge)

Ralph R. Miller
Vice President, Freeport-McMoRan (New Orleans)

Mike Mitternight
President, Factory Service Agency, Inc. (Metairie)

Jessica Monroe
Director, State Government Affairs, Johnson & Johnson HCS (Baton Rouge)

Jody Montelaro
Vice President – Louisiana Governmental Affairs & Regulatory Affairs, Entergy Corporation (Baton Rouge)

Tom O'Neal
President, O'Nealgas, Inc. (Choudrant)

John Overton (Serving in the capacity of 2016 Small Business Representative)
Owner and CFO, Turn Key Solutions, LLC (Baton Rouge)

Reldon Owens
Marketing & Sales Director, Diamond B Construction LLC and Affiliated Companies (Alexandria)

Ronald W. Petree
Senior Vice President, St. Martin Bank & Trust Co. (Jennings)

Loulan Pitre
Attorney, Kelly, Hart & Pitre, LLP (New Orleans)

Scott Poole
Chief Executive Officer, Roy O. Martin Lumber, LLC (Alexandria)

E. Fredrick Preis, Jr.
Partner, Labor & Employment Law Section, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP (New Orleans)

Arthur Price
Vice President – Finance, Badger Oil Corporation (Lafayette)

Molly Quirk
Public Affairs Specialist, State Farm Insurance Company (Baton Rouge)

Kenneth L. Ross
Managing Partner, Seale & Ross (Hammond)

Gordon E. Rountree
Senior Vice President/General Counsel, Lafayette General Medical Center (Lafayette)

Rena Roy
Area Manager, Chase Business Banking, Chase Bank Baton Rouge Market (Baton Rouge)

Christel C. Slaughter
Partner, SSA Consultants, Inc. (Baton Rouge)

Ed Smith
NLA Timberlands Region Manager, Weyerhaeuser (Natchitoches)

Terry Spruill
General Manager of Marketing, Cleco Corporation (Pineville)

Dana Stumpf
Chief Administrative Officer, Durr Heavy Construction, LLC (Harahan)

Brian Verrette
Credit & Risk Manager, ArcelorMittal LaPlace

Scott Viator
Complex General Manager – International Paper (Bogalusa and Lafayette)

Stephen Waguespack (Ex Officio)
President, LABI (Baton Rouge)

David H. Welch
President & CEO, Stone Energy Corporation (Lafayette)

Hicks Winters
Land, Environment and Public Affairs, LaFarge Corporation (Washington, DC)

Brent Wood
State Government Affairs Manager, Chevron Corporation (Covington)

The 40 members of the newly created LABI Emerging Leaders Council include:

Ross Abraham
Special Products Director, Big Easy Foods (Lake Charles)

Jeff Andry
Business Developer, Cleco Corporation (Alexandria)

Ann Barilleaux
Marketing Consultant Center Point Energy (Lake Charles)

John Blackledge
General Manager Shreveport/Bossier Market, Cintas Corporation (Shreveport)

Sarah Broome
Executive Director, Thrive Academy (Baton Rouge)

Harold Callais
Managing Director, Callais Capital (Thibodaux)

David Cavell
District Director, Office of Congressman Garrett Graves (Thibodaux)

Cloyce Clark
Assistant District Attorney, DeSoto Parish (Mansfield)

Blake Cooper
Executive Director, Central Louisiana Regional Port (Alexandria)

Kim Cusimano
Senior Public and Government Affairs Specialist, Sasol North America (Lake Charles)

Allyson D’Aquin
Chief Financial Officer, All-Star Automotive (Baton Rouge)

Eric Dexter
Director of Business Development, Civil Solutions Consulting Group (Baton Rouge)

Ragan Dickens
Communications Director, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (Shreveport)

Jacob Dickson
Director of Sales and Marketing, Morris Dickson (Shreveport)

Brooks Duplessis
President, BD Consulting (New Orleans)

Tommy Faucheux
Government Affairs Leader, The Dow Chemical Company (Hahnville)

Rachel Fousch
Director of Business Development and Marketing, The Lemoine Company (New Orleans)

Seth Guidry
Program Manager, Danos (Houma)

Bryan Hodnett
Project Manager, DonahueFavret Contractors, Inc. (Mandeville)

Michael Howard
Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Energy Fabricators (Broussard)

Bryan Jones
Associate Vice President, HNTB (Baton Rouge)

Mike Levy
Capital Stewardship Advisor, Chevron (Covington)

Jared Loftus
Chief Operating Officer, MasteryPrep (Baton Rouge)

James Moore, III
Partner, Intermountain Hotels (Monroe)

Darryl Monroe
Treasurer, RoyOMartin (Alexandria)

Patrick Mulhearn
Executive Director, Celtic Media Centre (Baton Rouge)

Nial Patel (2016 Chair)
Vice President, Cornerstone Government Affairs (Baton Rouge)

Amy Ponson
Director of Development, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center (Houma)

Jerry Prejean
Senior Vice President, Iberia Bank (Lafayette)

Wynn Radford
Associate Director of Communications and External Affairs, BP America (New Orleans)

Jim Raines
Partner, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP (New Orleans)

Christian Rhodes
Attorney, Roedel, Parsons, Koch, Blache, Balhoff & McCollister (New Orleans)

James Rhodes
Co-Founder, Rhodes Property and Development (Natchitoches)

Jonathan Ringo
Associate General Counsel, Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District (Lake Charles)

Brian Rodriguez
President, GatorWorks (Baton Rouge)

Nick Speyrer
President, Emergent Method (Baton Rouge)

Amy Thibodeaux
President, Crowley Chamber of Commerce (Crowley)

Marjorie Torres
Hunt, Guillot & Associates (Baton Rouge)

Kelli Bondy Troutman
Director of Communications and Community Relations, LUBA Workers’ Comp (Baton Rouge)

Meagan Messina Woodard
Counsel, CenturyLink (Monroe)

About the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry

As the state’s chamber of commerce and manufacturer’s association, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) represents more than 2,200 member companies of every size, in every sector and region. Under the policy direction of its membership, LABI’s professional staff works year round with policymakers and government officials to advocate for pro-business reforms in taxation, civil justice, energy, health care, workers’ and unemployment compensation, workforce development and public education. LABI also has four political action committees, NORTHPAC, EASTPAC, SOUTHPAC and WESTPAC, dedicated to recruiting, interviewing, endorsing and financially backing candidates that will represent Louisiana’s business community.