10 Companies Honored as 2023 Louisiana Growth Leaders

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Economic Development honored 10 companies as Louisiana Growth Leaders at the 2023 Spotlight Louisiana event Thursday. The event also featured the presentation of the annual Louisiana Growth Leader Legend Award.

Louisiana Growth Leaders are selected by a statewide panel of economic development professionals who evaluate businesses in the LED Growth Network on community involvement and business success. Criteria include growth, strategy, innovation, philanthropy and leadership. The Legend Award is the LED Growth Network’s top honor, recognizing past Louisiana Growth Leaders who have exhibited sustained success.

“This group of business leaders is a true representation of Louisiana’s dynamic small business community,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “The companies and business leaders being honored are committed to building the state’s economy while also strengthening their local communities. It is businesses like these that make Louisiana such a great place to live and do business.”

The 10 companies honored as 2023 Louisiana Growth Leaders are:

• CCI Productions of Harahan; Arthur Boisfontaine, CEO
• Crescent of Metairie; Sanders Offner, founder and president
• Crescent Power Systems of New Orleans; Matt Colosino, CEO
• Enginuity Global of Baton Rouge; Dan Ducote’, CEO
• Leaaf Environmental of Gretna; Jim Blazek Jr., co-owner and COO
• Louisiana Technology Group of Metairie; Andrea Romanos, CEO
• Manning, APC of New Orleans; Wm. Raymond Manning, founder and CEO
• RED Group of Metairie; Kyle Remont, founder and president
• Susco of Metairie; Neel Sus, CEO
• Tides Medical of Lafayette; Joe Spell, CEO

“This year’s honorees have truly earned the title of leader through their continued support for economic and job growth statewide,” LED Secretary Don Pierson said. “These honorable business leaders have prevailed during challenging times, while still forging the way for a better economy for our state. I appreciate their continuous efforts and look forward to seeing their ongoing success.”

The annual Growth Leader Legend award was presented to New Orleans-based Engineering and Inspection Services, a full-service engineering, design and inspection firm.

“As a young engineer starting a new firm I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect or where it would lead,” EIS CEO Joe Brinz said. “What I did know was that honesty and trust were key to developing long-term relationships with our clients. Although we are no longer a ‘mom and pop’ operation, these values still hold true today. As one of our clients recently told us, ‘EIS doesn’t bill man-hours, they build relationships’. That’s not bad feedback for a company with 140 employees and offices in two states providing technical support to clients throughout the country.”

LED’s key partner for second-stage small business support, the Michigan-based Edward Lowe Foundation, had senior leadership in attendance at the 2023 Spotlight ceremony, which was held at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. At last year’s event, the foundation presented LED with the first-ever Founder’s Award in honor of the late Edward Lowe, who created the foundation to champion entrepreneurship. The Edward Lowe Foundation continues to recognize Louisiana as a national model for programs that support growth-oriented small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Created in 2017, the LED Growth Network consists of over 630 companies accounting for more than $4 billion in annual sales and representing more than 21,700 jobs. Growth Network members are small businesses beyond the startup stage but not yet fully mature. They enter the Growth Network by participating in one or more of LED’s programs for second-stage firms. Detailed information about the honorees may be found in Louisiana’s Entrepreneurial Engine 2023.

Applications for the 2024 Louisiana Growth Leaders class and 2024 Legend will be accepted from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, 2023. All past LED Growth Network companies are eligible to apply for the Growth Leader award. All past Growth Leaders are invited to apply for the Legend award.

For more information about the LED Growth Network, Spotlight Louisiana or Louisiana Growth Leaders and Legends, contact Assistant Director of Small Business Services Christopher Cassagne at Christopher.Cassagne@La.Gov or 225.342.5882.

About LED
Louisiana Economic Development is responsible for strengthening the state’s business environment and creating a more vibrant economy. It is the only state agency in the U.S. accredited by the International Economic Development Council, boasting award-winning programs like LED FastStart, rated the No. 1 customized workforce training program in the U.S. 13 years in a row. In 2022, LED attracted 53 new economic development projects representing 18,137 new direct, indirect and retained jobs and $20.7 billion in new capital investment. Explore how LED cultivates jobs and economic opportunity for the people of Louisiana and employers of all sizes at OpportunityLouisiana.com.