People in Business for Oct. 14, 2012

BATON ROUGE AREA

William Holman, of Baton Rouge General Medical Center, has been elected chairman of the Capital Area American Heart Association/American Stroke Association board of directors.

Other officers are Dr. Brian Swirsky, president; Debra Lockwood, leadership development chairman; and Terrie Sterling, chairman-elect. Board members are Dr. Michael Brumund; Joshua Bullock; Kerry Drake; Terry Hill; Dr. Steven Kelley; Dr. Robert St. Amant; Dr. Jay Acosta; and Thomas Temple.

Nat Usher has joined Tesla Offshore LLC, of Prairieville, as director of geoscience. Usher has worked for ARCO/BP.

Richard Vlosky, director of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center at the LSU AgCenter, was named to the editorial board of Conference Papers in Environmental Sciences, Hindawi Publishing Corp., Cairo, Egypt.

Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the LSU Innovation Park and the Louisiana Business and Technology Center, has been elected first vice president of the Association of University Research Parks. The AURP represents approximately 300 research and technology parks internationally.

Christopher Price has been named sous chef at the Renaissance Hotel on Bluebonnet Boulevard and is second-in-command under executive chef Andy Papson. Price previously has served as executive chef at The Fairways of North Canton in North Canton, Ohio, and had been lead cook at the New Orleans Marriott-Convention Center.

Cynthia Brown has been named director of product development at Crown Crafts Infant Products Inc. in Gonzales. Brown served as a decorative accessories buyer for Pottery Barn Kids, a division of Williams Sonoma Inc.

NEW ORLEANS AREA

GCR Inc. has named Matthew Rufo as senior planner and Everett Henderson as a research and policy analyst.

Rufo will manage transportation planning projects specializing in bicycle and pedestrian planning and urban design. Rufo was program manager at the Prevention Research Center at Tulane University, where he managed the KidsWalk Coalition. Everett was director of measurement and analysis with the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

Dominik Knoll, chief executive officer of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, has been selected to serve on the executive committee by the International Disaster Conference & Expo 2013 that will take place in New Orleans Jan. 8-10 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

STATEWIDE GROUPS

The Louisiana Pharmacists Association has elected Ben Orlando, of Brookshire Brothers Pharmacy in Monroe, president.

Other officers are Robert “Rock” Lebas, of Glenn’s Family Pharmacy in Opelousas, immediate past president; Ken Wilson, of Don’s Pharmasave in Marksville, president-elect; Rob Toups, of Pharmacy Systems Inc. in Duplessis, treasurer; and Malcolm Broussard, of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy in Baton Rouge, parliamentarian.

Regional directors from the local area are Andy Soileau, Soileau’s Pharmacy in New Iberia, Bayou Region; Scott Black, of Gulfcoast Pharmaceutical Specialty in Prairieville, Capitol Region; Bill Kirchain, of PharmD, Xavier College of Pharmacy, in Mandeville, Orleans Region; George Muller, of Compounding Business Services in Lacombe, Pontchartrain Region; and Ryan Dartez, of Teche Drugs and Gifts in Youngsville, Southwest Region.

Directors-at-large from the local area are Simone Ginn, of Wal-Mart Pharmacy in Baton Rouge; Ivan Landry, of Towne Pharmacy in Broussard; and Blake Pitre, of Pitre Pharmacy in Houma.

Pharmacy technician representative is Tiffany DuFrene, of Pitre Pharmacy in Houma.