Louisiana Small Business award winners named, new fellows picked for Louisiana Bar Foundation, Breazeale, Sachse partner elected to national board | Business

Melissa Smith, a respiratory therapist at Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a campus of Tulane Medical Center, was named Outstanding Respiratory Therapist of the Year by the Louisiana Society for Respiratory Care.

Lakeview Regional was also named a Hospital of the Year for Respiratory Care the category of hospitals with less than 200 beds.

Smith has worked as a respiratory therapist for 35 years, caring for neonatal, pediatric and adult patients with lung disorders. She is the Lakeview respiratory educator and a trained smoking cessation counselor.

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Emily Black Grey, a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Health Law Association for a three-year term.

Grey is manager of the firm’s health care section.

The AHLA is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field.

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Stan Levy, founder and CEO of Baton Rouge-based SASSO Agency, served on the judging council for the 43rd Annual Telly Awards.

Devoted to discovering excellence in video and television across all screens, The Telly Awards receives over 12,000 entries from advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers worldwide.

Levy founded SASSO in 2011 and has grown the company into an award-winning agency.

He is a graduate of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications.

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Louisiana Economic Development and the U.S. Small Business Administration recently honored business owners and supporters at the 2022 Louisiana Small Business Awards ceremony.

The 2022 honorees are:

2022 SBA Champion Award Recipients

8(a) Graduate of the Year: Keith O’Neil Porta, APC Construction, Harvey

Entrepreneurial Success Award: Brittney Dunn, Brittney Dunn CPA, Shreveport

Minority Small Business Champion: Fallon Evans, Skye’s Janitorial, New Orleans

Veteran Small Business of the Year: Dr. Carla Antoine, Life Towne Center for Veterans, Boutte

Women’s Business Champion: Willie C. Johnson and Kimberly Bardell, WCJ Consultants, Baton Rouge

Young Entrepreneurs of the Year: Avery Bell, Jared Johnson, Corey McCoy and Tre’Jan Vinson, KOK Consolidated, Lafayette

SBDC Excellence & Innovation Center Award: Heidi Melancon and Jimmy Nguyen, LSBDC at Nicholls State University, Thibodaux

Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to a Disaster Recovery by a Volunteer: Howie Kaplan, The Howlin’ Wolf, New Orleans

Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to a Disaster Recovery by a Public Official: Mayor Nic E. Hunter, Lake Charles

2022 LED Entrepreneur Awards

LED Small and Emerging Business of the Year: Lameika Washington, Diamond Security Services, Baton Rouge

LED Outstanding Small and Emerging Business Development Graduate Award: Elizabeth Shephard, LifeCity, L3C, New Orleans

LEDC Bank of the Year: Hartley Crunk, Hancock Whitney, New Orleans

Hudson and Veteran Champions: Commissioner Jim Donelon, Department of Insurance; Maj. Gen. D. Keith Waddell, Department of Military Affairs; Casey Tingle, Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

Louisiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center Contractor of the Year: Justin Reeves, Justin J. Reeves, Houma

Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana Small Manufacturer’s Award: Leonard Carmouche, EME Company, Prairieville

National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Champion Award: Clint and Danny Graham, Lincoln Builders, Ruston

USDA Rural Development Lender of the Year: Derek Chaisson, United Community Bank, Raceland

USDA Rural Development Borrower of the Year: Richard Hope, Advanced Welding School, Walker

Louisiana Small Business Person of the Year: Craig A. Stevens, Genesis 360, Baton Rouge

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New fellows have been named for the Louisiana Bar Foundation.

In Greater New Orleans, Travis Beaton, an attorney with Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert; 24th Judicial District Judge Frank A. Brindisi and 24th Judicial District Judge Stephen Enright Jr. have been named fellows.

In Baton Rouge, Talya Bergeron, an attorney with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation has been named a fellow.

In Lafayette, Pam Landaiche and Marilyn Lopez, both with the Lafayette Bar Foundation, were named fellows.

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McKinsey Nicholas from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana, has been named the Louisiana Youth of the Year by Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Nicholas will receive a $2,500 college scholarship from Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and will go on to contend for the regional Youth of the Year.

He has served as president of the Keystone Club, BGCA’s ultimate teen program, where young men and women take on leadership roles in the areas of academic success, career preparation and community service. Nicholas is an accomplished athlete and has been recognized as first team All-District in both football and basketball at Abbeville High School.

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Samuel “Sam” Shepard, of USAG Fort Polk CYS Services, has been named the Louisiana Military Youth of the Year by Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Shepard receives a $2,500 college scholarship from Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and will go on to contend for the regional Youth of the Year.

He has been a member of his club for two years and has been actively involved in volunteerism and community service in his community. Shepard will graduate in 2023 and has plans to attend Stephen F. Austin State University and pursue a career as a Texas game warden.