Governor John Bel Edwards announced his appointments to several Louisiana boards and commissions last Friday.
Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation
The Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation was established to employ financing techniques to eliminate risks as to a portion of the monies to be received as a result of the master tobacco settlement agreement.
Christopher K. “Kim” Carver, of Mandeville, was reappointed to the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation. Carver is the Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Human Resources at Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company. He will serve as a representative of the 1st Congressional District.
Jodee N. Bruyninckx, of Monroe, was reappointed to the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation. Bruyninckx is the Vice President of Special Projects at Joe Gear Companies. She will serve as an at-large representative.
Kenner Naval Museum Commission
The Kenner Naval Museum Commission was created to acquire, lease, transport, berth, renovate, equip, operate, maintain, and exhibit the aircraft carrier USS Cabot-Dedalo and any other property acquired for use as a permanent naval museum and to adopt rules and regulations for the use of such museum and its properties.
Douglas W. Crowell, of Kenner, was reappointed to the Kenner Naval Museum Commission. Crowell is retired and is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard. As required by statute, he was nominated by a legislator representing Kenner and will serve as a resident of Kenner on the commission.
Lewis J. “Woody” Faucheux Jr., of Kenner, was reappointed to the Kenner Naval Museum Commission. Faucheux is retired and a veteran of the United State Marine Corps. As required by statute, he was nominated by a legislator representing Kenner and will serve as a resident of Kenner on the commission.
Claude Todaro, of Kenner, was reappointed to the Kenner Naval Museum Commission. Todaro is retired and a veteran of the United States Navy. As required by statute, he was nominated by a legislator representing Kenner and will serve as a resident of Kenner on the commission.
Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission
The Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission coordinates cybersecurity effects among state governmental agencies, local governments, tribal governments, private companies, academic institutions, and other entities.
Frances B. Gladden, of Baton Rouge, was appointed to the Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission. Gladden is the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for Cox Communications.
Jeffrey A. Moulton, of Baton Rouge, was appointed to the Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission. Moulton is the Executive Director of the Stephenson National Center for Security Research and Training at Louisiana State University.
Craig C. Spohn, of Bossier City, was appointed to the Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission. Gladden is Executive Director of the Cyber Innovation Center.
Sonya Y. Wiley-Gremillion, of Pineville, was appointed to the Louisiana Cybersecurity Commission. Wiley-Gremillion is the Executive Director of the Rapides Parish Communications District.
Louisiana Folklife Commission
The Louisiana Folklife Commission advises the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism’s Office of Cultural Development on policy, objectives, and budgeting needs in the identification, preservation, and presentation of Louisiana folk cultural resources.
Jennifer R. Guidry, of Lafayette, was appointed to the Louisiana Folklife Commission. Guidry is the Assistant Director at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As required by statute, she was nominated by the Lieutenant Governor and will serve as a representative of university faculty on the commission.
Louisiana Commission on Human Rights
The role of the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights is to enforce specific laws pertaining to discriminatory practices in the state of Louisiana. To accomplish this purpose, the Commission uses distinct procedures for intake, investigation, mediation, and determination to process official complaints of discrimination.
Roxanna F. Foret, of Houma, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Foret is a realtor with Keller Williams Realty Bayou Partners. She will serve as the representative of the 1st Congressional District.
Courtney L. Hunt, of Baton Rouge, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Hunt is a Problem Resolution Officer at Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. She will serve as the representative of the 6th Congressional District.
Terry L. Jackson, of Bossier City, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Jackson is a registered nurse with United Home Health Care and a dance instructor. Additionally, she is a veteran of the United States Air Force. She will serve as the representative of the 4th Congressional District.
Tamara K. Jacobson, of New Orleans, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Jacobson is a managing attorney with the Law Office of Tamara Jacobson, LLC, and will serve as a representative of the state at-large.
F. Clayton Latimer, of New Orleans, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Latimer is an attorney in private practice and will serve as a representative of the state at-large.
Julia Mendez, of Kenner, was reappointed to the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights. Mendez is the principal business consultant at Peoplefluent and will serve as a representative of the state at-large.
Law Enforcement Executive Management Institute
The purpose of the Law Enforcement Executive Management Institute is to promote the public peace, by establishing training programs for municipal chiefs of police to provide management courses and skills to enhance the safety of the citizens of Louisiana and the enforcement of state laws.
Chief Glenn S. Ford, of St. Francisville, was reappointed to the Law Enforcement Executive Management Institute. Ford is the Chief of Police for the St. Francisville Police Department.
Louisiana Educational Television Authority
The Louisiana Educational Television Authority serves to promote the use of educational television and technology in the state of Louisiana to further the education and cultural enrichments of its citizens.
Eartha C. Cross, of Hammond, was reappointed to the Louisiana Education Television Authority. Cross is a retired educator who has worked in the Tangipahoa Parish School System. She will serve as a representative of the 1st Congressional District.
Parish Boards of Election Supervisors
The purpose of the board in each parish is to oversee and supervise all elections within the parish to ensure the safety and accuracy of the democratic process. The Board of Election Supervisors oversees the preparation and conducting of each election in the parish. Each parish’s board is composed of the parish’s registrar of voters, the parish’s clerk of court, the chairman of the parish executive committee of each recognized political party, and one member appointed by the governor.
Richard T. Dugas, of Cecilia, was reappointed to the St. Martin Parish Board of Election Supervisors. Dugas is the St. Martin Parish Assessor.
Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners
The Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners exists to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare of the people of this state against unauthorized, unqualified, and improper practice of social work though a proper regulatory authority.
Jennifer L. Burch, of Baton Rouge, was appointed to the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners. Burch is the Director of Graduate Medical Education and Behavioral Science Faculty at Baton Rouge General. As required by statute, she was nominated by the Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and will serve as a licensed clinical social worker rendering direct services.
Louisiana Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
The Louisiana Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, created by the legislature, provides regulatory authority over persons offering speech-language pathology and audiology services to the public in order to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare, to protect the public from incompetent, unscrupulous, and unauthorized persons, and from unprofessional conduct by speech-language pathologists and audiologists, and speech-language pathology assistants.
Erica A. Chatelain, of Bossier City, was appointed to the Louisiana Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Chatelain is a speech-language pathologist and special education specialist-augmentative communication facilator with the Bossier Parish School System.
Board of Tax Appeals
The Board of Tax Appeals is a quasi-judicial state agency whose statutory mission is to resolve equitably, fairly, expeditiously and independently any state tax dispute between individual, corporate and other taxpayers and state agencies including the Department of Revenue, Wildlife and Fisheries, and Health and Hospitals, as mandated by R.S. 47:1401 et. seq. The Board supports the State's right to collect all taxes to which it is entitled while at the same time protecting the taxpayer's rights to an inexpensive, convenient, prompt, and fair judicial determination, consistent with the provisions of its statutory powers and authority.
Hon. Anthony J. “Tony” Graphia, of Baton Rouge, was reappointed to the Board of Tax Appeals. Graphia was formerly Chief Judge of the East Baton Rouge Family Court, where he served from 1979 to 1996. He will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Board.
Veterans Affairs Commission
The Veterans Affairs Commission is responsible for adopting and promulgating rules and regulations governing the operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Additionally, the Commission advises the department's Secretary of problems concerning the welfare of veterans and makes and publishes annual and special reports to the Governor concerning the operations of the department.
Elvin R. Bass, of Laplace, was appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission. Bass is a Patient Services Assistant, USDVA, St. John Veterans Outpatient Clinic in Reserve. He is a veteran of the United States Army. Bass will serve as a representative of Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Michael Ryan Beissinger, of Prairieville, was appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission. Beissinger is a reliability engineer at ExxonMobil and a veteran of the United States Army. He will serve as an at-large representative.
Sulanda V. Lonnette, of Baton Rouge, was appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission. She is the Grants Management Team Lead for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and a veteran of the United States Air Force Reserves. She will serve as an at-large representative.
Deron G. Santiny, of Lafayette, was appointed to the Veterans Affairs Commission. Santiny is a National Campaign Team Member of the Wounded Warrior Project and a veteran of the United States Navy, United States Army, and Louisiana National Guard. He will serve as an at-large representative.
Louisiana State Board of Nursing
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing is responsible for safeguarding the life and health of Louisiana residents through the regulation of persons practicing or offering to practice as registered nurses. The board also establishes minimum curriculum requirements and approves nursing schools.
Jennifer S. Couvillon, Ph.D., of New Orleans, was appointed to the Louisiana State Board of Nursing. Couvillon is a registered nurse and the Campus President of Chamberlain University School of Nursing at Ochsner Health System. As required by statute, she was nominated by the Louisiana State Nurses Association and will serve as a Nurse Educator on the board.
Timothy C. Cotita, of Calhoun, was reappointed to the Louisiana State Board of Nursing. Cotita is a registered nurse and the Regional Bioethicist at St. Francis Medical Center. As required by statute, he was nominated by the Louisiana State Nurses Association and will serve as a representative of other areas of nursing on the board.
Louisiana Rehabilitation Council
The Louisiana Rehabilitation Council's duties include reviewing, analyzing, and advising the Louisiana Rehabilitation Services within the Louisiana Workforce Commission regarding the performance of its responsibilities relating to eligibility, extent, scope, and effectiveness of services provided. The Council also reviews functions performed by state agencies that affect or that potentially affect the ability of individuals with disabilities in achieving employment.
Suzanne S. Lentz, of Covington, was appointed to the Louisiana Rehabilitation Council. Lentz is the owner and operator of TASS Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center. She will serve as a representative of business on the council.