Carroll Suggs

When Robert L. Suggs, founder of Petroleum Helicopters Inc. (now PHI Inc.), died suddenly of heart failure in 1989, Carroll W. Suggs found herself the majority owner and executor of PHI voting stock. Encountering inside-shareholder issues and a hostile take-over event as well as a major estate battle, she fought to preserve and grow the 40-year-old helicopter enterprise, and led the Lafayette, Louisiana-based company—the world’s largest civilian provider of rotorcraft services—for 11 years. She and her three children—Carroll (Squeaky), Robert and Frank (Ruffy)—sold all holdings on September 5, 2001.

Oil and Gas Investor visited Suggs in early July in New Orleans, the Suggs family hometown and where she keeps a St. Charles Avenue office, filled with model rotorcraft and photos, including one with Warren Buffett and several with the Royal Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, with whom she took a white-knuckle joyride in 1995. At home, she keeps a garden and entertains four granddaughters, ages 1, 5, 7 and 10, and a 4-year-old grandson.

Over rabbit fricassee and shrimp napoleon (a petite, but powerful, dish) at Restaurant Cuvee on Magazine Street, Suggs discussed her work since 2001 for the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), which she chaired from 2003-04 and of which she remains a member (“Or, what’s left of NOIA. This moratorium is killing industry.”). She is a trustee of The National WWII Museum (“Bob was a veteran.”) and serves on the boards for the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium, New Orleans Morial Convention Center, LSU Health and Sciences Center Foundation, New Orleans Federal Alliance, Xavier University, Tulane-Entergy Energy Institute and Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business. She also serves on the LSU College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and is the current president of the Louisiana chapter of the International Women’s Forum.

Investor: You’re gardening, but grass isn’t growing under your feet.

Suggs: I’m a survivor. In order to survive, you get things done against the odds. The cancer-research center is funded by the state’s tobacco tax. Cancer is significant in Louisiana. The LSU Health Sciences Center Hospital will hopefully open in 2014. What’s happening with hospitals in New Orleans is disturbing. We need a major biomedical center here that meets the needs of the people. They deserve that.

Investor: What about the Gulf oil leak?

Suggs: All aspects of it are frightening—economically, environmentally and ecologically. I worry about people who work in and along the Gulf and their future. I am very concerned with what’s going on in Washington and how poorly they’re handling these very important issues. (Louisiana) Gov. (Bobby) Jindal is doing an excellent job, and the parish leaders have been great and tireless in their efforts.

Investor: You remain fond of your early mentors, those you trusted for guidance when taking over PHI.

Suggs: They are a special vitamin for me. Knowing I had their support gave me the courage many times to carry on. Dr. (James) McFarland at Tulane helped me further my knowledge of business management. I certainly had many classes by fire: workforce, marketing, maintaining customer confidence. Mentors also included Dr. Norman Francis (president of Xavier University). He is committed to excellence and to nurturing leadership. And, Bob Rose (chairman of Transocean Ltd.), (the late) Pat Taylor (founder of Taylor Energy Co.) and Harry Stahel at Whitney Bank, who helped me with capital structure. Aviation is a highly capital-intensive business.

And certainly the people of PHI gave me constant support and encouragement. I always took fiduciary responsibility very seriously—besides my family, there were more than 2,000 PHI employees and their families depending on it.

Investor: What was a mantra you relied on most?

Suggs: Anybody who tells you that you have to make a decision right now does not have your best interests in mind. There are decisions you have to make right away, but the most important ones do not—and should not. It is true that it is best to “sleep on it”—an important short-term decision can have long-term consequences. You must ask, “Will this matter in three years?” I am fortunate to have had good timing in my life. I offered the business for sale in 2001 privately, and sold it shortly before the aviation industry entered the aftermath of 9/11.

Investor: Were there temptations at times to dilute your voting shareholding to draw in new capital?

Suggs: I was mother, CEO and controlling shareholder. I had to balance my decisions in all things without compromising one or another.

Investor: Your passion for family extended to the PHI family.
Suggs: The layoffs, the layoffs. I hated the layoffs. The business is so cyclical, and the Gulf Coast helicopter business is extremely marginal. If we made a profit of 10% in a year, that was remarkable. On several occasions, young men would come to me and say, “You know, I’m young and I don’t have a family yet. I can take a layoff instead of these other men.” I am so proud of the people of PHI, and I admire them still.