Louisiana Bankers Association installs board members, Baton Rouge business gets national attention

Brian North, president and CEO of Fifth District Savings Bank in New Orleans, was installed as the 2024-25 chair of the Louisiana Bankers Association’s Board of Directors.

North succeeds Joseph F. Quinlan III, of First National Bankers Bank in Baton Rouge. Quinlan will continue to serve for one year as immediate past chair on the board.

The other 2024-25 officers are:

Chair-elect Michael R. Vizard, chair and CEO of Cross Keys Bank, St. Joseph

Treasurer Jason D. Smith, president and CEO of Bonvenu Bank, Bossier City

Delegates to the association convention elected two new directors:

Northeast region: Howard Dee Smith, president and CEO of Winnsboro State Bank, Winnsboro. 

Northwest region: Kyle D. Kennington, senior vice president of Community Bank of Louisiana, Stonewall

Other association directors continuing to serve for the upcoming year are:

Acadiana region: Kip Bertrand, of Washington State Bank

Capital region: Mark S. Marionneaux, of Bank of Zachary

Central region: Darryl J. Ellerbee Jr., of Delta Bank in Vidalia

South Central Region: Ronald J. Falgoust, of First American Bank in Vacherie

Southeast Region: Todd McDonald, of Liberty Bank and Trust Co. in New Orleans

Southeast Region: Jeff Ehlinger, of BankPlus in New Orleans

Southwest region: Samuel V. Wilkinson, of First Federal Bank of Louisiana in Lake Charles

At-large members: Shively Verrette, of Lakeside Bank in Lake Charles

Ginger Laurent, LBA CEO in Baton Rouge.

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Baton Rouge’s La Divina Italian Café is one of 20 small businesses selected by SCORE — a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration — to be featured in its 2024 “Small Business Success Stories” video project.

May is National Small Business Month and SCORE is celebrating America’s entrepreneurs by sharing their stories of success to help inspire others.

Mary and Lance LeBlanc opened La Divina Italian Café in November 2013 with guidance from the SCORE Baton Rouge Area chapter and have turned it into a thriving, locally owned success.

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Dr. Angela C. Johnson, LSU Health New Orleans section chief of internal medicine and professor of clinical medicine, has been named chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Physicians.

The Board of Governors is an advisory board to the Board of Regents and implements national projects in addition to representing members at the national level. Governors are elected by local ACP members and serve four-year terms. 

Johnson is an internal medicine physician who holds positions as section chief of internal medicine, associate program director and professor of clinical medicine at LSU Health New Orleans. She is also the director of the LSU Health Medicine and Medicine Subspecialty Clinics at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.

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Two women who founded digital consulting firms in New Orleans were named as members of the 2024 Class of the American Association of Political Consultants’ 40 Under 40.

Last Word Strategies founder and Principal Kristine Breithaupt and Shoreline Strategies founder and CEO Cassie Alsfeld were announced as members of the class. Both women are alumnae of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communications.

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The Bank of St. Francisville has added three board members.

James J. Clyde is the owner and president of Vivatas, an IT consulting company.

Elizabeth D. Levasseur is the chief compliance officer of KG&L Capital Management, an investment advisory firm.

Lawrence Maestri is co-founder of Maestri-Murrell, which manages and brokers a portfolio of commercial, retail and multifamily properties throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.