Names in the News: People shaping the future of Lake Area business

Published 3:30 pm Sunday, July 2, 2023

LyondellBasell facilities honored

HOUSTON — LyondellBasell is proud to announce six of the U.S. manufacturing facilities were awarded the highest safety awards in the industry at the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers’ 2022 Annual Safety Awards.

The AFPM Safety Awards Program is part of a comprehensive safety program developed to promote accident prevention in the petroleum refining and petrochemical manufacturing industries.

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The Distinguished Safety Award is the highest level award provided by AFPM and is awarded to the top few sites with outstanding safety performance, program innovation and safety leadership. The Bayport Complex was one of only three facilities in the entire industry to receive this award.

AFPM’s Elite Gold Award, the second-highest safety award, recognizes facilities with safety performance within the top 5% of industry, demonstrating excellent program innovation and leadership over time. The LyondellBasell Elite Gold Award recipients include:

• Chocolate Bayou Polymers Plant

• Houston Refinery

• Matagorda Complex

• Louisiana Integrated PolyEthylene JV in Westlake

AFPM’s Elite Silver Award recognizes the top 10% of industry safety performance. The LyondellBasell Elite Silver Award recipient is Victoria Site.

Case to serve on port board

Sulphur businessman Trey Case has been appointed to the West Calcasieu Port five-person board of commissioners by the Sulphur City Council. His term will expire in October 2025.

Case assumed the port board commissioner position that was previously held by Wilmer Dugas, who resigned after relocating his residence out of Sulphur.

A Sulphur resident, he is a licensed real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Ingle Safari Realty.  He also renovates and restores residential property. A 1991 graduate of Barbe High School, Case attended Tulane University on a football scholarship.

Local Rotary Clubs merge

The Greater Lake Charles Rotary Club held their annual banquet June 21. This past year, they have not only grown in their membership, but in community involvement and true commitment to service.

The Greater Lake Charles Rotary Club founded in 1963 will be merging with the Rotary Club of Lake Charles, founded in 1916.

The two clubs have decided that more can be done for our community by pulling the resources of the two clubs together.

The club meets on Wednesdays at the Pioneer Club.

Local EXIT Realty team growing

SULPHUR — EXIT Realty Southern is pleased to announce that Adrienne Broussard, Brittany Savant, Dathan Jackson and Skylar Rutledge have joined its growing team of dedicated real estate sales professionals.

EXIT Realty Southern, located at 3701 Maplewood Drive in Sulphur is a proud member of EXIT Realty of Louisiana’s rapidly expanding network of independently owned and operated brokerages across the region.

Moore joins Visit Lake Charles

Visit Lake Charles named Sam Moore, former head baseball coach at Sulphur High School, as the new director of sports relations. Moore will serve as a liaison between Visit Lake Charles and sports facilities to increase awareness of Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana as a sports destination, and generate leads and room nights to increase visitation to Southwest Louisiana.

For the past five years, Moore coached baseball at Sulphur High School, and prior to that, he coached West Orange Stark, Little Cypress Mauriceville, Bridge City, Iowa, Vinton, and Leesville.

A graduate of West Orange Stark in 1982, Moore continued his education at Louisiana Tech University, playing baseball all four years and earning a bachelor’s degree in education.

Sonnier named LSBA president

NEW ORLEANS — Shayna L. Sonnier, an attorney in the Lake Charles law firm of Veron Bice, has been installed as the 83rd president of the Louisiana State Bar Association during a ceremony at the LSBA’s Annual Meeting in Destin, Fla. Administering her oath of office was Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer.

Sonnier received a bachelor’s degree in 2000 from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and her law degree in 2003 from Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University. She was admitted to practice in Texas in 2003 and in Louisiana in 2005.

She served as 2022-23 president-elect and 2018-20 treasurer for the Louisiana State Bar Association. She also served as the Fourth District representative on the LSBA’s Board of Governors. She served as chair, immediate past chair, chair-elect, secretary and District 4 representative on the LSBA’s Young Lawyers Division Council. She also co-chaired the YLD’s Wills for Heroes Committee. She serves on the boards for the Louisiana Bar Foundation and the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education.

Sonnier has served as secretary, treasurer, president-elect, president and past president of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association and is a past president of the SWLBA’s Young Lawyers Section.