FUELED — A Fenstermaker Podcast

William H. Fenstermaker, better known as “Bill” Fenstermaker, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of C.H. Fenstermaker and Associates, LLC., our family’s surveying, mapping, engineering, and environmental consulting company that has been conducting operations for over 70 years. He has been employed in this capacity since 1971 and is responsible for the financial and operational stability of the company headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, with offices in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Shreveport, Mandeville, and New Orleans, Louisiana, along with Houston, San Antonio and Midland, Texas.

Bill Fenstermaker is not only recognized as a leader in his field, but a leader in the state of Louisiana. In addition to his role with Fenstermaker, Bill was Chairman of the Board of IBERIABANK Corporation a $32B bank holding company, which recently merged with First Horizon out of Memphis, TN. Bill is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization, Chief Executives Organization, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He serves on the Board of the Community Foundation of Acadiana, he’s on the Entergy Louisiana Advisory Board, and is immediate past chairman for the Board of Trustees at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center, the largest full-service medical facility serving the Acadiana region.

Mr. Fenstermaker also sits on the Board and is Past Chairman of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), he is the past Chairman of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation, past member of the Board of Regents for the State of Louisiana, he also serves on the Advisory Board of the Louisiana Geological Survey. Bill is on the Board of Directors and is Past Chairman of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, and is a founder, Past Chairman, and Trustee of Blueprint Louisiana. This list of the key roles he has played with local non-profit, civic and business organizations is indicative of his commitment to our community. His honors include Business Person of the Year (by the Times of Acadiana) in 1998, the Lafayette Civic Cup in 1999, the Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award in 2001, and was named Executive of the Year by Acadiana Business Magazine in 2009. He also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science Degree from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2003 and most recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his service to Lafayette General Medical Center.

Jeanne Arceneaux Hornsby is a Professional Engineer and Director at Fenstermaker with 15 years of numerical modeling, water resource engineering, planning, and project management experience. Mrs. Hornsby earned her Master’s of Science degree in Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette under the direction of Dr. Ehab Meselhe and Dr. Emad Habib. Currently Mrs. Hornsby leads Fenstermaker’s Water Resources Team throughout the company’s offices in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and New Orleans, LA. Her main responsibilities include leading multi-million-dollar projects that range from coastal and watershed modeling and management to roadway design and construction for both the public and private sectors. She has obtained her experience and expertise by working on projects in Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, with the majority of her hydrologic and hydraulic modeling experience focused on Southwest Louisiana, specifically the Vermilion, Teche, Mermentau, and Calcasieu watersheds. As a Certified Floodplain Manager, Jeanne assists many area communities in flood mitigation project funding through the use of available grant programs. She also assists communities in drafting flood protection and drainage ordinances as well as leading participation and renewal activities in the FEMA Community Rating System (CRS). Jeanne was raised and currently resides with her family in Lafayette Parish.

Mr. Lolly Brasseaux was the Senior Project Manager and Associate Director within Fenstermaker’s Survey division and served as the point of contact for many of our firm’s larger mid-stream capital projects. He performed pipeline, hydrographic, topographic and boundary surveys for local, state and Federal agencies, major and independent oil companies, as well as private industry.  Lolly was also one of the Staff Coordinators for technical overview and quality control, having done work for clients in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. Registered Professional Land Surveyor No. 4692, Lolly began surveying in 1974 and was a part of the Fenstermaker family from August of 1977 up until his passing on Thanksgiving day in 2021.

We’re so fortunate to have been on the receiving end of Lolly’s best for almost 45 years. We’re proud to continue sharing this interview with everyone. We’ll be forever missing his genuinely selfless nature, his authenticity, and his kind-hearted spirit.

Dr. Kam Movassaghi is currently President and CEO of Movassaghi Group, PEC, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has experience in civil engineering in the areas of consulting, academia, and government. Dr. Movassaghi received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette in 1963. He then went on to earn his Master of Science and his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Department in 1965 and 1971, respectively.

Dr. Movassaghi served as an engineer in several engineering firms in his early career. He then joined the faculty at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette where he was selected to head the Department of Civil Engineering. Under his direction the department expanded programs in research, developed a design computation laboratory, developed a graduate engineering management program, and received very successful ABET accreditation reviews.

In 1998 Dr. Movassaghi was appointed by then Governor “Mike” Foster as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. With this position, Dr. Movassaghi was able to increase the annual construction project lettings by 78 percent with no net increase in annual revenues. He also implemented a comprehensive management plan to expedite completion of the TIMED program, the largest construction program in the history of the department. Dr. Movassaghi accomplished these and many among other notable feats in the 6 years as he served the state in this role.

Dr. Kam was also the President of Fenstermaker from 2005 – 2014 and was excited to be a part of our first season of Fueled.

Dr. John Foret is Vice President of Environmental, and the Environmental Leader to a staff of fourteen biologists. His duties include supervising all environmental staff activities as they relate to industry permitting activities (air/water/wetland), wetland delineations, mitigation banking consultation, wetland habitat restoration consultation (emergent marsh, shoreline protection, reef restoration), environmental assessments, biological assessments, project budgets and timelines, and project management. Prior to his time at Fenstermaker Dr. Foret served as a Research Fisheries Biologist for 18 years with DOC/NOAA/NMFS Galveston Laboratory. He was the Team Leader within the Fishery Ecology Branch in Lafayette, LA and managed all activities associated to the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) as they related to coastal fisheries habitat restoration. He was also a Federal restoration project manager for NOAA Fisheries in the CWPPRA Program.

Dax Douet is an Engineering Director with 22 years of professional experience in design, planning, and project management. He has designed highways, roadways, drainage systems, interchanges, roundabouts, standard intersections, and various site developments. Mr. Douet also has numerous years of experience in the bidding and construction administration of projects. During his tenure here at Fenstermaker, Dax has performed multiple reviews of construction plans to determine constructability of designs under actual field conditions and live traffic loading. Additionally, Mr. Douet managed the preparation of over thirteen transportation feasibility studies for the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development. These feasibility studies were conducted for a wide range of transportation projects throughout the State of Louisiana to include roadway improvements, interstate highway interchanges, and grade-separated bridge structures. Mr. Douet has also led the preparation of geometric line and grade studies to support more than five Environmental Assessment documents in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines. He has managed various multi-disciplinary projects and performed roadway corridor studies, traffic safety analyses, and feasibility studies, which encompass design, right-of-way, environmental, and utility work. Mr. Douet was previously a city engineer responsible for roadways, drainage, development review, municipal code development, utilities systems, and various other municipal engineering tasks. Throughout his career, Dax has worked with various local, state, and federal agencies. A life-long resident of Acadiana, Dax was born and raised in St. Martinville, Louisiana and currently resides in Youngsville, Louisiana.

Introducing Fueled: A Fenstermaker Podcast. A series of conversations offering a variety of professional insights, enlightening discussions and fueling a greater understanding and awareness of Fenstermaker’s expertise.

In season 1, join host, Kathryn Fenstermaker, as she explores our region’s infrastructure with members of the Fenstermaker Family as well as State and Local leaders.