Veteran commercial loan officers Glenn Decou and Burt K. Ortego have joined Eunice-based Tri-Parish Bank and will work out of the bank’s Lafayette office. Decou is executive vice president and chief lending officer, while Ortego has been named senior vice president, commercial lending. Decou has worked in Lafayette banking circles for 37 years, most recently serving as regional president for central Louisiana for MidSouth Bank. Before that, he worked with Whitney National Bank as vice president and as a member of the commercial loan committee; and with American Bank & Trust Company, where he was also involved in branch management, and credit and loan administration. He is also actively involved with a wide array of civic, charitable, educational and economic development endeavors throughout the Lafayette area. Ortego joins Tri-Parish Bank following a 26-year affiliation with MidSouth Bank, where he was first vice president and commercial lender. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nicholls State University in 1984. Ortego also is involved in numerous civic and social organizations, including his service as a past member of the board of the Downtown Development Authority. “Adding both Glenn and Burt make our lending team very formidable in Lafayette,” says Tri-Parish CEO Donnie Landry. “In our service as a true community bank, Tri-Parish Bank is well-positioned to continue investing in the business success of companies throughout the region.”
Pam Boudreaux has partnered with John Erny to open the Youngsville location of The Erny Insurance Agency. An independent insurance agent representing more than 20 insurance companies, Boudreaux uses a comparative rater to match the right company with each customer’s personal or commercial insurance needs. Boudreaux returns to the insurance business after 18 years as an automotive consultant, the majority of which was at Service Chevrolet and Lafayette Motor Co. She is a Lafayette native and obtained her BS in psychology from UL in 1992 while working for Lee Verret State Farm. She is a member of the Milton Civic Organization, the Youngsville Chamber of Commerce, The Youngsville Lions Club and Young Insurance Professionals.
Rodlyn Cochran has joined Bizzuka’s sales team in Lafayette. Cochran most recently was an account executive at tw telecom, where she achieved national recognition as a top sales leader. Other significant posts held by Cochran include local Toshiba dealer Uni-Pro Business Systems, and QSystem Computers. She is a Magna Cum Laude marketing graduate of American Intercontinental University and an active member of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Connections for Women Networking and LEDA.
Sally Barnes has joined Coldwell Banker Pelican Real Estate as financial manager. A graduate of UL Lafayette, Barnes has 25 years of accounting experience, most recently with an industrial construction company in New Iberia and the Lafayette firm Thibodaux, Hebert, Deshotels and LeBlanc.
Earlier this year, during its annual meeting and recognition luncheon, Stirling Properties recognized top commercial agents from its Commercial Brokerage Division. Hosted at the Pan American Life Center in New Orleans, employees received recognition for Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Emerald production levels based on individual adjusted gross commission numbers for 2010. From the Lafayette office, Ryan Pécot earned the Platinum level, Charles Cornay Gold, and Seth Citron Silver. Included in the awards was a special recognition given to Citron for having the highest production level improvement over the previous year.
Phyllis Arceneaux, a 20-year veteran of the business coaching industry and a partner in Lafayette-based Excelerant, has just completed the third and final year of advanced coaching training through the Coaching Excellence in Organizations Program, also called the CEO Program, developed by Newfield Network, an international coaching institute based in Boulder, Colo.
Van Eaton & Romero’s top 10 associates, based on individual closed dollar volume, were recognized at the company’s annual awards breakfast: Charlie Baudoin, Robbie Breaux, Dan Fuselier, Missy Guilliot, Melanie Lunn, Lori McCarthy, Penny McGehee, Patricia Powell, Janice Simar and Diana Hebert. The top five teams included: Teresa Hamilton and Team; Bill & Sandy Stephens; Lynette Bagala, Linell Champagne, Zonnie LaBry and Rebekah McGee; Judy Hagood and Marie Lee; and Calvin Legé and Carole Horn. Special recognition went to: Lunn, top individual residential listing agent (TIRLA)/closed listing dollar volume; Christine Dupuy, TIRLA/closed listing sides; Lunn, top individual residential selling agent (TIRSA)/closed selling dollar volume; Breaux, TIRSA/closed selling sides; Teresa Hamilton and Team (Hamilton, Sharon Henderson, Coco Dupont, Kasey Dean George and Eliana Ashkar), top team/closed listing and selling dollar volume/closed listing and selling sides; David Gleason, top commercial agent/closed selling dollar volume and closed selling sides; Dewitt David, top commercial agent/closed listing sides; Legé, top commercial agent/closed listing dollar volume; and Sylvia McClain, Rising Star Award.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Subscribe to this comment's feed