New Orleans
Tuyet-Van T. Nguyen has been hired by Republic Business Credit as senior vice president, head of field examination and governance.
Nguyen most recently served as director of asset-based lending for a national bank.
She earned a bachelor’s in management and marketing from Loyola University New Orleans.
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OnPath Credit Union, which recently merged with Louisiana Federal Credit Union, announced its new executive team.
Jared Freeman will serve as chief executive officer. Freeman has been the CEO of OnPath since 2020 and has nearly 20 years of experience in the credit union industry.
Rhonda Hotard is president. Hotard was president/CEO of the credit union for the past 24 years. She started her career with Louisiana FCU in 1994, previously serving as a petty officer second class in the Navy.
Elia Diaz-Yaeger is chief legal officer. Diaz-Yaeger previously served as a shareholder with Lugenbul, Wheaton, Rankin, and Hubbard.
Kristen DeDual is chief operations officer. DeDual joined OnPath in 2014 and was named chief operating officer in September 2022.
Darlene Gibson is chief financial officer. Gibson has more than 20 years of financial and managerial accounting experience.
Thomas Aleman is chief administrative officer. Aleman joined OnPath in 2023.
Kevin Plaisance is chief information officer. Plaisance was hired by OnPath in 2022 after more than a decade with IberiaBank/First Horizon Bank.
Candace Washington Theodore is senior vice president member engagement. Theodore was hired by OnPath in 2015 and has over two decades of marketing, communication and business development experience both in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.
Ross Talbert is chief lending officer. Talbert previously served as the chief experience officer at Louisiana FCU. He has more than 14 years of experience in the credit union and financial services industries.
Melissa (Missy) Matherne is chief accounting Officer. Matherne has more than 33 years of credit union and other industry experience in accounting and auditing.
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Dr. Christy Graves has joined Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group Slidell.
Graves specializes in internal medicine. She created the first hospice organization on the north shore in 1984. She joins Dr. Marie Delvalle-Mahoney and Catina Landry in the Slidell office.
She earned a bachelor’s from Mississippi College and her medical degree from LSU School of Medicine. Graves completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship at Ochsner Foundation Hospital.
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Advano has added two members to its leadership team.
Jim Stonecipher is chief operating officer. Stonecipher joined Advano with more than 30 years of experience in the chemicals industry. He has held executive positions with companies such as Air Liquide, General Electric and Celanese as well as advising multiple startups in developing their emerging businesses.
He earned a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Tennessee Tech and a master’s in business administration from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Sung Lim is chief technology officer. Lim has more than 20 years of experience in materials synthesis and product development and holds over 60 patents. He co-founded a Silicon Valley startup, where he held a research and development leadership role for 12 years. Lim later joined Sila Nanotechnologies in 2022, driving the development of next-generation battery materials.
He earned a bachelor’s in chemistry from Northwestern University and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Kieron Coulon has been named the New Orleans employment coordinator for NextOp, a nonprofit dedicated to finding careers for veterans and members of the military.
Coulon recently retired from the Navy after 23 years as a senior chief petty officer.
He earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Post University and is pursuing a master’s in education from William Carey University.
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Jeff Crouere has been named president and general manager of WGSO Radio 990-AM.
Crouere has been in broadcasting for 25 years and served as the host of “Ringside Politics” on WGSO for 17 years.
WGSO has been in operation for 78 years.
Baton Rouge
Kelly Toups has been hired by V. Graham as a senior financial consultant.
Toups spent the past six years with EisnerAmper (formerly Postlethwaite & Netterville) in an assurance role. Before that, she served as an internal auditor with Crowe Horwath.
Toups is pursuing a certified public accounting license.
She earned a bachelor’s in accounting from LSU.
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Rhonda Hebert Ruffino has been appointed executive director of the Baton Rouge Zoo Foundation.
Ruffino joined the foundation last year as senior director of development. Before that, she spent 17 years at the Raising Cane’s River Center, ending her tenure there as director of sales, marketing and events.
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Callie Smith has been named educator and public programs manager for the LSU Museum of Art.
She replaces Brandon V. Lewis, who resigned this spring to become director of The Helis Foundation John Scott Center in New Orleans.
Smith spent nearly five years as museum educator and education assistant at the Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
She earned a bachelor’s in English secondary education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a master’s in fine arts from the University of Central Arkansas and a doctorate in English from UL.