Some of the biggest names in Louisiana’s energy and industrial sectors will be honored this fall as Business Report’s 10/12 Industry Report hosts the second annual Louisiana Energy Awards, recognizing the leaders, companies and projects helping shape the state’s energy future.
The awards will bring together top executives, innovators, engineers, policymakers and service providers from across Louisiana’s energy sector at a celebration on Nov. 18 at L’Auberge Casino Hotel in Baton Rouge. Get tickets.
Performance Contractors founder and Chairman Art Favre will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. He founded the company in Baton Rouge in 1979 and built it into one of the nation’s largest and most respected industrial contractors, today employing roughly 14,000 people. A 1972 LSU graduate from the university’s first construction management class, he has led the company to recognition as Associated Builders and Contractors’ National Contractor of the Year and championed craft training, veteran hiring, and major investments in LSU’s engineering and construction programs. His decades of work advancing workforce development and industrial construction have helped shape Louisiana’s skilled-trades pipeline and the state’s energy and manufacturing economy.
ExxonMobil will receive the Community Impact Award. The company has been part of Louisiana’s industrial economy for more than 116 years, employing more than 5,000 workers and contractors across 25 parishes and generating over $620 million in annual payroll. Over the past 18 months the company invested more than $3.4 million in Louisiana communities, including over $250,000 in STEM education, support for a Baton Rouge community clinic that served more than 600 people in a single day, and full funding of a $373,500 geographic information system in St. Landry Parish. In 2025 its Greenbelt program earned GOLD certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council and its Baton Rouge Complex received ENERGY STAR certification for the fifth time, alongside top safety honors from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
The Louisiana Energy Awards will also recognize finalists across five competitive categories: Deal of the Year, Small Company, Large Company, Emerging Leader and Outstanding Executive. Winners in each category will be announced live at the event.
Named as finalists for Energy Deal of the Year:
- Hyundai Motor Group’s $5.8 billion decision to build its first North American steel facility in Donaldsonville, announced in March 2025, anchors the RiverPlex MegaPark in Ascension Parish and is expected to create roughly 5,400 total jobs in the Capital Region. Entergy Louisiana enabled the project through major generation and transmission upgrades, powering an electric arc furnace mill projected to produce 2.7 million metric tons of steel annually with an estimated 70% lower emissions than traditional blast furnaces.
- Shintech Plaquemine Plant 4 is a $3.4 billion expansion announced in March 2026, adding a second ethylene unit and a fourth chlor-alkali and vinyl chloride monomer unit at Shintech’s Iberville Parish site. Building on the company’s 25-year Louisiana track record of seven projects totaling roughly $9 billion, it is expected to generate about 3,500 construction jobs, more than 160 new direct jobs, and over 100 new nested contractor jobs.
- Argent LNG advanced its Port Fourchon export project in July 2025 when the Greater Lafourche Port Commission approved the acquisition of a 743-acre tract from the State of Louisiana, expanding the footprint to roughly 900 acres. Representing an $18 billion initial investment, the deal positions Port Fourchon as a next-generation LNG export hub with projected capacity of up to 25 million tonnes per annum and could support 600 or more permanent jobs plus thousands of construction positions.
Named as finalists for Energy Company of the Year (small to midsized)
- RES Contractors, is a Louisiana-based industrial contractor founded in Plattenville in 2002, providing electrical, instrumentation, fabrication, and construction services with about 60 employees that can expand to more than 300 during major turnarounds. Over the past decade it has completed more than 1,654 jobs and earned recent honors including the 2026 GBRIA Safety Excellence Award and a place on ABC National’s 2026 Top Performers List.
- Orion Engineers + Constructors is a full-service engineering, procurement, and construction firm headquartered in Baton Rouge, with about 60 Louisiana employees and 25 years serving oil and gas, petrochemical, and energy clients along the Gulf Coast.
- The TJC Group, founded in Baton Rouge in 1990, helps industrial clients secure and sustain their “public license to operate” through public affairs, stakeholder engagement, and community advisory panels. Over the past 18 months it has been selected to support more than 15 major projects representing over $40 billion in announced Louisiana investment while managing 22 community advisory panels representing more than 70 industrial sites.
Named as finalists for Energy Company of the Year (more than 250 employees):
- Shell has operated in Louisiana for more than a century and employs about 6,198 people in the state across offshore production, refining, chemicals, pipelines, and catalyst manufacturing. It is the largest producing leaseholder in the Gulf of America with 10 deepwater hubs, and in 2025 paid more than $250 million in Louisiana taxes, royalties, and fees while investing more than $30 million in state education and community initiatives.
- Entergy Louisiana headquartered in the state and marking about 101 years of operation, serves roughly 1.1 million electric customers in 58 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes and employs about 4,500 people. The utility is advancing a nearly $2 billion resiliency plan, helped attract major projects including Meta, Hut8, and Hyundai Steel, and earned its 10th consecutive EEI Corporate Citizenship Award.
- Danos is a family-owned energy services company founded in 1947 and headquartered in Gray, providing integrated onshore and offshore solutions across the U.S. Over the past 18 months it was named LABI’s Company of the Year, earned spots on the LSU100 and LSU Roaring 20 lists, and completed several acquisitions that expanded its service capabilities and footprint.
- Excel Group is a Baton Rouge-based industrial construction firm with 43 years serving the energy, petrochemical, LNG, and low-carbon markets, plus fabrication operations in Gonzales. It played a key construction role on the CF Industries green ammonia facility in Donaldsonville—described as North America’s first commercial-scale green ammonia site—and supported the first-of-its-kind Beaumont New Ammonia facility.
Named as finalists for Emerging Energy Leader:
- Dustin Davidson is secretary of the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy, appointed in 2025 by Governor Jeff Landry as the youngest person to hold the role. He helped author the Whole-of-Louisiana Energy Strategy and the state’s first Nuclear Strategic Framework and led its inaugural Nuclear Strategy and Supply Chain Summit.
- David Carter is a principal at Emergent Method and a Bossier City native with more than a decade of experience supporting Louisiana’s energy and economic development initiatives. He has helped shape the state’s Whole-of-Louisiana Energy Strategy and first Nuclear Strategic Framework, and leads Emergent Method’s management of the $500 million, DOE-backed Louisiana HERO grid resilience program.
- Laura Beauchamp, is vice president of business operations and strategy at Entergy Louisiana, where she leads strategic initiatives balancing reliability, affordability, and environmental stewardship over a 24-year career with the company. She has helped advance major infrastructure planning, including generation to power Meta’s AI data center and work tied to Hyundai Steel and the First Solar facility in New Iberia.
Named as finalists for Energy Executive of the Year:
- Danny Cedotal is vice president of manufacturing for Shintech, overseeing the company’s integrated PVC operations in Louisiana and Texas after a 34-year career and guiding nearly 1,000 direct employees and nested contractors. A White Castle native and UL Lafayette graduate, he has helped lead Shintech’s continued Louisiana growth, including its $3.4 billion expansion announced in March 2026.
- Colette Hirstius is president of Shell USA and executive vice president of Shell’s Gulf of America business — the first time both roles have been based in Louisiana. A New Orleans native and Tulane graduate, she oversees the company’s U.S. operations and a Gulf portfolio of 10 offshore production hubs and is championing Shell’s new headquarters in New Orleans’ River District.
- Paul Danos is owner and CEO of Danos, the third-generation, family-owned energy services company in Gray, which he has led since 2020 after starting his career on front-line crews. Under his leadership the company has grown to serve more than 200 customers across 21 states and international markets, and he was named a National Safety Council “CEO Who Gets It” in 2023.
Winners in the finalist categories will be revealed live during the celebration. All finalists and honorees will also be featured in the fall edition of 10/12 Industry Report, published by parent company Melara Enterprises.
Louisiana Energy Awards are sponsored by Pipe & Steel, Kean Miller, Delta Machine & Ironworks, Turner Industries, USA Industries, Lard Oil Company, Louisiana Chemistry Association and HRM Concrete. L’Auberge Casino Hotel is the host sponsor.
