The Louisiana Emerging Technologies Center announced Arthur Cooper will serve as its first executive director.

Don Hutchinson is the new director of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development for the city of New Orleans.

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell named Marie O'Brien to oversee the Connecticut Development Authority.

Connecticut Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell was sworn in as the state’s 87th governor on July 1, taking over from former Gov. John Rowland, who resigned amid a federal corruption investigation and a threatened impeachment for allegedly accepting gifts from employees and state contractors. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin Sullivan was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor. Rell is a Republican, while Sullivan is a Democrat.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has appointed Michael Olivier to serve as Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development. Olivier was president and CEO of the Harrison County Development Commission in Gulfport, Miss., for 17 years.

Two years following its creation, the Louisiana Technology Fund has $2.3 million to help the early-stage technology companies for which it was intended, the Baton Rouge-based Advocate reported earlier this month. The fund stems from 2002 legislation that revived Louisiana's Certified Capital Companies (CAPCOs) program.

Led by Govs. Bill Richardson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Western Governors' Association (WGA) announced last week it would support opportunities to develop a clean, secure and diversified energy system for the West and to capitalize on the region's energy resources. The New Mexico and California governors, respectively, are among those represented by the nonprofit WGA.

While the federal government supports fuel cell research, nearly every state across the country has taken a more active role in advancing the development and commercialization of fuel cell and renewable energy technologies, according to two recent reports from the North Carolina State University Solar Center. A web-based directory of more than 875 state and federal initiatives managed by the center helps prove that point.

Gov. Jodi Rell recently announced the results of a study of the strengths and weaknesses of Connecticut’s infrastructure for innovation, technology transfer and development of new businesses. A report prepared for the Connecticut Technology Transfer and Commercialization Advisory Board of the governor's Competitiveness Council presents the results.

Norma Grace, vice chancellor for technology and economic development at the University of New Orleans, has been elected as the 2004-05 president of the Association of University Research Parks.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco appointed state bond commisssion director Sharon Perez to serve as undersecretary for the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, and Secretary Michael Olivier named Dane Revette director of the agency's energy cluster.

The Connecticut Technology Council has named Matthew Nemerson as its new President and CEO, replacing Michael Theodore.

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An update to Louisiana: Vision 2020, a strategic plan to improve the Louisiana economy, calls for creating more quality jobs in the state's high growth sectors. First released by the Louisiana Economic Development Council in 1998, the newly revised plan also stresses the need to place increased importance on early childhood education, teacher quality and math and reading performance among high school students as keys to boosting student achievement.

George Swift is the first executive director for the new Southwest Louisiana Partnership for Economic Development.

To promote biotech in Baton Rouge, a new study sponsored by Capital Region Competitive Strategy (CapStrategy) recommends constructing an "idea pipeline" to better commercialize the intellectual property and research generated in the region's universities, hospitals and research institutes. CapStrategy, a nonprofit, cluster-based economic development initiative, operates under the Chamber of Greater Baton Rouge and represents nine parishes in the region.

James Souby, executive director of the Western Governors' Association for the past 13 years, is resigning to become president and CEO of a new private think tank.

Sylvia Goodman is leaving her position as director of technology and innovation at Louisiana Economic Development.

The winners of the Siemens Westinghouse/AAAS Competition for the Best Teen Scientists and Mathematicians of the Year were announced this week: 17-year-old Yin Li of New York City was the individual grand prize winner for his project "Characterizing the Prion Properties of a Translational Regulator Expressed in Mouse Brain." Brothers Mark and Jeffrey Scheider, 18 and 16, respectively, of South Windsor, Conn., won the grand prize in the team category for the "Simulation of the West Nile Virus u

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell is using the midterm budget request as the vehicle to substantially overhaul how the state supports the entire economic development process. Connecticut Innovations, one of the nation's oldest state-created equity finance programs for tech businesses, would be consolidated with departments that cover focus areas ranging from health education and housing to traditional economic development financing.

Dennis Lower of the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana is the new leader of the Louisiana Economic Development Council.

John Hightower, executive director of the Baton Rouge Technology Council for the past seven months, has resigned to resume a career in public relations and lobbying. The Council has started a search for his replacement.