Joseph Exnicios 1973

Joe and Debbie Exnicios before the
Alumnus of the Year Mass; they
married in 1980 on Joe's
25th birthday.

Joseph Exnicios ('73) went against family tradition when he decided to attend the new merged school on Elysian Fields Avenue.

• He spent grades K-8 at St. Anthony of Padua School on Canal Street where he learned under the guidance of the Dominicans.
• The son of a Jesuit grad, Joe was intrigued by the idea of attending a new school. He liked the campus and wanted to participate in athletics.
• He recalls Brother Jean greeting all the freshmen the first day of school. Brother John Moore and Brother Nicholas were two of his math teachers. Brother Jerome taught him freshman religion and was also his senior guidance counselor. Brother Carl Bouchereau taught him English.
• Playing football all four years, he came under the influence of coaches Andy Bourgeois, Bob Conlin, Rod Krentel, Chubby Marks, and V. J. Gianelloni.
• His two younger brothers followed him to Brother Martin, James ('76) and Jay ('80).

Joe headed to LSU with a number of other grads in the first Brother Martin class that had attended the school for four years.

• He majored in Marketing and earned the degree in 4 1/2 years, the extra semester resulting from the death of his mother at age 48 of cervical cancer near the end of the first semester of his senior year.
• When he came home for Thanksgiving in his last semester at LSU, his father asked if he knew what he wanted to do. Other than wanting to stay in New Orleans, he had no specific job in mind.
  
  Dad asked me, "Do you have a suit?" "Yes." "Make sure it's clean because I'm going to line up some interviews for you."
  
  
• So Joe talked to New Orleans Public Service, Pan-American Life Insurance, Leileitner and Company, and Whitney Bank - all companies where his dad had friends, including the president of Whitney, Pat Delaney. The interview at Whitney marked the first time Joe had ever set foot in a bank.
  
  My father opened a checking account for me when I started college. I cashed checks in barrooms, restaurants, and convenience stores.
  
  
• He graduated from LSU in December and prepared to take a weeklong trip to the West Coast with a friend.
  
  I got a call from the interviewer at Whitney Bank. "Have you given it any thought? Would you like to work in a bank? If so, I have a job for you starting Monday."
  
  
• Having no other prospects, he accepted but explained that he couldn't begin until he returned from his trip.

I've had the same phone number since 1985. It's been a very easy, pleasant career. The discipline and persever­ance I learned in football all worked to my advantage. Very few of my peers have worked in the same place for 36 years.

Along the way, Joe continued his education.

• After two years at Whitney, he went back to school at UNO and took Business Law and Accounting courses in the evening.
• He passed the CPA exam in 1983.
• Three years later, he decided to go to Law School. His brother Jim, also a CPA, was in his second year at Loyola Law School and recom­mended that Joe join him. Even if he didn't want to practice, he'd get a great education that would help him in his banking career.
  
  I took stock of my life and realized that I could re­place some of my idle time with productive time. I was fortunate that during the four years I had no health issues or family distractions. Anything can derail you when you're going to night school and working full time. I'd prepare intensely for the up­coming week on Saturday and Sunday. I was for­tunate that my wife worked at Whitney. (That's where we met.) So we'd have lunch together.
  
  
• He completed the law degree in 1990 and pass­ed the bar exam. He keeps his legal education up to date to keep his standing at the bar.
  
  People ask me how a law degree has helped me. The effects have been intangible. You don't realize how it's helping your thought process, how you evaluate facts to come up with a solution to a prob­lem. The law is different now but the process of ap­plying regulations is the same - I do that all the time. I have more organization and bring more background to my decision making so that I arrive at answers faster. I also developed self-confidence.
  

Joe's resume includes a long list of business and civic organizations, including:

• St. Aloysius Century Foundation Board Member
• Chair of the UNO Foundation and member of the UNO President's Advisory Council.
• Chair of the United Way's 2013 Annual Campaign
• Chair of Archbishop Hannan Community Appeal.
• Commmittee member for the Archbishop's Campaign for Priestly Formation.
• LSU Health Science Center Foundation.
• Catholic Charities and the Catholic Foundation.
• Boy Scouts of America SELA Council
• Metropolitan Crime Commission
• Urban League of Greater New Orleans

He has won a number of awards for his service.

• Archdiocese of New Orleans Order of St. Louis
• Young Leadership Council Role Model
• St. Elizabeth's Guild Volunteer Community Leader
• One of Ten Outstanding People recognized by the Family Services of Greater New Orleans

Catholic Charities has such a broad reach. A number of people have never needed assistance in their lives until something happened. Catholic Charities is 64 different agencies. So their outreach has touched so many people.
Of all the various things I've done, if the people running the organization have a passion for what they're doing, that gets my attention. I've been in places where it's just a job for the people in important positions.
It's been a lot of fun. I've met so many nice people. The real beauty is interacting with the people benefitting from the services.

Learning he had been chosen 2014 Alumnus of the Year came as a bit of a shock.

I had helped UNO and LSU but never really did anything meaningful for Brother Martin. But it was always on my mind. I knew Kenny Spellman and Tommy Mitchell and served on the Catholic Foundation Board with John Devlin. I participated in my class reunions and the annual Brother Martin Golf Tournament.
A little over a year ago, I got an invitation to join the St. Aloysius Century Foundation Board. John and Tommy tried to schedule a meeting to orient me to the board, but we never were able to do it before I attended my first meeting.
When we finally had lunch, John talked about the Alum­nus of the Year award. and I thought he was asking me for suggestions for candidates. Then he shows me the program with my name printed on it.
At first I was sworn to secrecy. Of course, I told my wife, but I didn't tell my dad or my brothers and sisters. When I did tell dad, it was a big deal for him.
At age 86, he's having problems with short term memory. A month after I told him about the award, one of his friends saw the announcement and called to congratulate him. Dad called me and said, "You didn't tell me!" "Dad, you forgot." At least, he wasn't told I was arrested or something bad! He was there for every event of the weekend and got a big kick out of it, especially his friend Archbishop Aymond saying the Mass.

Winning the Alumnus of the Year Award is always an occasion to reflect on one's life.

Just about all my friends from Brother Martin have lived productive lives. Everybody's got a different skill set, a different drive, different opportunities. I certainly didn't anticipate when I went to work for a bank that I would have the opportunities I did.
When Whitney merged with Hancock Bank, I was offered an Executive Change of Control package worth $3.5 mil­lion. Of the top five executives at Whitney, I was the only one who stayed. People asked, "Have you lost your mind?" I'm where I want to be. There are people who've worked for me for a long time who count on me. They know I'm going to do the right thing. I couldn't possibly consider leaving. It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do. I watched my dad. He was never more happy than when working.
I hope to at least work until I'm 65 - six more years - so I can get my full pension.

Joe has enjoyed mentoring young people at Whitney and is open to college teaching when he retires.

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