The Secretary has more than 15 years of leadership experience in public administration and is passionate about finding solutions that make Louisiana an outstanding place in which to live, work and grow a business.
Dejoie joined the LWC in 2012 and most recently was statewide coordinator of its Rapid Response Team. She earlier served as director of LWC special projects in the New Orleans area, including supervising the Avondale Employee Transition Center. Dejoie’s extensive background in Louisiana workforce development includes experience as a business liaison for the Louisiana Department of Education. In addition, she served as a board member of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System from 1998-2007, Vice President of the Welfare to Work Partnership, Dejoie supervised creation of the partnership’s law project, and was recognized for the accomplishment by President George W. Bush in ceremonies at the White House. While with the partnership, she also helped secure funding for a process technology laboratory at L.B. Landry High School in New Orleans.

Keith Brand is an electrical apprenticeship instructor at the Louisiana Technical College. He recently retired as the Training Director for the Baton Rouge Area Electrical JATC. He has been a certified Journeyman Inside Wireman for over 40 years. Keith has served as a member and officer or board member for the Louisiana State Apprenticeship Council, the Apprenticeship and Training Administrators’ Association of Louisiana, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 995, the Louisiana AFL-CIO, the Baton Rouge Area Building and Trades Construction Council, the National Electrical Training Directors’ Association, Louisiana’s Statewide Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, and the WIC in some capacity since 2008 either as a member or advisor.

Dr. Gayle Flowers is Vice Chancellor for Economic & Workforce Development at Bossier Parish Community College. She previously served as the Director of Career, Adult & Alternative Education for Caddo Parish Public Schools in Shreveport. Prior to that, she served for 14 years as Principal of Caddo Career &Technology Center.
Dr. Flowers earned her degrees from Louisiana State University in Shreveport. She received LSUS' 2017 Doctoral Student Academic Award, 2009 Circle of Excellence Award, is a graduate of Leadership Louisiana and Leadership Shreveport-Bossier. She is on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement, LSUS Alumni Board, Goodwill Industries, and serves as a member of Rotary Club of Shreveport, United Way of Northwest Louisiana, and involved in numerous professional organizations. Ms. Flowers has also served on a variety of Governor's Task Forces and other boards..

Lisa French serves as the Executive Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE,) at Louisiana Department of Education, in the Office of Student Opportunities. Lisa leads the implementation of Jump Start. In this role, she manages CTE policy work, industry credentialing, and business and industry engagement for Jump Start. Lisa also leads the agency work focused on transforming alternative education schools and programs.
Lisa began her career in the private sector at General Motors as an Industrial Engineer, then later a Production Manager. She transitioned in 2001 to Kimberly-Clark Professional as a Business Unit Manager. In 2006 she became Director of the first Early College Program in Atlanta, Georgia at Georgia State University.
Lisa received her Masters of Business Administration from Emory University Goizueta Business School.

Representative Patricia Haynes-Smith began her career in Louisiana service as a teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish (EBR) School System. She went on to work with ExxonMobil and the LSU Community University Partnership before serving two-terms as president of the EBR School Board. Rep. Haynes Smith is well known in Baton Rouge and throughout Louisiana for her tireless effort to champion causes she believes in. She is currently serving second terms in both the Louisiana House of Representatives and as chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. Her awards are too numerous to list here but include the first Martin Luther King Distinguished Leadership Award in Politics, the “Fannie Lou Hamer Political Award” from Grambling University, the Nurse-Family Partnership “Champion Award” and she was named “Legislator of the Year” by the Louisiana School Board Association. She was recently accepted into the prestigious Henry Toll Fellowship Program.

Todd McDonald started with Liberty Bank in May 2003 as a Mortgage Processor and has since grown into Vice President of Strategic Management. Within his role, Todd is responsible for uncovering, evaluating, and developing business plans for growth and performance improvement opportunities; leading high impact initiatives; and providing overall management for special projects initiated by the CEO and board. Before joining Liberty, Todd graduated with honors from Morehouse College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Business Management and recently graduated from the Executive MBA program Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. Outside of the bank, Todd is the owner of several businesses involving real estate, technology, and fast food.

Mr. Palamone is a Principal/member of the Board of Directors of Urban Systems Inc., a Traffic/Transportation Engineering and Land Use planning firm. Mr. Palamone has the responsibility of business management and the firms’ marketing strategies and new market initiatives. With over Thirty-Five years of experience in the engineering and construction industry, Mr. Palamone directs a skilled staff of over twenty professionals with annual revenues over 2.5 million. Mr. Palamone served as the firms’ CEO/Managing Partner for over 15 years through 2012, when he stepped aside for emerging young leadership for the firm.

Louis began his career as an apprentice, graduating from the apprenticeship program as the outstanding apprentice. As an active member in his local union, he served as an Apprenticeship Instructor, and later as an Apprenticeship Director. After brief employment with the U.S. Department of Labor, he returned to Carpenters Local1098 to be the Administrator of their Health and Welfare and Pension Benefits Funds. In 1997, he became Assistant to the President of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, and in 2002 he gained the responsibilities of being the Director of Legislative Activities and the Statewide Political Director for the Louisiana AFL-CIO. In October 2004, Louis was appointed Secretary Treasurer by the Executive Board, and in 2005 was elected to that position by the delegates at the 2005 Annual Convention. On February 25, 2014, He was unanimously elected to serve another term as President of the Louisiana AFL-CIO. He serves on numerous boards and commissions on behalf of working men and women of organized labor.

Susana Schowen joined LED FastStart, a division of Louisiana Economic Development, in June of 2011. As the Director of Workforce Initiatives, she is tasked with implementing high-level strategies focused on systemic workforce reform. Based on analyses of workforce supply and demand, she is collaborating with educational stakeholders to align offerings to the needs of Louisiana employers. Prior to joining LED, Susie managed a private technical college in Baton Rouge after creating a nationwide basic skills program focused on underperforming high schools for Thomson Peterson’s. Before that, she held a number of positions with Kaplan, Inc. managing test preparation courses, financial services training, and online college programs. She received degrees in chemistry from Wellesley College and Columbia University.

As the Vice Chancellor for the Division of Community and Workforce Development and Metro Campus Administrator at Southern University at Shreveport, Mrs. Sneed works with Adult Literacy, Community Education, Corporate Training, Homebuyer Education, Small Business Development, Workforce Training, and Youth Services initiatives. She also has over 30 years of experience in project management, facilitating partnerships, community/economic development, and workforce initiatives.  She has administered a portfolio of grants that exceeds $50 million in the course of her career.  She is a graduate of Leadership Shreveport(2000), Leadership Louisiana(2004) and 2006 Chamber of Commerce Athena Nominee. Major Janice B. Sneed has 22 yrs of military service: 6 yrs active duty as a Computer Information Systems Officer and 16 years of reserve service in the 917th Air Force Reserve Wing.

David St. Etienne is the President and CEO of Ultimate Technical Solutions, Inc. At UTSI, Mr. St. Etienne provides overall management to the organization as well as providing strategic planning, budgeting, sales forecasting and overall operations and leadership.
In addition to his nearly 40 years of Executive Management and leadership of UTSI, David also completed multiple programs of study at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire after majoring in Industrial Engineering studies at Delgado and working as an Industrial engineer at the beginning of his career.
Mr. St.Etienne is currently a member of the Jefferson Workforce Development Board an Chairman of the Black Chamber of Commerce New Orleans. He is a past Board Member of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Louisiana Minority Business Council, and Board of St. Georges Episcopal School. He also serves the Jefferson Business Council, Young Leadership Council and the Light House of the Blind.

Dr. Lisa S. Vosper serves as the Associate Commissioner for Workforce Education and Training at the Louisiana Board of Regents. She has previously served as an executive on loan to the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Dr. Vosper has been on a team named a ”Higher Education Headliner” by the State Faculty Senate Association, “Trailblazer in Higher Education” by the Louisiana Association of Women in Higher Education (LAWHE); gubernatorial transition sub-committee on the Workforce and Economic Development, the Louisiana Women’s Commission on Policy and Research; and another governor’s transition team as a member of the Workforce Advisory Committee. She is the Vice Chair of the UP Alliance, Chair of the U. S. Army’s Grassroots Advisory Council, and a number of other state, regional, and national policy teams. She was also selected as a contributing writer for the acclaimed “Women of Color Study Bible” (World Bible Publishers International).