It’s Acadiana: Out To Lunch

Hosted ByChristiaan Mader

OUT TO LUNCH finds journalist Christiaan Mader conducting business Acadiana style: over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

Lafayette’s Brave New World – Out to Lunch – It’s Acadiana

There was a time when you could go out to lunch and ask somebody at the table, “What do you do?” and you could be pretty confident you’d understand the answer. These days things aren’t quite so simple.

Take, for example, Peter’s guests on today’s show: Tom Allsup and Will Labar.

Will Labar

Will has a pretty straight forward job title. He’s the Vice President of Consulting Services at a company in Lafayette called CGI Federal. For the past 38 years CGI Federal has worked with government departments as diverse as Defense and Treasury – and everything in between, to do… Well, what Will and CGI actually do is where it starts to get a little more complex. What it looks like CGI Federal do is run the Federal Government.

Tom Allsup

Tom Allsup’s job description is even more inscrutable. Tom works for a company called Perficient. He’s their “Director of Delivery, PMO and MSO.” Do you have any idea what that means? Perficient is a major American company that trades on the NASDAQ and has offices across North America, and in India and China where they… Well, Tom is going to explain. 

peter ricchiuti, will labar, tom allsup

If you needed any proof that we’re not living in your grandfather’s Lafayette, this conversation is it. By the end of it you’ll have a lot more insight into what’s going on. Actually, well before the end of the show it all starts to make sense.  

Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Gwen Aucoin.