September 5, 2003

Four business leaders join Board of Trustees

Loyola announces the selection of four new members to its Board of Trustees. They are Suzanne T. Mestayer, president of AmSouth Bank, New Orleans; Tina Nguyen Owen, principal manager of Lotus Capital Management, LLC; Pamela Ryan, community activists and civic volunteer; and, George Shinn, co-owner of the New Orleans Hornets professional basketball team.

Officers for the 2003-2004 Loyola Board of Trustees are Donna Fraiche, chair; Jerome J. Reso, Jr., vice chair; Rev. Lawrence W. Moore, S.J., secretary/ treasurer; Rev. Bernard P. Knoth, S.J., president of the Board of Trustees; and, Rev. James Bradley, S.J., vice chair.

Suzanne T. Mestayer, serves as the New Orleans president of AmSouth Bank, a major southeastern bank. Prior to joining the bank, Mestayer was executive vice president of Wealth Management at First NBC in New Orleans. She is a CPA and practiced with an international public accounting firm as a partner for 20 years prior to entering the banking industry. Mestayer currently is on the executive committee of both Metro Vision and the Greater New Orleans Chamber and is co-chair of the capital drive for Greater New Orleans, Inc. She serves on the board of United Way and its campaign cabinet.

Tina Nguyen Owen is a principal of Lotus Capital Management, LLC, which provides financial advisory services in public finance to public entities such as the New Orleans Aviation Board, the city of New Orleans, the city of Corpus Christi, the city of Houston, the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority and the Finance Authority of New Orleans. Owen received a bachelor's degree in finance in 1986 and a master's degree in business administration in 1988, both from Loyola. She was the recipient of the Woman of the Year Award from CityBusiness in 2001 and was recognized as an honoree at the 1999 Mayor's Conference on Women.

Pamela R. Ryan serves on the boards of the Arts Council of New Orleans and the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. She has served as chair or co-chair for a number of charitable events including Saks/Target Breast Cancer, Fresh Art Festival, the Tulane Cancer Center's "Fashion Targets Breast Cancer," and the ninth annual Azucar Ball for the New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Foundation. She is also active with the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Louisiana and the Symphony Volunteers. In 2001, Ryan and her brother, John Reynolds, established an endowed chair, the Jack and Vada Reynolds Chair in International Business, at Loyola College of Business Administration. She also serves on the mentoring program at the business school. She and her husband, William, reside in New Orleans.

George Shinn, a native on Kannapolis, N.C., helped establish the first of the National Basketball Association's expansion teams, the Hornets, in 1987, in Charlotte, N.C. In 2002, the team moved to New Orleans where he serves as the majority owner/managing general partner of the team. He owned the Rutledge Education System, a proprietary educational system and has business interests in real estate development, auto dealerships, publishing, and a traffic reporting company. Shinn utilizes his position as an NBA team owner to assist in community-related projects. This dedication has brought him the Humanitarian of the Year award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Distinguished Community Service Award from the Anti-Defamation League. He also received the Horatio Alger Award recognizing "rags to riches" business people who achieve success. Shinn, who lives in New Orleans, currently serves on the executive committee of Metro Vision.