• Published: Mar 30, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Tweet
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

James W. “Jamey” Firnberg Jr., president and chief operating officer of School Aids Inc., has been named chairman of the board of the National School Supply and Equipment Association. NSSEA represents school supply retailers, distributors, manufacturers and independent representative groups.

Merit Electrical Inc. has named Thom Bonner as president; Mack Dubose as senior vice president of construction; and Mark Wamsley as senior vice president of administration. Bonner was manager of estimating and purchasing. Dubose was manager of construction. Wamsley was controller.

Samuel Tiras has been named chairman of the Department of Accounting in LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business after a brief period as interim chairman. Tiras, the department’s KPMG LLP Endowed Professor, joined the university’s faculty last fall.

Dr. Dore Binder has been elected chairman of the board of directors for the Woman’s Hospital Foundation. Binder is an obstetrician/gynecologist with Louisiana Women’s Healthcare Associates. Other foundation officers are Markham McKnight, vice chairman, and Dr. Susan Puyau, secretary/treasurer. Board members are Teri G. Fontenot, president and chief executive officer of Woman’s Hospital; Robert S. Greer Jr.; Dr. Francis Henderson; Dr. Jamar Melton; Amy Phillips; N. LaRon Phillips; Mike Polioto; Nancy Richmond; Dr. Edward Schwartzenburg, chief of staff; Dr. Ellis Schwartzenburg; and Robert Stuart Jr. 

Melissa Flournoy has been named director of the Rand Gulf States Policy Institute, based in the New Orleans office. She was the founding president and chief executive officer of the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

Nicholas Zaunbrecher has been named chief financial officer of the Cardiovascular Institute of the South in Zachary. He was director of operations.

Al McClendon has been named sales manager of Lofton Staffing Services’ Baton Rouge location. He was vice president and divisional sales manager with Wells Fargo Financial.

Cox Communications-Greater Louisiana has named David Bourque as manager of the Acadiana network operations and engineering; Aaron Hilliard as manager of field service in the Baton Rouge and Acadiana markets; Kharol Dillon as manager of dispatch; Jimmy Frederick as manager of local programming; and Eric Coleman as manager of local production. Bourque was system support engineer and chief technician. Hilliard was a field service supervisor. Dillon joins Cox from its Orange County California system, where she was communications center supervisor. Frederick has worked for six years as a consultant to Cox and its local origination channel, Cox4. Coleman worked for Cox Media as programming and production manager for commercial advertising.

Brad Price has become a partner in the law firm Jordan and Price LLC, which had been Jordan and Broadwater. Chris Broadwater in February was named director of the Office of Workers’ Compensation with the Louisiana Department of Labor. Price, who has extensive experience in workers’ compensation law, had worked with the firm for several years.

Genevieve Silverman has been named director of finance at the Louisiana Technology Park. She was a senior associate with Dean Capital LLC, a venture capital and debt investments firm.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center has named Jay Lyles as the development office’s director of corporate and foundation giving and Cindy Williamson as development director for the Northshore/Florida parishes. Lyles formerly served as vice president of development for Health Care Centers in Schools and as research manager at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Williamson has been active in the Northshore community, including at St. Scholastica Academy in Covington as director of public relations and marketing.

The law firm of Crawford Lewis PLLC announced that Christopher J. Bourgeois, Michael T. Durham and Catherine S. Giering have been named partners in the Baton Rouge office.

James D. Smith, executive vice president and senior loan officer of Citizens National Bank in Bossier City, has been elected president of the Louisiana Bankers Education Council. Other council position members from the local area include Matt Jeffrey of St. Martin Bank and Trust in St. Martinville, immediate past president; Joey Danos of Community First Bank in New Iberia, secretary-treasurer; Jennifer Boggs of Gulf Coast Bank and Trust in Baton Rouge, education chairman; and Drew Maciasz of Cottonport Bank in Brusly, council member at large.

Deadline for People in Business is 5 p.m. Monday. Items can be mailed or delivered to the Advocate business editor, 7290 Bluebonnet Blvd, Baton Rouge, La. 70810; faxed to (225) 388-0371; or e-mailed to blamb@theadvocate.com. Promotions and hirings must be supervisory positions and information must include the person’s most recent position or job. No sales positions or awards accepted. E-mail photo attachments should be JPG. minimum 300K; 170 dpi; and size 3 by 5.