Todd Caruso Sworn in as 2024 Chamber Board Chair

Todd Caruso Sworn in as 2024 Board Chair
 
Todd Caruso was sworn in as 2024 Livingston Parish Chamber Board Chair on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.  Judge Erika Sledge was invited to officiate the ceremony.  The following is the message delivered by Mr. Caruso at the event.

"Thank you to everyone here today, our business leaders and employers in Livingston Parish. 
I have lived in Livingston Parish all of my life.  I started practicing law in 1997, and even when I was at one of the big law firms in Baton Rouge, I spent much of my time driving back and forth helping local businesses; so much so that in 2008, I opened my practice in Denham Springs and have operated my business there ever since. 

My paralegal often comments that everyone who walks through our door is either related to me, went to school with me or my wife, or has some other connection to us - - I say that to stress how personal and important our Parish is to me - - I’m passionate about helping, promoting and advancing the businesses of our Community.   I intentionally shop and do business with local companies- - because that advances the quality of life for us all.
So, some are probably asking, why is this guy back - - didn’t he serve as Board Chair already?  I like to joke with April and respond that I’m back because I didn’t run fast enough - - definitely need to get in better shape in ’24. - - The truth is, I’m honored and privileged to have the chance to work again with our great group of leaders advocating for our business community.

When I was sworn in in January of 2020, we were riding the high of LSU’s undefeated National Championship season.  Looking back, almost nothing we planned came to fruition since the pandemic turned what we knew upside down.  But we took that challenge, and we found opportunities to help our businesses in Livingston Parish.  I now see that we were in the right place at the right time - - as we helped navigate both the closure and then re-opening of our businesses.

And here we are today – faced with some of the same challenges, and certainly new ones.  The current economic environment is most definitely a big challenge - - with high interest rates, inflation, increased costs of goods and materials combined with employee shortages.  Locally, we are also dealing with infrastructure and growth challenges.

But I look at those challenges and I see opportunity once again.  Now, more than ever, you all -- our business leaders and employers, are being called to band together as a business community to meet those challenges.
Our collective efforts are going to be needed to assist our elected officials as well.  We have a lot of new leaders who have chosen to serve our Parish and region as public servants.  At the Parish level, 7 of 9 council members are new and Mr. Delatte will now serve as our new Parish President; we also have new State Representatives and a new Senator, and of course Governor Jeff Landry takes office this week.  So, it’s important for our business community to work closely with our new leaders to make Livingston Parish the best place to live, work and raise a family.

In closing, I was reading an article last week that resonated with me, and I wanted to share an excerpt with you.  The article was in the Business Report and was written by Rolfe McCollister.  Although he was talking about another chamber, I believe his words fall in line with our chamber and our peer chambers in the region. What grabbed my attention was the following:
“Most successful cities and regions are driven by a strong business community that embraces the concepts of risk, evolution, and growth.  Business unites to lead, and the politicians follow, and [the Chamber] is a pivotal piece of that…”
I think those thoughts are equally pertinent here in Livingston Parish.

So, I leave you with the call to unite as a business community as we face the many challenges presented and look for opportunities to better our Parish and also work with our local elected officials to promote policies that will address the challenges we face today."