It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

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OUT TO LUNCH finds Baton Rouge Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM. read less
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Episodes

Tech BRos
2d ago
Tech BRos
Technology has opened doors in so many industries and enabled us to do so many things we couldn’t even imagine in the past. At the same time, we’ve made things more complicated for ourselves, creating systems that don’t always talk to each other and languages we don’t understand. On this edition of Out to Lunch, two lunch guests who are helping break through the clutter, with products and services that are enabling our tech systems to work for us more effectively - and helping businesses better communicate their messaging. John Morello, is Chief Technology Officer of Gutsy, a tech firm that has come up with a better way to help companies protect themselves against cyberthreat. More specifically, Gutsy uses process mining – and we’ll get into that in a minute – to ensure that the various cybersecurity systems a complex organization has in place are talking to one another and doing what they’re supposed to be doing. If John’s name is familiar to you, it may be because he was a guest on Out to Lunch in 2019, when he was running Twistlock, a tech firm that developed cloud-based cybersecurity solutions. In the years since then, John and his partners in Twistlock have grown that company, attracted new investors, and created the spinoff, Gutsy, to address a need they identified running Twistolock. John is a 14-year veteran of Microsoft, who lives in Baton Rouge and is also a master diver and very active in coastal conservation.  Kenny Nguyencis founder and CEO of Three Sixty Eight, a Baton Rouge-based creative and strategic media agency that focuses on branding, marketing and advertising with a high tech, high energy super creative approach. The company’s origins date back to 2011, when Kenny and his friend were still students at LSU and started Big Fish Presentations, which specialized in public speaking and presentation services. In 2016, it merged with another local firm to form 368. In the years since, it has grown to include clients that include CenturyLink, McGraw-Hill Education, GE and Pepsi.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Newton at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nurse
20-03-2024
Nurse
Healthcare is big business, and it’s only getting bigger. In 2021, healthcare expenditures topped $4B in the U.S. By 2028, that figure is expected to reach $6.2B. Within this growing and rapidly changing sector, nurses play an outsized role. They comprise the largest component of the healthcare workforce, they're the primary providers of hospital patient care and they deliver most of the nation’s longterm care. They’re also helping to lead the charge in new ways of delivering care, creating companies right here in Baton Rouge that are reinventing the way nursing is done. Renita Williams Thomas is a pediatric nurse specialist and the owner and CEO of In Loving Arms Pediatric Day Health Center, an outpatient center for children with medically complex needs such as congenital heart disease, traecheotomy, seizure, and genetic and neurological disorders, among others. The center combines skilled nursing, education and therapy and enables children with chronic conditions to interact with other kids their age who may also be going through similar health challenges. Renita founded the center in 2012 after spending more than two decades in the field with the Southern University School of Nursing - where she earned her bachelors and master’s degrees in nursing - Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, the Louisiana State Department of Health and the Lousiaina School for the Visually Impaired.  Blasia Rivet is a Registered nurse and the founder and owner of Decision Critical, a concierge nursing agency that offers in home and mobile private duty nursing services in the Baton Rouge region. Services are tailored to fit patient and caretaker needs and include acute and chronic conditions, elderly care support, post op recovery, and more. Blasia founded Decision Critical in 2014 to fill the need she saw in the community for a higher level of personalized care than one can get beyond the doctor’s office. Blasia is a native of Baton Rouge and a graduate of southeastern Louisiana university school of nursing.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Newton at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Fleurty Perlis
13-03-2024
Fleurty Perlis
Despite the ease and convenience of online shopping, which enables us to procure almost anything we want from anywhere in the world in short order, there’s still something wonderful about buying clothes, apparel, decorations for the home or, really anything for that matter, from a store that we know and love and a brand we have come to trust. Baton Rouge - which likes to call itself "a big small town" -  has several homegrown brands that have been in business for generations. In the years since Katrina we've also welcomed a number of well known retailers from downriver in New Orleans. One of them is Perlis, a family-owned apparel retailer has been a fixture in New Orleans since 1939 that has dressed generations of Uptown gentlemen and, in more recent decades, women, in what the company calls Southern Style. In 2009 the Perlis family opened its first Baton Rouge location on Jefferson Highway. Bobby Berthelot has been the store's manager since 2013. A native of New Orleans, Bobby majored in business and after graduating learned about the ropes of merchandising, retail and made-to-order menswear at the venerable Rubenstein’s on Canal Street in New Orleans then Brook’s Brothers before becoming GM at Perlis in Baton Rouge.  Lauren LeBlanc Haydel is the founder and owner of Fleurty Girl, another well known south Louisiana brand that hasn’t been around as long as Perlis but is taking the region by storm. Lauren founded the company in 2009 when she was a single mother of three and decided to risk it all creating t-shirts for women that celebrated New Orleans. Today, there are nine FLeurty Girls, including a location in Baton Rouge that opened in the summer of 2023, and Fleurty Girl ships its south Louisiana-inspired merchandise – including t-shirts, gifts, door hangers, gifts for the home and an amazing array of sparkly Mardi Gras stuff – all over the world.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. Photos by Brian Newton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Skin Deep
28-02-2024
Skin Deep
I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying, “Beauty is only skin deep.” It’s meant to be a reminder – and a reassurance – that there’s more to a human being than appearance. While that’s true, our appearance is vitally important to us. You only have to spend 5 minutes on social media to reaffirm that’s as true today as it ever has been. Our appearance used to be a kind of genetic lottery. Not so much any more. Today you can get your hair, eyes, nose, lips, breasts, tummy, and butt lifted, sculpted, enhanced, reduced or reshaped to more closely resemble how you’d prefer to look. Signs of aging we euphemistically call “laugh lines” and “crow’s feet” can be smoothed away so your selfie looks as youthful as everybody else’s on Instagram. Without a filter! This kind of physical enhancement used to be the province of Hollywood stars and the wealthy citizens of Manhattan and Beverly Hills. Today we have access to these treatments in Baton Rouge. One of the places you can take this journey here is Ford Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Dr Ann Ford Reilley has been practicing medicine for 30 years and was the first woman in Louisiana to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Dr Reilley’s daughter, Dr Kate Chiasson, has gone one better than her mom: Dr Chiasson is double board certified, by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Mother and daughter plastic surgeons are partners at Ford Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. There are others forms of body modification we use to enhance our appearance. One of the most ancient - and currently most popular - is tattooing. We have archaeological evidence of humans with tattoos as far back as 5,000 BC. In the early 20th Century, tattoos came to be associated with outlaws and sailors. Somewhere along the line that changed. Today, tattoos are regarded as pieces of art, acceptable in all walks of life and they show up everywhere - from the bedroom to the boardroom. Daniel Esen has been a tattoo artist since 2008, and he’s been inking skin in Baton Rouge for over a decade at his own shop, Black Torch Tattoo. Back in the 1970’s, a hairdresser turned entrepreneur by the name of Vidal Sassoon marketed his salons and beauty products with the slogan, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Sassoon was talking about something as impermanent as a haircut. For Ann, Kate, and Daniel, his slogan applies in a far more consequential form. After they leave their shop or your clinic, their patients and clients are changed forever. Tattoos and cosmetic surgery are permanent. What Ann, Kate and Daniel are doing every day requires skill, talent, confidence and courage. They’re working in professions in which there is literally no room for error. This conversation is a fascinating insight into what it’s like having that kind of responsibility. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Newton at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cocha Tilt
14-02-2024
Cocha Tilt
Downtown Baton Rouge has come a long way over the past two decades, thanks to a lot of careful planning, tireless advocacy, public and private investment, and a commitment from a lot of small businesses to set up shop in the capital city’s historic center. Stephanie's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge are are two of those small business owners and have unique insights into what it’s like doing business in the heart of always-evolving downtown Baton Rouge  Saskia Spanhoff co-owns Cocha Restaurant on Sixth Street downtown with her husband, Enrique Pinerua. The couple opened the restaurant in 2016 with a focus on locally sourced, sustainable, non GMO foods with a Southern menu that draws on the region’s Spanish, French African, and Caribbean influences. In the years since, it has grown into one of downtown’s most popular gathering spots. Saskia is a native of Baton Rouge and LSU graduate with over 25 years of experience in the restaurant and wine industries. She has worked at restaurants around the country.  Scott Hodgin is owner and Managing Partner of TILT, a local firm, also based downtown, that specializes in branding, marketing and packaging design for a variety of local products that may be sitting on the shelf in your pantry, including Camellia Beans, Blue Plate mayonnaise, Faubourg Brewing beer, and Big Easy Kombucha. Scott co-founded the firm in 2005 after spending several years learning the ropes at other firms.  It's probably no exaggeration to say that every person in the US over 5 years old knows what Coca Cola is and what Walmart is. Assumedly, having achieved 100% market penetration these companies can now quit advertising. However, we see Walmart and Coca Cola marketing everywhere, from YouTube to highway billboards. Why? Because, as we learn in this conversation, it's one thing to have a popular business like a downtown restaurant but it's a whole other thing to keep the branding as fresh as the food. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Reimagine Property Development
06-02-2024
Reimagine Property Development
Real estate development is one of those high stakes businesses where, most of the time, people with a stomach for taking risks, and a lot of money – or at least access to a lot of money-- put together really ambitious plans for a piece of land, convince others to back them and then build apartments or shopping centers or new office buildings and sell them at a profit, not including the hefty developer’s fees they pay themselves along the way. It’s a rich person’s game and most everyone else is left out. But does it have to be that way? Will Bradshaw and Daniela Rivero Bryant don’t think so. They’ve found a way to make real estate development not only accessible but beneficial to the communities in which it takes place. Will and Daniela are the co-founders of Reimagine Development Partners, a company that does property development and is reimaginging what that looks like. Like other developers, Reimagine takes advantage of the Federal Historic Tax Program. But, unlike other developers, Reimagine replaces the lender – normally an institution like a bank - with a crowdfunding model. In this way, members of the local community chip in five to ten thousand dollars and become investors in the kind of property development deal normally reserved for financial institutions or wealthy investors. So, regular folks get access to the kind of potential profit, and the immediate real-world tax advantages, normally only available to property developers. Will and Daniela started the firm in 2022. He is a career real estate developer and part time professor at Tulane, where he was a founding member of the university’s sustainable real estate development program. Prior to launching Reimagine, Will founded Green Coast Enterprises, a triple bottom line company, which means it is focused on people, prosperity and the planet. Daniela is an expert in urban disaster resilience and community development. Prior to launching Reimagine, she spent 15 years supporting the post-Katrina housing recovering in New Orleans and assisting local government in Latin America with resilience and recovery poverty creation. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On The Boulevard. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New World of Hope
24-01-2024
New World of Hope
If you turn on the news any time, any day, you’re bombarded with stories about climate change and natural disasters, political strife and polarization, and the world poverty that is driving unrest and a migrant crisis. Any one of these issues - not to mention the local problems at home - is too great for any of us to solve. And yet, some of us feel so compelled to do something. But what? Dawn Brown is Water Services Director at Matrix New World Engineering, a New Jersey based engineering firm specifically focused on environmental and climate related challenges, as well as resilience and sustainability projects. These are terms we hear a lot in Louisiana and, based here in Baton Rouge, Dawn makes sense of what they actually mean for us. Matrix was founded in 1990 and opened its Baton Rouge office in 2015. Dawn is an environmental professional who focuses on project management and development with a particular focus is waste permitting and landfills. A native of Baton Rouge, Dawn was a high school biology teacher before switching careers, and while Dawn now deals with environmental issues, Rebecca Gardner is doing her own part to change the world, helping migrants and disadvantaged women around the globe through Hands Producing Hope, a non profit she founded in 2014. Hands Producing Hope sells ethically sourced products made by migrant women and women from disadvantaged countries through a retail shop on Government Street in Baton Rouge and through its website and satellite locations. The organization partners with communities through artisan training programs, maternal health education, life skills classes, adult literacy education, business mentoring and more. It's an extraordinary operation. Rebecca is a native of Baton Rouge who founded Hands Producing Hope because of her passion for helping disadvantaged families and her desire to see long-term sustainable change in impoverished communities. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Movie Stars and Startups
17-01-2024
Movie Stars and Startups
As Louisiana tries to grow its workforce we hear a lot about the energy industry, healthcare, and the food and hospitality sectors for which the state is so well known. Today we’re visiting with two guests who are creating opportunities in two other areas – tech startups and film acting - helping budding entrepreneurs and aspiring actors create companies and film careers. It might not sound like these pursuits have much in common. You might be surprised. Stephen Loy is Executive Director of Nexus Louisiana, parent company of the Louisiana Tech Park, which is located in the old Bon Marche shopping center on Florida Boulevard. The tech park was created more than 20 years ago to drive economic development and job creation by providing tech startups with resources to bring their products and services to market faster and more effectively. Stephen has been executive director of the tech park since 2011 and has been with the organization since 2004, when he was hired as their Director of Communications. Today he oversees day to day operations, develops strategies to attract early stage companies, and manages one of Nexus' signature programs : Tech Park Academy.  While Nexus Louisiana is growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Jency Hogan is helping to grow the local cultural economy through the drama school she and her husband, Aaron Hogan, founded and run. It’s called Love Acting and it’s specifically focuses on teaching film acting, as opposed to stage acting. The Hogans are both professional actors, who founded the school on returning to Jency’s native Baton Rouge after eight years in Los Angeles. Jency has produced short films, co-directed a western epic, was on the producer team of a biopic directed by Ethan Hawke, and is currently a recurring character named Vera Minder on the TNT hit Claws. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Analise Gonzalez  at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If You Can Make It Here
10-01-2024
If You Can Make It Here
For more than a decade now, we’ve been talking about the changes brought about by e-commerce and how fewer and fewer of us are venturing out to malls and shops and opting instead of the convenience of e-retail platforms. As this brave new world of online shopping continues to evolve, we’re seeing an ever-growing and fascinating landscape of entrepreneurs who are using pieces and parts of the new technology, mixing the old with the new, the virtual with the real, and coming up with new iterations of retail. Nathan Pearce is CEO of Pearce Bespoke, a Baton Rouge clothier that is making custom tailoring more accessible, affordable, and easy, by using some of the digital  tools that have made e-commerce so popular to create old-fashion, handmade garments. Pearce Bespoke offers tailor-made suits and separates through a mobile shop. They come to you, get your measurements, and whip up a designer piece of clothing for you in just a few weeks. Nathan has been in the clothing business for much of his career. He launched a custom T-shirt making business while fresh out of college and founded Pearce Bespoke in 2021, which now has brick and mortar locations in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette. He is also franchising the brand and has more than 50 locations across the south.  If you listen to radio shows and podcasts about business, you’ve probably heard entrepreneurs talk about the success of their business, describing almost gleefully how they initially failed before they made it. Well, failure isn’t always as much fun as these success stories make it sound. Not every failure is followed by success. Sometimes it’s followed by a career change. Take, for example, Conrad Freeman. Today Conrad runs the fabrication lab in the LSU College of Art and Design. It’s a lab where faculty and students can design and build stuff using a variety of materials. Before that, in 2020, Conrad founded Freeman Handcrafted designs, which made contemporary furniture by hand for commercial and residential customers. While Conrad’s furniture was beautiful, the market for his high-end products was very small in Baton Rouge and running the business was challenging, which is why he left just two years after founding the company for the position at LSU. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from thois show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dating Love and Marriage
06-12-2023
Dating Love and Marriage
This is a show about business. Not a place you’d typically turn to for dating advice. But on this edition of Out to Lunch we’re talking about the business of dating, love, and marriage. For past generations – your parents or grandparents - charting a life course seemed to be a lot simpler. Especially for a woman. You graduated from high school, you got married to your high school sweetheart or a guy you met in college, and everybody lived happily ever after. Then we hit the 1970’s, and 50% of marriages ended in divorce. Today in the United States, people are waiting longer to get married. Or opting not to tie the knot at all. Since 1973, marriage rates in the US have declined nearly 60%. Other statistics tell us that people are finding it harder to make meaningful connections. More young people than ever report feeling alone, disconnected, and clinically depressed.   And all this comes at a time when a staggering array of apps and online dating sites are promising to pair people up for everything from one-night stands, to casual relationships to forever partnerships. What’s not working? And how do we fix it? We could look forward, to the next generation of technology and ask AI to find us love and happiness. Or we could look back. And rather than having to check a box that says, “I’m not a robot,” how about sitting down face to face with an actual human being who is a dating specialist? Yes, there is such a job. It’s called a Matchmaker. Admittedly there aren’t many of them. Ann Parnes is one of the very few. Ann Parnes is founder of Match Made in NOLA, a traditional matchmaking service that is, as its name implies, based in New Orleans but has expanded to Baton Rouge and does business like a real old-fashioned matchmaker – by carefully curating potential partners and introducing them to one another. Ann began her career as an attorney and spent several years prosecuting criminals, until 2014, when she felt a calling taking her in a different direction and became a certified life coach. From there she began to sense what she says was a real calling and a recognition that she had a gift for bringing people together, so in 2017 she opened Match Made in NOLA. And now her services have expanded to include Baton Rouge. most people who are dating and looking for a partner are younger. They’ve grown up with Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, OK Cupid, Christian Mingle, J-Date, Match.com and the list goes on. There are even specialty dating apps like “Dig – the dog lovers dating app.” So, let’s start with the obvious question. Is someone who turns to an old-fashioned matchmaker burned out on dating apps? Or is a typical client someone different who can’t bring themselves to use a dating app and hasn’t had any success meeting anyone at The Chimes or Chelseas? Could matchmaking be for you? On this special dating love and marriage edition of Out to Lunch, Ann explains the art and science of dating to Stephanie. If you're looking for a great place for a date in Baton Rouge you can't beat Mansurs on the Boulevard. We've been meeting there every week for years on Out to Lunch and we're all still happily working together! And if you're looking for even more of an insight into Ann's life you can check her out on It's New Orleans Happy Hour.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Paris. London. Rome. Baton Rouge.
28-11-2023
Paris. London. Rome. Baton Rouge.
Paris. London. Rome. Baton Rouge. Yes, your next piece of stylish designer clothing might come from right here. South Louisiana is known for food and music and other artistic and creative cultural expressions so perhaps it’s surprising that we’re not known for our clothing designers. With so much inspiration to draw from, meet the crestive forces behind two local clothing lines.  Dave Duncan is co-owner of Jack Duncan Design, a sustainably made menswear brand that creates shirts for the everyday man. Dave founded and runs the company with his wife Brittany Tubb Duncan, who shares his passion for finding unique prints and has her own brand, Itty by Bitty, which provides children’s options in the Jack Duncan prints. Dave and Brittany founded Jack Duncan Design in early 2023 and currently operate out of their home study and shop in mid City.  Paula LaFargue is owner and designer at the Maybe Collection, a Baton Rouge-based business that also uses ethical practices to make comfortable, functional women’s garments that have minimal environmental impact – and they’re also beautiful and affordable. Paula started the company in 2016 after spending 10 years designing clothes for nursing moms, children and utility workers – not all at the same time. She is a a native of Baton Rouge who attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and cut her teeth in the fashion industry in New Orleans and Chicago before returning home in 2009. Paula is a returning guest on this show. We last spoke during the pandemic, when we were remote on Zoom. Since then, the Maybe Collection has grown.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Farm to Table and Cocktail
15-11-2023
Farm to Table and Cocktail
The bulk of Louiaisna's population, living in cities like Baton Rouge and New Orleans, probably don’t think much about it, but farming is a significant sector of the state’s economy. Nearly one-third of the state’s land is farmland! There are 27,400 farms in Louisiana, though it’s a rapidly changing and challenging way to make a living. Even given the obstacles though, there is opportunity for a new generation of creative cultivators who are practicing new ways of raising livestock, growing crops, and creating new products with the output. Galen Iverstine is founder and co-owner of Iverstine Farms and Butcher. The name of the company refers to a farm in Kentwood, Louisiana that uses sustainable farming practices in raising its cattle, and a full-service butcher shop, smokehouse and "eatery" in Baton Rouge. At the Baton Rouge outlet Galen sells local, farm-raised meats, and supports local farming partners who prioritize land-healing methods. Galen started the business in 2010, when he purchased his 65 acre farm. It grew out of his experience senior year at LSU, when, trying to figure out what to do with his life, he took an English class that focused on food writing and in doing so learned all about food policy, industrial agriculture models and subsistence farming. It might be the most unique introduction to farming, ever! Nathalie Noel's connection to Louisiana agriculture is through our sugracane crops. Nathalie is CEO of Noel Family Distillery, a company based in Donaldsonville that uses locally sourced sugarcane to distill ultra premium spirits. Not only do they make tequila, rum and vodka, they also blend their spirits with natural flavors to produce a line of ready-to-drink, canned craft cocktails. Nathalie founded the Noel Family Distillery with her dad, Chip, who was inspired to open a distillery by his travels as a pilot, where he discovered Caribbean style and Central American rums. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
One Foot In Each World
24-10-2023
One Foot In Each World
We live at an interesting nexus today, where so much of our economy is focused on building processes and systems that enable us to exist in the virtual world while at the same time we continue to build and develop the physical world in which we also exist. Maybe one day, one of those worlds will overtake the other. For now though, we seem to have one foot in each world and pass between them multiple times every day. Navigating our journeys through both of these worlds creates unlimited opportunities for creative entrepreneurs. Dustin Puryear os founder and CEO of Giant Rocketship, a Baton Rouge based tech company that has developed an AI-powered project manager that efficiently assigns and monitors tasks for IT companies, and can reassign them if a team member faces challenges or is unavailable. Dustin founded Giant Rocketship as an outgrowth of Puryear IT, which provides a range of IT services for small and medium-sized business. Dustin still owns both companies, but spends most of his time these days focused on Giant Rocketship. Dustin has also has a developed a niche as a speaker in IT circles, where he shares insights on technology, cybersecurity and AI.  Firmly in the real world, Baton Rouge native Nick Miller is founder and CEO of Build Commercial Construction, a full service commercial construction company that works in the multifamily, retail, healthcare and industrial spaces, and also does storm and wetlands remediation - a growing segment in climate-challenged south Louisiana. Nick graduated from LSU’s Bert S. Turner School of Construction Management and got his start with Manhattan Construction, where he was a project manager overseeing construction of L’Auberge Casino. He later spent several years with a large general contractor until taking the brave step of branching out on his own to form Build Commercial Construction, which specializes in the design assist delivery method of construction which increases the collaborative efforts between owners, designers and the general contractor. Recently the firm expanded its footprint to two nearby states.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Who Knows What
18-10-2023
Who Knows What
As our economy and society have become more complex, we’ve started to rely on big data, data driven solutions and AI analytics to describe what we do, what we buy, and where we choose to invest. Where does all this data and information come from? And how can these analytics really help us and our businesses do better? Rachel Verron is founder and CEO of Ruby Research, a Baton Rouge based company that offers data, research and analytics services to nonprofit and government clients. Ruby Research helps clients use data to learn, improve and grow. Rachel is a mixed method policy researcher with a personal specialty in human services, child and family policy and a passion for the nonprofit space. Before founding the firm in mid-2021, she was director of business intelligence and analytics at the LSU Foundation. Prior to that she was an analyst Louisiana Economic Development. Rachel says Ruby Research represents a coming home to what she feels is her true vocation: putting the best of her knowledge and energy to work in loving service to her community. Lex Adams is CEO of Crimer, a software company that uses AI and analytics to predict patterns of a crime, to stop crime BEFORE it’s committed. Lex and some of his computer science buddies created Crimer in 2018 while they were still students at LSU. In the years since, they’ve gotten a lot of attention with their software, which pulls data from a variety of sources, feeds it into an A.I. system, then it spits information predicting where crime will happen. You may remember Lex’s name: he was a guest on this show in 2020, during the height of the COVID lockdown when we recorded remotely. Since then, Lex has gone on to form two spinoff companies – Vigilus, a startup that specializes in web and app development for businesses, and Griffin Games, a tiny startup that does video game development.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find Photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Grandma's Club and Your Labs
11-10-2023
Grandma's Club and Your Labs
As we’ve all heard, America is aging and the numbers are pretty startling. People 65 and older represented just 16% of the population in 2019. By 2040, they’ll make up nearly one fourth of all Americans, and those numbers are expected to continue to climb. Part of the reason people are living longer is because of new technologies and innovations in the healthcare sector that are enabling providers to deliver more effective care in new and more efficient ways. It’s a space full of challenges and opportunities - and local Baton Rouge entrepreneurs are on the front lines. Rachael Slaughter is President and co-owner of Orion Labotatories, a medical testing lab based in Baton Rouge that in just a few short years has become the largest independent lab in the state, processing some 600,000 patient samples a year. Rachael co-founded the company with her husband David Slaughter in 2017. Today, they’re taking on industry giants like Quest and Lab Corps, with an in-house test menu, a dedicated team for specimen collection and an extensive courier network. Rachel has more than 15 years experience in the medical field – in fact, she was the one who got David into the business. In the years since it has grown to more than 80 employees, headquartered on Corporate Boulevard. Maria Yiannopoulos is founder and owner of Bon Jour Social and Leisure Center, a social club for seniors who are aging in place in the Greater Baton Rouge area. Bon Jour opened its doors in February 2023 and offers social life enrichment activities and a safe social outlet for seniors to meet and socialize in the aftermath of COVID. Maria was a guest on this show a few years ago when she was marketing director of a local assisted living facility. In the years since, a lot has changed and Maria has decided to out on her own with this unique and much needed niche service. Maria is a native of Baton Rouge, who spent her early childhood in Greece, and has extensive professional experience in assisted living communities, aging in place for seniors and helping individuals with disabilities gain independence through technologies and devices. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Where Am I, Exactly?
27-09-2023
Where Am I, Exactly?
It’s no secret that Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes are home to some of the largest petrochemical plants in the world. We’re also a hub of activity when it comes to climate and resilience because of our sinking coastline and rising seas in an era of climate change. The intersection of these vast and important fields create some interesting opportunities for companies that also are based here and training young people to work in those companies in the future.  Mark Fallon is CEO of APTIM, a Baton Rouge-based company that provides engineering, program management, environmental services, disaster recovery, complex facility maintenance, and construction services to clients in in the energy sector, as well as governments and the military. APTIM was spun off several years ago from CB&I, which, many in Baton Rouge may remember, bought The Shaw Group in 2013. Mark has been at the helm of the company since April 2020, which was, no doubt, an interesting time to start a new big challenge. But he came armed with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Prior to joining APTIM, Mark was president and CEO of sister companies – Envirocon, a national remediation and deocmmisioning contractor, and Modern Machinery, a distributor of heavy construction and minig equipment. He also worked at CH2M and started his career in the US Department of Energy under President Bill Clinton.  Fran Harvey is Director of the Global Geospatial Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Innovation Park at LSU that teaches students to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and display all kinds of spatial or geographical data using the only GIS Industry based certification program in the country. Are you wondering, "What exactly is GIS?" Well, you're not alone. Most people  - and that certainly includes most highschool students - don't realize they are using GIS data every time they pick up their smart phone and open the map app or check the location of the Uber they’re waiting on to pick them up or the Door Dash guy who is delivering their order. But GIS is everywhere and the Global Geospatial Institute believes that if young people can learn the skills that go into GIS they will be better prepared to enter today’s workforce. Fran was introduced to GIS technology while working as an environmental scientist. She spent several years in disaster response and recovery as a senior GIS analyst and decided to go back to school for an advanced degree in the technology. She spent more than a decade at the La Dept of Environmental Quality as an environmental scientist and GIS analyst and went on to use her expertise in as a GIS specialist in the aftermaths of several gulf coast hurricanes. In 2014, Fran and her husband founded the Global Geospatial Institute.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can photos from this show by Brian Pavlich  at itsbatonrouge.la. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mais Oui C'est Fran U
20-09-2023
Mais Oui C'est Fran U
Louisiana continues to rank behind almost every other state in the country in terms of its educational outcomes across the board – from Pre-K through post secondary. But buried under those bad stats, are some bright spots – success stories of programs and schools that are finding ways to prepare students and train them for the jobs of the future. On this episode of Out to Lunch, meet two of the leading lights of the Baton Rouge education system. Tina Holland is President and CEO of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge, better known as Fran U. Tina came to Fran U in 2014 from Notre Dame, Indiana, where she had served as Executive Vice President and Provost of Holy Cross College. In the years since, she has overseen an aggressive and successful expansion of Fran U. Tina Holland, whose combination of military and education experience and vision has elevated Fran U to an accredited college Fran U started out nearly a century ago as Our Lady of the Lake, a nursing school. Today it is a fully accredited university with new undergraduate and graduate degree programs that Tina has created. Tina is overseeing the development of Fran U’s first freestanding building which will give the university a new level of autonomy. Tina is a native of Los Angeles and a former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps., who brings an extraordinary knowledge and skillset to a position that requires navigating the turbulent waters of not only higher ed and Catholic Church but local politics as well. Christine Merchant is  World Language Coordinator with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. If you’re thinking, “I didn’t know East Baton Rouge Schools had a world language coordinator,” you’re not alone but you might be surprised to learn that not only is the school system’s immersive language program highly successful, but also that Christine has been running it for 42 years! In fact, Christine is the first and only person to hold this position. Christine Merchant, the depth of her French accent is matched by the depth of her 42 years of dedication to foreign language education in Baton Rouge The most visible flagship of the East Baton Rouge School System’s foreign language track is FLAIM, or more formally, the Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, but world languages are offered at a large number of EBR public schools. Stephanie Riegel hosts a mostly English language edition of Out to Lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos by Erik Otts at itsbatonrouge.la. baton rouge business podcast christine merchant east baton rouge parish schools flaim fran u mansurs on the boulevard out to lunch stephanie riegel tina hollandSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AI Does Your Laundry
13-09-2023
AI Does Your Laundry
It can be threatening if not downright scary sometimes to consider the extent to which apps and Artificial Intelligence now run our lives. But it’s also exciting to think about all the ways that this technology can be used to cure diseases or build sophisticated satellite systems or even do simple things - like helping us do the laundry! Or training a new employee on how to do their job. AI Laundry Chris Hilliard is co-founder of Suds Laundry Service, a traditional laundry service with a distinctly 21st century twist: Suds has created a custom app that customers can use to schedule laundry pickup and delivery from their home, dorm or office along with any special instructions. Suds will launder or dry clean the clothes and return them within 24 hours. Chris and his partners created the company in 2019, while they were still college students at Southern University in Baton Rouge,  looking for a solution to the piles of laundry building up in their dorm rooms. In the years since, they have graduated and grown their startup with help from the Southern University Law Centers’ Technology and Entrepreneur Clinic. Chris grew up in Lafayette and now calls Baton Rouge home. AI Hires & Trains David DeCuir is a partner in iCan Technologies, which provides software tools to help companies effectively train and track the competency of their employees and contractors, which is no small thing for the industrial and energy companies that David’s company works with. iCan also recently developed an AI technology that helps companies create scripts for job interviews, offering an interviewer specific real-time questions and prompts based on how an applicant is responding. Think about that for a moment!  David co-founded the company in early 2020 – literally weeks before COVID changed everything, in his case for the better. He didn’t start out looking to create a tech startup but had spent years working in the oil and gas industry and realized there was an opportunity to do things better. David also is a native of Lafayette.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Real  As It Gets
02-08-2023
As Real As It Gets
Real estate is something that touches all of us. Even if we don’t own our own home, we have to rent which means the economic forces that impact buyers, sellers and investors impact all of us. COVID was a major disrupter of all segments of the real estate market. And the post-COVID era is no less unprecedented. Which makes every day at the office an interesting one for those who work in the real estate business. Dave Lakvold is a commercial real estate appraiser and owner of The Lakvold Group, which has been appraising apartment complexes, office buildings, warehouses and retail centers in the Baton Rouge area since Dave started the company in 1995. That was around the same time he married his wife, Angie Lakvold, also an appraiser who, at the time, was working for First Commerce Corp, a bank holding company. Four years later, Angie left the bank and joined Dave at the Lakvold Group.  They’ve been working together ever since. Dave focuses on commercial bank and litigation appraisals, and Angie specializes in infrastructure and litigation appraisals. Over the years, their clients have included some of the area’s highest profile businesses and investors. Andy St. Romain is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of the law firm Jones Walker, who specializes in real estate. Jones Walker is a sponsor of Out to Lunch so we thought we’d take advantage of that relationship and invite Andy to join us to talk about real estate with Dave today. Andy has been with Jones Walker since 2004. In the years since, he has advised clients on the full range of residential, commercial, and industrial real estate issues, representing developers and lenders. Andy is also a CPA and an adjunct professor at the Southern University Law Center. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can photos from this show by Brian Pavlich at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Shoot
25-07-2023
Shoot
We focus a lot in our society today on those who make their living in front of the camera, whether acting or influencing or prognosticating on important things. But those who shoot those images and videos have equally interesting stories to tell,  and businesses they have built doing it. They also have a unique perspective that comes from looking into that two-dimension view-finder that informs their work, and in some instances inspires them to do bigger things with far-reaching impact. John Jackson is co-founder of Launch Media, a full service multimedia production company that offers video production and creative services from brand development to scripting, casting, post production and corporate communications. The company's suite of services has evolved from their origins back in 2005, when it was called Green Screen TV and focused on making short videos. Over the years, as the company has grown, John has become active in historic preservation the redevelopment of downtown Baton Rouge. In 2014, he bought a historic building in the heart of downtown, renovated it and opened it as a co-working space for creative companies called the Creative Bloc.  Marie Constantin is one of the region’s most accomplished photographers and photo journalists. Marie became internationally known for her photographic works of the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta when the Vatican chose one of her photos to hang in St. Peters Square for Mother Teresa's 2003 Beatification Ceremony. A native of Hartford CT, Marie came to Baton rouge to attend LSU where she studied journalism and in the decades since her work has taken her around the world – including to the slums of Calcutta, where she documented the work of nuns there who serve the poor. In 2018 Marie became alarmed at the buildup of litter and trash around Baton Rouge, particularly in the Baton Rouge Lakes, one of the city’s most prized assets and natural resources. She used her photography to capture images of some of the most extreme examples of the trash – which catalyzed the community and helped her grow a grass roots cleanup effort into a nonprofit, the Louisiana Stormwater Coalition.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find out more and see photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.