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In an effort to provide continuing education to bayou region professionals right here at home, Nicholls State University and the South Central Chapter of the Society of Louisiana CPAs collaborated to provide the inaugural Bayou Region Business Institute.
Although Nicholls Dean of the College of Business Administration Dr. Shawn Mauldin said the university has always provided continuing education for CPAs, the first-annual Bayou Region Business Institute was bigger and appealed to a broader audience.
It took place Sept. 22-23 at the Ridley Gros Auditorium.
“It’s a way to provide CPAs, attorneys, insurance agents, financial planners, controllers and business leaders the opportunity to learn about relevant and timely topics in business from highly-qualified speakers,” Mauldin said.
Mauldin called the event a very professional seminar close to home.
“CPAs and attorneys are required to maintain a certain number of continued professional credits per year, and there’s a way to do it right here in the region. I think we’re providing them with top-quality seminar and speakers. They don’t have to go to New Orleans or somewhere else to get this kind of quality. This is something we want to do every year, and we really want to become known for,” he said.
Mauldin said Nicholls was happy to bring back two proud alums who served as the event’s first two guest speakers, CPA Charlie Comeaux who serves as CFO at Edison Chouest and lawyer Bill Riviere who is a partner at Phelps Dunbar.
“As an alumni of Nicholls, it’s the first time they’ve asked me to speak, so I felt honored to do it,” Comeaux said. “Just to be able to go back to Nicholls and give back a little bit, having graduated there, is great. Nicholls helped me along during my career, so I’m looking forward to giving back to the community and giving back to Nicholls more than anything.”
Comeaux’s theme was “Lessons learned as a CFO for a private maritime company.”
“Obviously, being a CPA, and the vast knowledge I’ve acquired working at Chouest has kind of helped me share that information with the community to people that may be going to some difficult countries to work in [such as Brazil, Mexico and west African countries]. We’ve been there, and we’ve done a lot of that work already,” Comeaux said.
After Comeaux kicked the event off, fellow Nicholls grad Riviere discussed legal issues related to the maritime community.
Other speakers included CPA Lisa Traina, Dr. Christel Slaughter and CPA Alexander Hanhan on Sept. 22. MBA Jim Casadaban, CPA Bob Perez, lawyer Todd Villarrubia and CPA Ralph A. Litolff Jr. spoke Sept. 23.
Attorneys could earn up to 13 CLE credit hours, and CPAs could earn up to 16 CPE credit hours at the event. Mauldin said about 50 people participated. Most of the participants were CPAs, but there were some lawyers and businesspeople, according to Mauldin.
“I think all the speakers did an exceptional job. It was all pretty quality stuff,” Mauldin said. “I think the folks that attended really appreciate that we’re doing this at Nicholls… All the feedback was very positive.”
Mauldin said a portion of the proceeds from the event will go to providing scholarships for Nicholls business and accounting students.
“They need all the help they can get, and we are actually in the process of trying to establish an endowed scholarship. These funds are going to be used to do that,” Mauldin said.
Nicholls will continue holding the Bayou Regional Business Institute every fall, according to Mauldin.
Ralph Litolff Jr. of Bourgeois Bennett, LLC was among the speakers at the inagural Bayou Regional Business Institute last week.
