Who Are the Wingin’ It Wednesday Panelists? Here’s All You Need to Know

Wingin' It Wednesday is an open forum style debate in which panelists discuss the biggest topics of the week. Wingin' It takes place around 7:30 am every Wednesday morning during the "Mornings with Ken and Bernie" show.

Our panelists are:

Carol Ross

A native of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Carol Ross made her way to Lafayette in 1966 and has been in love with and involved in this community ever since.

During her 21-year broadcast career at KPEL, she was copywriter, public service director, station manager and vice president.

While working full time at KPEL, she also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature at then USL and became involved in a host of professional and civic organizations. She has served on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, 232-HELP, Performing Arts Society of Acadiana and Acadiana Arts Council to name just a few. She was also a member of and served as president of the Louisiana Legislative Spouses Auxiliary while her husband, Ron Gomez, served in the state legislature.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), the Acadian Home Builders Association Board of Directors.

Mike Stagg

Mike Stagg is a 59 year-old independent information technology consultant and civic activist. A native of Eunice, he’s lived in Acadiana most of his adult life.

Over the course of his life, Mike has worked in the oil patch as a roustabout, a roughneck, and a driver for Halliburton. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Eunice, Opelousas and Lafayette. He was the co-founder and publisher of The Tri-Parish Tribune in Eunice and managing editor of papers in Covington, LA, and Mobile, AL. He’s been working independently as a writer, researcher and technology consultant since 1988.

Mike has been active in civic and political affairs in Lafayette since he and his family returned to Lafayette in 1999. He served on the citizens advisory committee that advised LUS during its initial foray into broadband technology in 2000. He was co-founder and co-convener of Tech Sector Day at the Louisiana Legislature in 2001. He helped form the Association of Louisiana Technology Companies.

He walked more than 1,000 miles across Louisiana in his 2003 campaign for governor. He ran as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the soon-to-disappear Seventh Congressional District.

He has been a member of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee since 2008, where he has remained actively involved in the monitoring of Lafayette Consolidated Government and its policies.

 Warren Caudle

Warren Caudle is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a B.S. degree. He has been involved in owning businesses for over a 25 year period and participated in the merger and acquisition of businesses from the owner side. He formerly managed an office of one of the largest business brokerage franchises in the world and while doing so was responsible for the largest deal that company ever had in the state of Louisiana.

His hands on experience in multi-million dollar financing has been instrumental in helping buyers get financing to buy businesses. Under his leadership the office in Lafayette, Louisiana moved from representing small companies to successfully completing sales and acquisitions of mid size companies.

He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps having served on the prestigious and challenging duty with the United States Department of State, Embassy Duty, while stationed with the American Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam he participated in the defense of the embassy during the 1968 TET Offensive Viet Cong attack on the embassy. Interviews with Warren have been shown on three programs “This Week in History” and a CBS special “Vietnam the Front Lines”, and “Inside the Vietnam War” on the National Geographic channel.