Born in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Eric is from Bayou Country and learned his work ethic early on from his mother, grandparents, and great grandparents. Eric’s great grandfather, Edwin Chiasson, was a former Lafourche Parish public official, who also founded a minor league baseball team, the Thibodaux Giants, and served as the first president of the Thibodaux Baseball Club. Chiasson was a self-made man and, in 1934, started his own business, Arc Welding and Machine Works, where he manufactured boilers until the start of WW II. Eric’s grandmother, and Chiasson’s daughter, Stella Lasseigne, followed in her father’s footsteps, serving on the School Board and the City Council. Throughout the years, Stella helped her community by participating in many organizations, as well as teaching at Nichols State University. Eric’s mother, Mary Breaud, became the 3rd generation in the family to serve on the school board. In addition, Mary earned her Ph.D. in education and is also a professor at Nichols State University. At Nichols State, Mary started the Bridge to Independence program, which helps children with disabilities go to college, earn their degree, and graduate in hope of finding a job after their college experience.

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Eric has been inspired and motivated by his family, although he did not follow in their footsteps in education. Instead, he pivoted to show his creative side in the film industry, and has been an actor, writer, and filmmaker for over 15 years; his latest film, End Trip, won the best director award at the Madrid International Film Festival. Along with working in film, Eric has developed skills in marketing, sales, and consulting. His first taste of business came with working for Schwanns Foods, where he was a route manager and loved meeting new people while finding ways to improve sales. With the oil field booming, Eric began work as a production operator in the Gulf of Mexico and later worked in refineries with radiation scanning. He returned to his sales career when he joined Monterey Marketing and became one the leading sellers for AT&T’s new television service, U-Verse. As the demand for the new TV service declined, Eric found a new opportunity to work with energy efficiency. While living in California, Eric was able to help residential customers reduce their energy costs through solar, HVAC, roofing, radiant barrier, and more. Seeing that there was not yet a big demand in his home state of Louisiana, he decided to move back and look for opportunities to help his own community.

Since his return to Louisiana, Eric has partnered with Roger Timoteo and helped launch The Next Energy Solar Technology. Currently, he is helping to develop 360offGrid. Working with businesses and business owners over the last 3 years, Eric has been able to help his community lower electricity bills while also helping reduce the demand on the grid in his area.