Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Awards
Townsquare Media radio stations took home five Louisiana Association of Broadcasters Awards from the 2011 Prestige Awards Luncheon & Presentation. Townsquare Media’s Lafayette operations won three awards: KHXT Hot 107.9 – LAB Radio Station of the Year Award/large market; Camey Doucet/KROF 960 The Gator - LAB Lifetime Achievement Award (41 years); and Ray Sutley/production director - Distinguished Service Award (38 years).

Business News
The recent purchase of a Baton Rouge mortgage company by Business First Bank is bringing mortgage loan services to its Baton Rouge offices and will eventually add mortgage loan personnel to the branch in Lafayette. Business First’s Lafayette branch President Mike Guidroz says the bank’s buying of US CapitalCorp, which has provided residential mortgage loans to East Baton Rouge Parish since 2002, will enable Business First clients statewide to utilize the mortgage services through its Baton Rouge office.

Blake Lagneaux has joined Right Angle as art director. Lagneaux, who has six years of experience in graphic design, most recently worked for Frank’s Casing Crew & Rental Tools as marketing administrator and before that was marketing coordinator at MidSouth Bank. He graduated from UL Lafayette with a bachelor’s degree in English. He has served on the Acadiana Advertising Federation board for the past four years and is a recipient of multiple Acadiana Advertising Federation ADDY Awards over the last several years, including 2011 Best of Show-Print award. Right Angle earned several top honors at this year’s ADDYs for its work in print, business collateral and Web. It was the only local agency to receive recognition for achievement in website design.

The American Society of Civil Engineers and the Transportation and Development Institute selected the president of Fenstermaker & Associates, Dr. Kam Movassaghi, as the 2011 recipient of the Francis C. Turner Award. The coveted national award honors Movassaghi for “advancing transportation engineering as an educator with the University of Louisiana, as a public servant leading the Louisiana Department of Transportation, as a consultant, and as a volunteer with ASCE and T&DI.”

Knight has named Ben Stonecipher human resources director. Stonecipher will be responsible for all company-wide human resource activities from Knight’s corporate office in Lafayette. He has more than 29 years of experience in the oilfield and other associated industries and is certified as a senior professional in human resources and serves as a member of the National Society for Human Resource Management and the Acadiana Society for Human Resource Management. Stonecipher has a BA in business administration from UL Lafayette and a master’s degree in health care administration from the University of St. Francis.

Kyle M. Bacon has been hired as a special counsel for Jones Walker’s Lafayette office. Bacon, who has six years of experience in commercial litigation and business and transactional matters, earned his juris doctorate and a bachelor of civil law degrees from LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2003 and was a member of the Louisiana Law Review. He received a BS in business administration, cum laude, from UL Lafayette in 2000 and was named the Outstanding Graduate for the Department of Management. He is a Leadership Lafayette graduate. Prior to joining Jones Walker, he was an associate in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller.  

Leah Martinez has been named public relations account executive at Foster Marketing. She is managing the agency’s public relations efforts including planning and writing, crisis communication and media relations. Martinez is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor of science degree in agricultural communications and journalism and a master’s degree in agricultural business from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. While at Texas A&M, she was public relations coordinator for the College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences. In addition, she previously worked at Texas Tech University as a research assistant and the Department of Homeland Security as a public affairs assistant.

Louis B. Gary has joined Morgan Keegan & Co. as a financial adviser and vice president in the firm’s Lafayette office. Gary previously was a financial adviser for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Lafayette for 10 years. He also worked at PHI Inc. for 21 years in human resources and served as chairman of the 401(k) committee, and at St. Martin Bank and Trust Company in his hometown of St. Martinville. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UL Lafayette.

Native New Zealander Craig Perks, former PGA Tour player and 2002 winner of the prestigious Players Championship, was promoted to director of golf at Le Triomphe Golf and Country Club. The 2002 New Zealand Sportsman of the Year and All-American at both the University of Oklahoma and UL Lafayette retired and joined Le Triomphe full-time in 2008 after 15 years on the professional tour, eight of those as PGA Tour player. Perks also a member of  UL Lafayette’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He most recently was director of instruction focusing on the combined benefits of golf instruction and fitness.

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