We caught up with some People to Watch alumni to find out what they’ve been doing since they were featured.
JAMIE GRIFFIN, 2008
Then: New president of Forum 35 and business development manager for Raising Cane’s Baton Rouge office. Only 26 at the time, Griffin sold franchises for a company that had just opened its 67th store nationwide and was clearly going to continue its exponential growth.
Now: He completed his MBA at Tulane, got promoted to vice president of business administration for Raising Cane’s and has been working at the company’s offices in Dallas since 2010. “I oversee a team that provides human resources, risk management and legal support to our office staff and restaurant operators,” Griffin says. “I’ve been most proud at how much we’ve been able to grow Raising Cane’s since I made the [People to Watch] list. We recently made the Top 10 list of [Business Report’s] Top 100 Private Companies, we now have a downtown location on Third Street, and we have over 200 locations across the country.”
MICHAEL TIPTON, 2011
Then: Executive director of Teach for America
Now: After about seven years as the head of the local office, Tipton announced in 2014 that he’s planning to step down. “I think the organization needed a change. It was the right time for me personally—I’m getting married in May—and it’s the right time professionally for me to grow in new ways,” he says.
Tipton intends to stay on with Teach for America to help hire and train a new executive director, something that may have already happened by the time you’re reading this, based on his optimism. He’s gotten to love the fundraising aspects of the job that were so new to him back in 2011, and he plans to continue in education leadership and fundraising once he leaves Teach for America.
“We need to raise the money today that pays off 10 years down the road,” Tipton says. “Once you see the schools make really dramatic strides for kids, then you see that it’s entirely doable.”
KENNETH BROWN, 2012
Then: Interior designer and HGTV and TLC star who returned to Baton Rouge in 2011 to raise two young children and develop a satellite office for Kenneth Brown Design.
Now: Brown has made Baton Rouge his home, though he still travels to his West Coast office once a month. When he’s not working on Zac Efron’s new digs in the Hollywood Hills, he’s collaborating with big developers in the Capital City on new residential communities that “offer a different look and vibe that Baton Rouge is hungry for.”
He’s got a passion for rehabbing older homes that have fallen into decay, and he’s setting his sights on building a brand-new home in Baton Rouge … if he’s able to free up some time this year.
“It’s having roots back home that brings me the most peace and contentment,” he says. “Whether it’s my neighbor bringing over homegrown tomatoes, or walking my kids around the LSU lakes, sometimes you have to stop and realize how great this city is.”
BRIAN DIXON, 2012
Then: Executive director of the Mentorship Academy, which he started in 2010 on Florida Street downtown. At 33, Dixon was balancing the charter school with entrepreneurship, writing and speaking engagements.
Now: Dixon moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and two children to be closer to family there. He started a marketing firm, The Dixon Agency, to help authors, speakers, realtors and others grow their impact and income online.
“Starting the Mentorship Academy in Baton Rouge was a thoroughly rewarding experience, and it is so exciting to see the school not just surviving but thriving,” Dixon says.
AMY MITCHELL-SMITH, 2012
Then: The former head of the Baton Rouge Film Commission had decided to start her own production company, Cienega Motion Picture Group.
Now: The veteran of Miramax in New York City has settled into Baton Rouge and started a family with her husband, Aaron, and two daughters. She has co-produced a variety of feature films through Cienega, with several more on the way—all shooting for openings at major festivals. The movie ZIPPER, which she produced locally and which stars Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey and Richard Dreyfuss, premieres at Sundance this month. “Of course New Orleans has a global brand, but what’s great about Baton Rouge is just how easy it is to work here,” she told our sister publication, InRegister, in November. “We are still an emerging market, and there is so much energy in that.”
NICK HUFFT, 2012
Then: The owner of Curbside Burgers was relishing the popularity of his hefty food truck grub and eyeing a Baton Rouge brick-and-mortar location.
Now: The business took a detour soon after his People to Watch feature, with Hufft heading to New Orleans to set up a kitchen inside the Warehouse District bar Barcadia. He didn’t forget his goal of a Baton Rouge location. A Barcadia outpost, long in the works for the former Serranos outside LSU’s north gates, looks to be ready early this year. Hufft is lining up the kitchen staff there, and he also plans to get the Curbside truck back on the Capital City streets early this year. If that weren’t enough, he’s prepping the parking lot next to Calandro’s for a permanent food truck court and hamburger stand with patio seating.
WALTER MONSOUR, 2012
Then: The newly appointed president and CEO of the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority was looking to drum up funding to support plenty of big initiatives in the pipeline, such as the Smiley Heights development, and stronger code enforcement to decrease blight.
Now: Monsour announced his resignation in November, after public comments by Mayor Kip Holden indicated the city would not agree to allocate more funding to the agency. Holden criticized Monsour’s performance and how the agency was handling its finances. In the interim, Holden appointed veteran administrator Gwen Hamilton to head the RDA.
