About Our Editors

Managing Editor

C. Alan Jennings, NP

Alan Jennings, commissioned in East Baton Rouge parish in 1990, came to Louisiana Notary from his former post as the executive director of the Louisiana Notary Association (LNA) (no affiliation with Louisiana Notary). He has published extensively on notarial law and practice and other subjects of interest to Louisiana's notaries since 1995. He served as LNA publications chairman, contributing writer to--and editor of--Signed & Sealed from 1995 to 2000 and continues as a regular contributor to Signed & Sealed. He served on the 2002 secretary of state's HCR81 notary study committee and on the 2004 special committee on notary policy development for Louisiana's 19th Judicial District Court. Alan currently serves as a consultant to the Louisiana State University (LSU) Center for Assessment and Evaluation on the development of the Louisiana state notary public examination. He is author and managing editor of Fundamentals of Louisiana Notarial Law and Practice -The Louisiana Notary Public Examination Official Study Guide published by the Louisiana secretary of state. Alan is a member of the Louisiana State Law Institute Registry Committee, and serves as the legislative and governmental affairs liaison for the Louisiana Notary Assocation. He is also a professional registered parliamentarian and author of Robert's Rules for Dummies 

Editorial Advisors

Richard Bullock was commissioned as a notary public before entering law school at Louisiana State University. Richard graduated Order of the Coif (1991) and served as law clerk to Justice James Dennis of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He is a former chairman of the East Baton Rouge Parish notary examination committee. He is author of the desk reference Wills, Trusts, and Successions: The Notarial Role. Richard currently serves as a consultant to the LSU Center for Assessment and Evaluation on the development of the Louisiana notary public examination and a co-author and technical editor of the Louisiana Notary Public Examination Official Study Guide. 

René B. deLaup, JD, NP

Sydney I. Horn, JD, NP

Syd Horn is a retired attorney in Lake Charles. He instructed non-attorney candidates preparing for the Calcasieu parish notarial qualifying exam for over 20 years. He estimates the number of non-attorney notaries commissioned after taking his course is about 2500. Syd retired from teaching in 2005 to accept a consulting role with the LSU Center for Assessment and Evaluation on the development of the Louisiana notary public examination. He received his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 1964 and has been practicing law ever since, hoping, as he says, that “One of these days, I'll get it right.” Mr. Horn is the author of the textbook The Louisiana Notarial Handbook & Study Guide and a contributing writer for the Louisiana Notary Public Examination Official Study Guide.

Susan L. Johnson, NP

Susan Johnson graduated with a degree in Arts in History/Government from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1982, and of the Paralegal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1988. She was named Louisiana's "Outstanding Paralegal of the Year" in 1990 for her contributions to the paralegal profession. She has been a notary public since 1988 and is currently commissioned in Tangipahoa Parish. She is co-author of A Basic Louisiana Notary Guide, second edition, (3 volumes) and of A Handbook for Louisiana Notary Study, Second edition. From 1998 until 2005, she was instructor of the Notary Public Preparation Course at LSU BR. She left that position to accept a consulting role in connection with the development of the Louisiana notary public examination. She is a co-author of the Louisiana Notary Public Examination Official Study Guide.

Mary E. Tharp, JD, NP

Mary Tharp is a partner with the Baton Rouge law firm of Taylor, Porter, Brooks, & Phillips, L.L.P. She is a 1980 graduate of the Paul M. Hebert School of Law at Louisiana State University. She has been a guest lecturer on property matters for the Institute of Real Estate Law at LSU, the Institute of Paralegal Education at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the Louisiana Notary Association. Mary is also a guest lecturer on ethics for the Louisiana Notary Association and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. She was an instructor of real estate law in the Paralegal Studies program at LSU 1990-1998.

Founding Editor

Gregory R. Olivier-deKeyzer, JD, NP

Greg DeKeyzer is a practicing avocat et notaire in New Iberia. He established this publication in 1983. Now in its 26th year, Louisiana Notary sets the standard for delivering timely and thorough content on notarial law and practice in Louisiana. Greg handed down the pen in 2000, but continues to lend his guiding wisdom to his successor editor.

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Louisiana Notary - The Notary's Newsletter since 1983
C. Alan Jennings, Managing Editor
PO Box 67041
Baton Rouge, LA 70896
225-923-3300