Sixteen candidates have applied to become Nexus Louisiana’s new permanent leader. 

Anita Tillman, co-chair of the selection committee overseeing the Nexus CEO search, provided an update at Thursday’s board of directors meeting.

Tillman says executive search firm Isaacson Miller presented 10 candidates to the committee on Oct. 31, and a second round of candidate presentations will be held on Dec. 5.

Semifinalist interviews will be conducted virtually on Jan. 14. The presentations serve as a way to discuss what the organization is looking for and give feedback to Isaacson, Miller about the type of candidates the firm should recruit.

Some prospective candidates have expressed interest but have yet to apply, according to Tillman.

“Once those interviews happen, and we drill it down to whatever the outcome is, then those candidates will be moved over to the full board to do rounds of in-person interviews and make their decision,” Tillman says.

The in-person interviews are tentatively scheduled for the week of Feb. 10 and the search is expected to be completed before the end of February.

Nexus Louisiana began accepting applications for the position on Nov. 1. Part of the job description says that the new president and CEO will be critical in providing internal and external leadership. The individual will assess and align the organization’s structures while advocating for Nexus Louisiana as a critical driver of entrepreneurship and innovation in the Baton Rouge region across the state and globally.

Nexus has been without a permanent leader for two years following longtime CEO Genevieve Silverman’s departure in June 2022 after 14 years. Nexus management consultant Calvin Mills has handled leadership responsibilities since 2022.

View a description of the position.

As we will do throughout this football season, HawgBeat went behind enemy lines to gain insight on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs with BleedTechBlue Publisher Ben Carlisle.

Louisiana Tech has been on a bit of a roller-coaster this season, as it defeated a team like Western Kentucky (7-3 record) and nearly beat NC State on the road, but the Bulldogs lost Tulsa, FIU and Sam Houston.

Under Cumbie’s leadership, Louisiana Tech has accumulated a 10-24 (7-16 CUSA) overall record in three seasons. This year, the Bulldogs boast the No. 104 total offense (344.4 YPG) and No. 61 passing offense (232.2 YPG) in the country.

Here is what Carlisle had to say about Saturday’s matchup, which is set to kick off at 3 p.m. CT at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville…

Gov. Jeff Landry’s ambitious plan to overhaul Louisiana’s tax structure has largely been pared down to a more modest goal – cutting state income taxes. 

Lawmakers are working on a way to make sure the state can pay for that desired tax reduction while not having to make damaging cuts to areas such as health care and higher education.  

Options include raising the state sales tax rate higher than it is now, retaining a higher corporate income tax rate than proposed or settling on an income tax cut that is smaller than Landry originally pitched weeks ago. 

The governor wanted to move to a flat personal income tax rate of 3% – the highest rate currently is 4.25% – but it will cost the state more than $1 billion annually. Landry’s income tax plan also leaves the state approximately $700 million short of what is needed to cover the costs of government, according to senators. 

Through his Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson, the governor had originally crafted a proposal that would exchange a broader base of tax collections for lower personal income and corporate taxes. Nelson said Louisiana would be able to pay for across-the-board personal income and corporate tax rate cuts totaling billions of dollars as long as the state scrapped generous business tax breaks and applied the sales tax to a greater range of products. 

The governor has struggled to get lawmakers to fully embrace the trade off, however. 

Legislators have eagerly voted for bills to cut corporate and personal income taxes but stalled on proposals to help make up for that lost revenue. 

Landry’s tax package started to unravel last week when the Louisiana House of Representatives refused to vote for legislation that would extend the sales tax to more services, such as lawn care, home repair and dog grooming.

“Obviously, the services bill in its original form was a little over $500 million, which would equate to about a half a point on the personal income tax,” House Speaker Phillip Devillier, R-Eunice, said.

This week, the Senate declined to fully roll back some of the state’s expensive business incentive programs, such as its movie and television tax credits and historic preservation tax breaks that collectively cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually.  

A plan to eliminate a state inventory tax credit, which covers taxes businesses pay to local governments, has been delayed until 2026, and a proposal to increase a tax on heavy machinery and equipment used by industrial employers has also been scrapped. 

If he doesn’t find a way to make up for that money, Landry runs the risk of revisiting the same political problems that plagued former Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Jindal also cut income taxes without replacing the lost revenue or finding a permanent way to cut government spending. His policy led to chronic budget problems for years and made the former governor deeply unpopular when he left office. 

Senate leaders appear to be pushing for a higher state sales tax rate to help fill the hole left by the personal income tax cut.

It was scheduled to automatically drop from 4.45% to 4% in July, though Landry had already pitched keeping the extra 0.45% permanently as a way to cover the corporate and personal income tax reductions. Now, lawmakers are considering an even higher rate to cover the state’s expenses; 5% has been floated for a few days. 

“This isn’t a tax-lowering session. This is a tax-reorganization session,” Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, said Wednesday.

Louisiana already has one of the highest average sales tax rates in the country, and that levy is a larger burden on poor people who have to pay the same rate as the wealthy. Very low-income households don’t pay income tax and won’t necessarily see benefits from cuts Landry and lawmakers make in that arena. 

“As soon as you start to increase the sales tax more, the plan becomes more regressive,” said Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, leader of the House Democratic Caucus.

Several Republicans and Democrats in the House also weren’t enthusiastic about the sales tax portion of the original tax plan and might not want to vote for a 5% rate. A bill to keep the state sales tax at 4.4% barely passed the House, with just two votes to spare last week.

“That would be the top number we need for sales,” Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge said Wednesday morning. “We don’t necessarily have the votes to do that yet. We need to get a tally of where things stand.”

Lafayette Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, head of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said his party doesn’t want a higher sales tax rate, but Democrats also fear government programs they champion, like social services, will be targeted if they don’t support the proposal.

“We want to make sure the things that are important to us will be funded, right?” Boudreaux said Wednesday before he and other Democratic senators headed off to a meeting with Landry. 

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, was bullish on the legislators’ willingness to raise the sales tax to 5%.

“I think it can get there. It’s an easier path for that than it is for broadening the base,” he said. 

If lawmakers aren’t willing to raise the sales tax more, legislators could look to retain more of the current corporate income tax rate, but they’ve already pulled back on an original plan to cut that tax dramatically.

Landry initially pitched replacing the graduated corporate tax rate that tops out at 7.5% with a flat 3%. But the senators moved that levy back up to 6% earlier this week to claw back some revenue. A further increase might be unlikely given pressure from business lobbyists. 

Corporate taxes are also a notoriously unstable source of tax revenue. In part because sizable tax credits can be applied in any budget cycle, corporate tax collections have ranged from $193 million to $1.6 billion annually over the past 10 years, according to the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. 

Legislators could also increase the personal income tax rate from 3% but seem very reluctant to do so. If it does go up, they would try to keep it to a small adjustment, like up to 3.1% or 3.2%.

“My belief is the personal income tax will, probably will, stay at 3(%),” said Foil, who heads the Senate committee that oversees tax policy.