New Orleans area
Dr. Hamid Salam, a triple board-certified physician in interventional cardiology, cardiovascular disease and internal medicine, has joined Lakeview Regional Medical Center.
Salam was the director of the heart team and trans-catheter aortic valve replacement program at St. Tammany Parish Hospital. He also served as the medical director of the cardiovascular service line and chest pain center there. He previously was in private practice in Covington and earlier in Chicago. Salam earned his medical degree in Pakistan at Dow Medical College. He completed a residency at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he also completed a fellowship in cardiology. He served as chief of cardiology fellows and chief of internal medicine residents while attending.
Claris Smith, an associate attorney at Cooper Law Firm LLC, has been named to chair diversity, equity and inclusion at Dartmouth Club of the Gulf Coast.
As a member of the leadership team, Smith will support programing and events with a focus on inclusion and diversity. At Cooper Law Firm, she litigates pharmaceutical and environmental toxic torts. She is the vice chair of the board of Special Olympics Louisiana and a volunteer mentor for the Legal Education Advancing Diversity Program at Dillard. Smith dual-majored in English and studio art at Dartmouth and obtained a master’s degree in health science at the University of Texas at Tyler and went to Tulane Law School.
Keith Espadron Jr. has been named special associate for economic development at St. Tammany Corp.
Espadron will assist with business development and technical services aspects of the organization’s economic development initiatives and management of its economic development projects; help support the business retention and expansion program; and assist with the facilitation of Advance St. Tammany, the organization’s business assistance program. Espadron was director of economic development and tourism for Plaquemines Parish Government. He also serves on the First Planning District Workforce Development Board and the Regional Planning Commission. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from LSU.
DonahueFavret Contractors Inc. has named Pierce Langridge as a project manager, Brock Piglia as director of marketing and Terry Parker as a project engineer.
Langridge was a project manager at F.H. Myers Construction and has more than 10 years of project management experience. He graduated from LSU with a degree in construction management and minors in business administration and technical sales. He began his career in Baton Rouge and moved in 2018 to the New Orleans market.
Piglia was director of marketing and business development at EskewDumezRipple Architects and has more than a decade of experience in the architecture and construction industry. He earned a bachelor of landscape architecture from LSU and practiced as a planner and urban designer in St. Louis before earning a Master of Business Administration.
Parker created a niche as an office manager, finance manager and the head project administrator at Williams Architects, where she spent 26 years.
Baton Rouge area
De’Shoin A. York has been appointed the vice chancellor for extension and outreach at the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
York was named interim vice chancellor for extension in September, after serving as associate vice chancellor of the center since January 2020. For the past 20 years, York has served as the Southern University Ag Center’s nutrition, health and wellness specialist. She also serves as director for both the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — Education nutrition education programs. She previously was a research assistant at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. York earned a bachelor’s degree in human foods and nutrition; a Master’s of Public Administration degree and a doctor of philosophy in public policy with a concentration in health policy, all from Southern University.
Jack Heaton has been named chief technology officer at Moxey, a regional financial technology and small business commerce marketing technology firm.
He was senior developer at FiveSix Healthcare for three years, served as software engineer at Hanger Inc. and as a clinical systems consultant with IONET Health Resources. The New Orleans native graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering.
Shantel Richard has been named vice president of human resources for the Louisiana Lottery Corp.
She was a human resources business partner at Denka Performance Elastomer and has a 14-year career in human resources. She holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in human resources from LSU-Shreveport.
The Junior League of Baton Rouge has installed Tristi Bercegeay Charpentier as president of the 1,600-member organization.
Other officers and board members for 2021-22 are Jessica Weimer O’Connor, president-elect; Ashley Burns Connolly, chief financial officer; Amy Fennell, chief of staff; Robin Porter and Grace Weber, directors-at-large; Megan Cardaro, director of strategic initiatives; Jessica Guinn Johnson, long-range planning; Katie Chabert, nominating chair; Caroline Tomeny Monteverde, policy governance; Monique Scott-Spaulding, recording secretary; Sara Downing, sustaining adviser.
Executive management are O’Connor, president-elect; Brandi Simmons, annual planning; Sarah Schnauder, community vice president; Kris Beatty, financial vice president; Chrislyn Maher, fund development vice president; Erin Fulbright, marketing and communications vice president; Liz Centanni, membership vice president; Laura Mary, nominating assistant chair; Scott-Spaulding, recording secretary; Jasmin Newsome, special projects manager; Rose Hudson, sustaining adviser; and Adrian Owen Jones, training and organizational development vice president.
Joseph Carrabba has been named chief executive officer of ElementUS Minerals LLC, a joint venture between DADA Holdings and Enervoxa that is developing a processing facility in Gramercy to extract rare earth elements and other minerals from residual bauxite.
Carrabba was executive chairman at Winston Gold, and has served as a director of companies including Aecon Group and Newmont Goldcorp. He has over 30 years of executive experience in natural resources and metals industries and spent over 20 years in executive leadership at Rio Tinto, holding positions in its North American, Australian, Asian and European operations. He left Rio Tinto to serve as chairman, president and CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. from 2005 to 2013.
Around Louisiana
Postlethwaite & Netterville APAC has promoted Josh Dicharry as a director in P&N’s Consulting Services Group, based in Baton Rouge, and Jennifer Mistretta as a director in P&N’s Assurance Service Group, based in New Orleans.
Dicharry has been with the firm since 2012 and has over 14 years of experience providing project management and business analysis to government agencies, nonprofits and various private companies. He is a leader in P&N’s application development, IT project management and business intelligence service area.
Mistretta joined the firm in 2012, with six years of prior experience. She works with clients in industries such as health care, nonprofit, and governmental and private entities.
Hancock Whitney has promoted Chris Broussard to senior regional credit officer for the bank’s southwest Louisiana and Texas markets.
The Acadiana native, a senior vice president, is based at the bank’s River Ranch regional headquarters, 2301 Camellia Blvd. He previously served for almost eight years as director of commercial credit for MidSouth Bank, which merged with Hancock Whitney in 2019. His experience includes commercial banking, credit analysis and credit risk management. He holds a business administration degree in finance and a Master of Business Administration degree in business administration and management from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
