2009 People to watch

The new Metro Council members

New faces will dominate Council chamber

There they were, like a giddy squad of cheerleaders at their first practice. The enthusiasm among the new Metro Council members was contagious at their orientation in mid-November. Mayor Kip Holden called them a “cohesive unit without all the bickering.” But with contentious budget battles, divisive tax proposals and controversial development tussles on the horizon, it’s only a matter of time before the honeymoon fades.

But for now we’ll be watching for a new infusion of ideas, energy and enthusiasm from our Metro Council.

Trent Johnson

LSU’s new basketball coach leaps through an historic hoop

Being held accountable for your actions; having a solid sense of right and wrong; going after your dreams; doing the best you can do.

Though these resemble wise words we heard from our parents, they’re the guidelines of Trent Johnson, the new LSU men’s basketball coach. As the 20th men’s coach for the team entering its 100th season, Johnson has a reputation to maintain. With nine years each of head coaching experience and as an assistant coach, Johnson is fluent in the language of success.

Everyone will be held accountable every step of the way, he says. The players must “defend, rebound, take care of the ball and play with a sense of urgency.”

But even more significantly, Johnson expects things to be under control off the court as well. “There’s no gray area; it’s either right or wrong,” he says. We can expect to see this credo applied to players’ social and academic activities.

C.D. Wright

EA Sports’ local video game quality guru

When LSU signed a new partnership with Electronic Arts Inc. last August, it not only ensured the industry leader’s first stateside video game testing center would be located here, it triggered a flood of applications from local gamers looking to get paid to play.

The EA Sports deal is the first international catch of its kind for the city, and a 33-year-old Florida native is the linchpin for whether this new economic development sector will go boom or blip in Baton Rouge. C.D. Wright plans to employ nearly 300 full- and part-time testers by the end of the year and show each how to do their worst to break the game.

“There are going to be millions of people playing these games, and someone is going to do something weird,” Wright says. “We’d rather do it first.” easports.com

Mike Martin and Kofi Lomotey

Chancellors face their own campus challenges

If former LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe will be remembered as the man with the initiative to start the ambitious Forever LSU fundraising campaign, maybe his follower, Mike Martin, will be remembered as the man who completed the task. Martin was formerly president of New Mexico State University, known for his reorganization and fundraising expertise. Along with raising an additional $750 million by 2010, Martin has three other goals: reinforcing the flagship agenda, energizing recruitment in graduate and transfer students and making the campus 21st-century functional. But Martin admits the glaring obstacle for the fundraising goal is the nation’s slumping economy.

“Pretty much every higher education faces the same set of challenges related to the national economy,” Martin says. “Public budgets will be tight, and donors will be more reluctant than they’ve been in the past. The challenge will be unquestionable.”

Southern’s Kofi Lomotey, meanwhile, faces different obstacles.

Lomotey was president of Georgia’s Fort Valley State University and executive vice president and provost of Tennessee’s Fisk University.

Top of Lomotey’s worries: money. “Finances will be a continuing challenge,” he says. But unlike Martin, Southern’s new chancellor also will focus on smaller steps of academic excellence, customer service, and using database decision-making to ensure a better future for the campus.

“Southern has some academics that are good and some that are not so good,” Lomotey says. “We need to be making sure all our programs are as good as they can be. We need to be tuned into the needs of the larger community, developing new degree programs as the community changes. We need to make sure there’s consistency between our goals for graduates in terms of skills and values and our staff and faculty.”

Although hired only a few months ago, Lomotey already has tasted the sting of a powerful and political board of supervisors. Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Clayton surprised many at a board meeting late last year when he questioned the terms of Lomotey’s employment and whether the new chancellor had too much control over the university.

Should make for an interesting first year.

Michael Jackson

Will independence help or hamper political career?

To some folks, state Rep. Michael Jackson is the guy who cost Democratic Congressman Don Cazayoux his seat. That’s because Jackson, fed up with what he saw as second-tier treatment of black candidates by the Louisiana Democratic Party switched to non-affiliated in order to challenge Cazayoux. His switch created a turf war between the two men, who were good friends when Cazayoux served alongside Jackson in the state House. Both ended up chasing the same demographic—and as a result GOP state Sen. Bill Cassidy stepped in and won the election.

Cassidy won the 6th Congressional District with 150,000 votes to Cazayoux’s 125,000. Jackson brought in 36,000 votes, which would have easily carried Cazayoux past the finish line. But if you dig below the surface, Jackson is more than a spoiler.

If anything, he’s now perfectly positioned to be the Red Stick’s politician to watch in the coming years. Why? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a majority of the people living in East Baton Rouge Parish are now ethnic minorities. The black population in particular has swelled since 2000, peaking most recently in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. All of this is happening as the 2010 census draws near, which will be the basis for congressional redistricting. If Louisiana should require a majority-minority congressional district in two years, it’s possible that it could run straight through Baton Rouge.

Jackson would be uniquely prepared to pounce—either as a Democrat or an independently-registered candidate. The likelihood of Jackson switching back over to the blue corner grows more unlikely with time. As the recent congressional election drew to a close, Jackson heard words of support from Cassidy, but not the Louisiana Democratic Party. “I haven’t heard a single word from the party,” says Jackson. “Nothing.”

Should Jackson switch back over, he likely won’t be embraced with open arms. Democratic loyalists remain enraged with Jackson’s bid for Congress. So enraged, in fact, that many predict another run, even as an independent candidate, would be overshadowed by anti-Jackson campaigns launched by Democrats in the district’s black communities.

The state Senate district Jackson lives in is being vacated—by none other than Cassidy. Yet a move from one state chamber to the other does little to excite Jackson, since his hopes have long been pinned on the Beltway, he seems committed to pursuing that dream. “Becoming a member of Congress has been a lifelong aspiration for me,” Jackson says. “So I’m always going to leave the door open to do something about that.” —JEREMY ALFORD

Sandy Breland and André Moreau

WAFB GM and anchor hope to stay atop local news ratings

The familiar faces of newscasters Donna Britt and George Sells have helped CBS affiliate WAFB stay atop local news ratings for years.

But with Sells approaching retirement age, the station lured Baton Rougean André Moreau back to his hometown. Moreau is an experienced news anchor who’s worked in Los Angeles, and more recently was weekend anchor for San Diego CBS affiliate KFMB-TV. The long-term prosperity of WAFB’s news programs will rest largely on Moreau’s veteran shoulders.

Meanwhile, general manager Sandy Breland has another tough act to follow as former general manager Nick Simonette left last April for a CBS affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. A veteran of 11 years heading up the news operation at respected WWL in New Orleans, Breland faces the added challenge of fast-changing technology and a sputtering national economy.

Brenda Netzberger

B.R.’s top agent navigates the Hollywood terrain

If anyone bets money that, politicians excluded, there are not 400 working actors living in Louisiana, take that bet. Baton Rouge talent agent Brenda Netzberger has at least that many with her at Open Range Management. Hers is a job that never lets up—that cannot be delegated—because everyone wants to talk to the agent, not the assistant, including casting directors who call from New Orleans and Shreveport at all hours.

Netzberger’s near-monopoly on local talent will only spread this year as opportunities increase through the city’s studios, as regional actors begin to see their craft as a business rather than a hobby, and when Open Range client Lacey Minchew represents Louisiana April 19 at the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas.

“The business has gone beyond anything I expected,” Netzberger says. “My goal is to make sure my people have the right tools, training and guidance. It’s a team effort, like a marriage.” openrangemanagement.com

Derek Chang

Koto’s owner taking sushi chic to new levels

After working four years to build up the reputation of Koto sushi, Taiwan native Derek Chang expects to move in March from College Drive to Corporate Boulevard near CitiPlace. His new home is an expanded Asian chic restaurant and bar covering 8,600 square feet, and includes a dozen hibachi grills and an 18-foot waterfall.

The 40-year-old chef admits it’s a calculated risk to grow his business in this surprisingly competitive sushi market. It also is the closest thing to a dream come true for Chang, who creates flavor-packed “Cajun sushi” with fresh fish. Chang says for years he almost denied his heritage by trying a number of trades after coming to the United States. Returning to the sushi craft he grew up in has been the best decision of his life. When he talks about sushi, it is with the passion of an artist, his hands waving as his eyes grow wide.

“My role in this city is to respect and represent this cuisine,” Chang says. “Everybody wants to be No. 1, and I know my food has what it takes, but the environment never allowed me to get there. Now it will.” kotoofjapan.com

Charles Moffatt

Can this principal navigate Prescott Middle to better times?

Higher LEAP test scores and a 90% attendance rate are just two of the gauntlets thrown down before Charles Moffatt, the new principal hired by Advance Baton Rouge to improve Prescott Middle, one of four poor-performing public schools in the area the state took control of last summer. But the 55-year-old veteran teacher says his greatest challenge may be integrating hundreds of kids who come from several distinct neighborhoods into a singular school culture united under the name of progress, and doing it with a new faculty.

Moffatt returns to Baton Rouge after serving as assistant principal in what he calls “the most private public school in Austin.” He felt unfulfilled at that wealthy, high-performing school and sought out this greater challenge. “I wanted an opportunity to try to help those who don’t have the advantages of those students where I had been,” he says. “Good teaching is possible in any place, and creating positive relationships is the key to making a change.” abrschools.com/prescott

Donnie Jarreau

Developer to build new homes downtown

Donnie Jarreau, who learned his business hands-on rather than in college by working in real estate, met (and impressed) the right people and formed Donnie Jarreau Companies.

He specializes in brokerage, construction and development, mostly for office and retail spaces. But in 2009, Jarreau’s going residential.

After 18 months of negotiating, Jarreau purchased 11 acres straddling Spanish Town Road near downtown, and will create a new housing development: Spanish Town 2. “It will keep in line with [the original] Spanish Town architecture,” he says, “maybe with a New Orleans flair.”

No matter what the homes look like, Jarreau intends to create affordable living downtown. “We definitely want to be more careful because of the economy,” he says, in regards to production. This project was in the works before the big economic downturn, so there’s some strategic planning in place to keep Jarreau’s idea alive.

“We want to make a difference in downtown housing,” he says. “We want to make an impact in the community and make housing affordable to everyone.” donniejarreau.com

Mark Goodson

Working for an even brighter future downtown

As much as Davis Rhorer talks about Millennials, that elusive 20s and early 30s demographic his Downtown Development District is eager to attract to Baton Rouge, it is no surprise that last fall he hired one as his second-in-command. Mark Goodson has the pedigree—the 28-year-old landscape architecture graduate from LSU has experience both interning at DDD and working for the Center for Planning Excellence—but how will he affect the agency’s 2009 slate? And can he consistently represent downtown’s target demographic in Rhorer’s office?

That’s a hot mantle, and for his part Goodson would like to see housing subsidies and lower costs for developers he says should result in affordable living spaces for the creative class. He’s also eager to realize the potential of the North Boulevard Town Square and tie it in with new developments on the riverfront.

“It’s never been programmed and designed as the living room of Baton Rouge like it could be,” Goodson says. “So we want to enhance that space and see where it can go.” downtownbatonrouge.org

Lisette Oropesa

Tara High alum destined for opera stardom

She may no longer live in Baton Rouge, but Lisette Oropesa, a graduate of Tara High School and LSU’s vocal studies program, is on track to become a global opera star.

Oropesa has been studying in New York City as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, designed to nurture the most gifted young singers in the country through specialized training in music, language and dramatic coaching by the artistic staff at the Met. Oropesa earned her spot in the highly regarded program after winning a national competition. She was one of only four students selected in 2005, and after winning an opera competition in Paris, she met the famous singer Plácido Domingo, who invited her to sing a series of duets at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center.

Oropesa credits the young artists’ program with catapulting her career and connecting her with some of opera’s biggest stars. But had it not been for LSU professor Robert Grayson, general director of Opéra Louisiane, Oropesa would not be where she is. At just 25, Oropesa has already performed a lead role for the Metropolitan Opera as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, and she shared the stage with opera legends Susan Graham, Paul Groves and the aforementioned Domingo.

“The advantages I had going into LSU and the training that I got while at LSU is the reason I’m able to enjoy so much success today,” she says. “I am truly blessed.”

Grayson, a talented singer in his own right and a Grammy Award winner, taught Lisette’s mother Rebeca Oropesa when she was a student at LSU and helped cultivate her daughter’s budding talent.

“Lisette is a tremendous talent,” Grayson says. “From the moment she first sang for me I knew she was going to be a star.”

Oropesa grew up playing the piano and singing at church. “My family is from Cuba, and music is just part of who we are,” she says. “Music was playing in the house all the time when I was growing up. If it wasn’t classical music it was salsa. Whenever we get together as a family one of our favorite things to do is sing karaoke.”

As a young girl, Oropesa fell in love with the flute while listening to her aunt play. She had always thought it was a beautiful instrument, so in the fifth grade she auditioned and joined the school band. “I just loved it,” she recalls. “I practiced so much. I sang too, but it was always on the side.When she started her studies at LSU, Oropesa split her time between flute and vocal performance. “We really had to convince her,” says her mom. “She always had such a beautiful voice—and whenever she sang I knew, I could feel it in my gut that singing was going to be her future—but she was so in love with the flute, and she was so good at it. It was a blessing in disguise that the curriculum clashed and she had to make the decision to pick just one. I guess you could say the rest is history.”

Oropesa may be on her way to stardom in New York, but coming home to help launch Opéra Louisiane was important to her.

“I feel honored to be a part of something so monumental,” she says. “This is the start of big things for Baton Rouge. Opera is often thought of as stuffy and elitist, but I hope it will change people’s perceptions about what opera can be.” —SARAH YOUNG

Elizabeth Noble

Arkansas-born artist’s fresh approach to painting

It is difficult to deconstruct Elizabeth Noble’s paintings when the Little Rock native rarely finishes them herself. But that’s the point. She is more interested in the process and the content than the finished product, as evidenced by the drawing lines and diagrammatical dress patterns protruding through her paint like bones jutting from flesh. Noble’s “Fume Room” placed second at the 2008 Art Melt, and the recent LSU MFA grad plans to work in Baton Rouge at least through this summer when she finishes teaching a class at the university.

Her work, often portraits of herself applying make-up or getting dressed, searches for parallels between an artist’s canvas and a woman’s appearance and the modern critiques of both. The paintings have a particular appeal to women, and if men take a pass, Noble is prepared for that. “It’s nice that women are taking ownership of things that were once male-dominated, and appropriating them for our own pleasure and not for anything else,” she says. “But I think men with wives and girlfriends will be able to identify with it.” brunnergallery.com

J. Dyke Nelson

Architect keeping environment on the drawing board

When architect J. Dyke Nelson decided to remake his family’s 2,300-square-foot Hundred Oaks home into a spacious 4,700-square-foot version, he chose to do things differently. Completed last month, his is the city’s first LEED-certified “green” residence.

Almost everything but the concrete slab is recycled or otherwise sustainable. Nelson, principal and lead designer at Chenevert Architects, and his son cleaned and reused thousands of old bricks; the hot water heater is solar-powered; the roofing is recycled billboard vinyl; and the steel windows were salvaged from a sugar mill. Discovery Channel’s Renovation Nation documented the unique construction last fall, and the episode will air this spring.

Nelson has done the math, and his energy bills will be the same if not lower than those racked up in his older, smaller home. At the very least, the Nelson residence is a shining example for any Baton Rougeans building their next home with the environment in mind.

“It’s a balance of budget, performance and sustainability,” Nelson says. “This home is built to last 100 years and more, not 30, and people are becoming very interested in that. They ask me about green building all the time. The tide is turning.” chenevertarchitects.com

Stacy Stephens Levy and Vicky Poston Roy

Local doctors innovate autism treatment in Baton Rouge

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about 1 in 150 children has an autism spectrum disorder, which can include milder development disabilities. Touting a radical and relatively new strategy for remediation of the condition are speech pathologists Stacy Stephens Levy, and Vicky Poston Roy, who have worked locally and statewide with dozens of families of autistic children. They are the first therapists in the city to practice Relationship Development Intervention, a Houston-based program that proves more intensive for mom and dad than the child.

“We actually train parents, and they can really make a difference if you just empower them instead of letting them slide and say ‘Well, but you [the therapist] do it better,’” Roy says. “The parents have to do it.”

After three years of RDI and parental reinforcement, results indicate children show less rigid thinking and more complex comprehension and social interaction in mainstream educational environments.

“It’s about being a sounding board for parents, giving them the tools and removing ourselves from the equation,” Levy says. “That’s what increases quality of life for these kids.” accesstobettercommunication.com

Brace Godfrey, attorney and principal in the firm Cyntreniks

The trajectory of Godfrey’s ambitious new lofts and mixed-use development, Kress at Third & Main, will be a good bellwether for future residential and commercial development downtown. While many talk about the need for residential space downtown, Godfrey’s team is doing something about it.

Rick Volland and Justin Ferguson of Stroube’s Chop House

Next door, the swanky OneEleven lofts are complete. Now it’s up to veteran restaurateur Rick Volland and executive chef Justin Ferguson to create in Stroube’s Chop House a worthy gateway to the new Arts & Entertainment District on Third Street at North Boulevard when the eatery opens in a few months. Volland is no novice in the restaurant business: He owns several eateries, including Capital City Grill and Cocodrie’s in Denham Springs.

Kristy Nichols, Secretary of the Department of Social Services

As Gov. Jindal’s interim head of DSS, Kristy Nichols will have to work fast to improve a department that took the brunt of post-Gustav criticism and to tighten up checks and balances for the many millions of dollars of social service contracts the department awards each year.

Joe Alleva, LSU athletic director

It was a short-lived ride at the top for LSU’s football program. The baseball team hasn’t been a national championship contender in several years, and the closest the men’s basketball team has been to a Final Four was a drubbing by UCLA in the semi-finals. Tiger fans will demand prompt improvement across the board under Athletic Director Joe Alleva. With recent ticket price hikes and a state-of-the-art academic center, the department will be expected to produce the goods on the field and show improvement in the classroom.

Charles Scott, LSU running back

Charles Scott certainly was worth watching in 2008. He ran over, through and past defenses even as the rest of LSU’s offense sputtered. Although he’s still a junior, Scott will be tempted to turn pro this spring, says NFL talent expert Mike Detillier. For one thing, there aren’t many of what Detillier calls “thunder backs” of Scott’s caliber: tough enough to run right at defenses, yet fast enough to quickly change a game. As a result, he’s already on NFL radars. But more importantly, the NFL is considering a rookie salary cap next year. For a guy with Scott’s talents, going pro a year early could mean millions of dollars more in his first-year salary.

Julius Warmsley, St. Michael’s future college football star

The ultimate student athlete. That’s how prep football guru Lee Brecheen describes this 6-foot 3-inch, 240-pound defensive end who has been courted by everyone from the University of Texas to Tulane. “He’s a diamond in the rough,” says Brecheen.

Carneal Ainsworth, Parkview Baptist offensive lineman

Like Warmsley, he’s a strong student and a strong ball player. He’s gotten offers from 40 colleges, but he’ll go to LSU, where he’ll become a guard thanks to his mobility, Brecheen says.

Worth watching after all

What became of the 2008 class of 225’s People to Watch? They all continued to pursue their dreams and make a difference, but a few stood out.

Timmy Teepell

After helping Bobby Jindal become governor on a platform built around ethics reform, Timmy Teepell took the helm as Jindal’s chief of staff. Then, barely a month into 2008, the 32-year-old political neophyte promptly stumbled, drawing fire for gathering up freebie skybox tickets to a Hannah Montana concert in New Orleans when the administration was pushing to ban such perks for lawmakers.

Capitol veterans warned that Teepell would have to learn quickly to survive the perilous political waters, and the first few sessions of the Legislature presented excellent learning opportunities. None was more grueling—and public—than the administration’s handling of lawmaker pay raises. Jindal eventually reversed course and vetoed the garish pay hikes lawmakers tried to pass for themselves, but only after a virtual revolt by the voters who elected him. To his credit, Teepell emerged from that tumultuous year intact and with invaluable experience under his belt, and that should serve him well as the administration tackles even stiffer challenges in 2009.

Jeff Kleinpeter

Kleinpeter Farms Dairy and Jeff Kleinpeter found themselves in a war with ag giant Monsanto—and won.

Kleinpeter has proudly kept its milk free of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, better known as rBGH. Monsanto, which basically invented the stuff, sued Kleinpeter for its marketing statements on rBGH. Sentiment built against Monsanto, and before the case went to trial the company announced it would sell off its dairy hormones division.

“Monsanto realized that this was something that was FDA-approved, but not customer-approved,” Kleinpeter told Daily Report at the time.

On an even sweeter note last year, Kleinpeter Farms added ice cream to its product line. Thanks to state-of-the-art energy efficiency, and the fact that Louisiana pecans and strawberries flavor its ice creams, Kleinpeter cemented his reputation as a community-conscious entrepreneur.

Sylvia Fowles

A mere three days after playing in her fourth Final Four with the LSU Lady Tigers, Sylvia “Big Syl” Fowles went No. 2 in the WNBA draft, chosen by the Chicago Sky. Though an early injury kept her out of 17 games, Fowles ranked third in the league for blocks and fifth for her famous double-doubles.

The 23-year-old traveled to China this summer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, earning a gold medal after the team defeated Australia in the final. She’s spending the WNBA off-season in Moscow, playing for women’s basketball club Spartak and outshining many international athletes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The version of this story appearing in the January 2009 issue of 225 included incorrect information about news anchor André Moreau’s job before joining WAFB-TV. This version is revised and corrected. 225 regrets the error.