NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University’s College of Business and Technology will host the Walter Porter Experience Thursday, April 13 in Russell Hall.  The event, previously the J. Walter Porter Forum, is presented annually by the College and brings business executives to the NSU campus to speak about best practices, ethics and emerging trends in business.

This year’s speakers are Michael Bertaut, a Certified Health Consultant and profession­al of the Academy of Healthcare Management; Dr. YaSheka Adams, director of Organizational Development and Ef­fectiveness at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, and Greg Rizzuto, director of Total Rewards with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.

Bertaut will speak at 8 a.m. in the Natchitoches Room in Russell Hall.  He has 35 years of analytical ex­perience in the healthcare, telecom and retail industries. He earned his MBA (finance, ISDS) and B.A. (journalism, history, mathematics) from Louisiana State University and is a fellow of the Academy of Applied Politics at LSU. He lectures regularly there as well as at Tulane, the University of New Orleans and other colleges on current healthcare issues and the flow of money through the healthcare system.

Adams and Rizzuto will be featured at a student forum at 9:30 a.m.  Adams leads Performance Management, Organizational Learning, Succession Planning, Workforce Expe­rience, Change Management, Talent Transformation and Culture. She is a human resources, leadership, and organizational effectiveness strategist with 21 years of experience providing effective and innovative Talent Manage­ment solutions.

Rizzuto works with compensation, employee benefits, and employee wellness programs. He graduated from the University of Louisiana and has 25+ years of experience in Human Resources specifically in total rewards, employee benefits, compensation, talent acquisition/recruit­ing, onboarding, long-term incentives, equity plans, employee relations, merg­ers and acquisitions, HR Information Systems, and training and development with organizations ranging from 100 to 8,000 employees across multiple states that are both privately held and publicly traded.

The Porter Experience was established by family and friends of the last J. Walter Porter in recognition of his interest in improving the image of business as a career field and his concern for the moral and ethical standards of business.

For more Information, contact Dr. Mary Edith Stacy at maryedith@nsula.edu.