Business Journal 20130125

January 25, 2013 • Vol. 35, No. 4 • $2 • 24 pages

SINKING FEELING

Return of the full Social Security tax led state economists to lower expectations for growth across Mississippi

Page 4

MBJ FOCUS: Economic Development . . . . . . . . .

PAGE 11

Grammy Museum expected to bring economic boom to Mississippi Delta

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MONEY AND GOVERNMENT

SMART Business Act: A new twist on an old concept

By CLAY CHANDLER I STAFF WRITER clay.chandler@msbusiness.com

One of the cornerstones of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s 2013 legislative agenda is an old bill with some new features.

The Strengthening Mississippi Academic Research Through (SMART) Business Act is similar to legislation Hosemann has supported the past two sessions. It offers incentives to businesses that contract with a Mississippi university for private research.

“It came to my mind that we weren’t getting as many federal grants (for university-based research) as we used to after 2010,” Hosemann said.

The numbers bear that out. According to the Institution of Higher Learning’s Research Catalog, Mississippi universities received in fiscal year 2010 about $586 million in research funds.

In fiscal year 2012, which ended last June 30, that figure had fallen to $408 million.

Starting to close that $178-million gap is the focus of the SMART Act, Hosemann said.

“That’s a huge number. In my way of thinking, we cannot maintain world-class research universities — which we have, in acoustics, agriculture, aerospace to name a few — and take a hit that big in funding. Clearly, we have to have the private research done in the university system, to tie businesses to universities.

From my old business days, they will do that if it can be done less expensively. That’s the first critical component.

“The second one is it keeps our universities on the cutting

edge of research. They’re getting paid to do this, so it could help keep the cost of tuition down, which we desperately need in this state. And, it gives students the practical work experience.

When they get out of there, they have a sellable skill.”

The latest version is different than the bill that has failed the past two years. The most noticeable change is that the bill offers a direct 25 percent rebate, instead of a 7 percent tax credit.

The rebate is capped at $1 million per investor per fiscal year.

The overall amount that can be refunded in one fiscal year is capped at $5 million. Those two clauses are also new.

“There was some concern last year about how much this was going to cost, so this addresses that,” Hosemann said.

Hosemann said the bill could serve another purpose. He said there’s a lot of intellectual property that belongs to universities that could be beneficial to the private sector. “We’re hopeful that this will get that intellectual property out there,” he said. “At the Golden Triangle, and particularly at Aurora Flight Sciences, you’ve seen some of that happen. That’s a perfect example of that this bill would accomplish.

“The monetization of intellectual property is something you’ll see becoming more and more important to the university system. It also changes the culture of the university system a little bit. Their primary goal is to educate their students, and always will be. At the same time, this should make them realize the value of some of the things they do and have that accrue to the universities. In the old days, if they wanted to do research, they’d apply for a grant. That process will continue, and will be competitive, but right now we’ve got a big hole.”

LEGISLATURE

Bill seeks to end accelerated sales tax system

By CLAY CHANDLER I STAFF WRITER clay.chandler@msbusiness.com

Legislation that sits in the House and Ways and Means Committee would offer relief at the end of the state fiscal year for taxpayers who collect sales taxes.

Currently, taxpayers who collect sales and use taxes — which encompasses almost all of the state’s small businesses — are allowed to remit them to the state no later than the 25th of the next month. For example, May’s sales taxes have to be paid no later than June 25.

That deadline shifts in June, which is the last month of the state’s fiscal year. At least 75 percent of June taxes, for those with a monthly average of at least $20,000 in liability, have to be paid no later than June 25. That can force a small business to pay two months’ worth of sales and use taxes on the same day.

Ron Aldridge, executive director of the Mississippi chapter of small business advocacy group National Federation of Independent Businesses, is supporting

the legislation.

Aldridge said the accelerated deadline for June makes it financially uncomfortable for a lot of small businesses.

“You’re losing a week there at the end of the month,” he said. “It pulls you out of your normal cash flow pattern. Anybody who’s ever owned a small business knows that any kind of disruption in your cash flow can be difficult to handle because the margins are just so thin. It can present a tremendous problem.”

That problem is exacerbated when sales taxes aren’t collected at the point of sale, such as credit card sales, Aldridge said.

Because the fiscal year ends in June, the accelerated deadline contributes revenue to the closing fiscal year by taking it from the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. It’s designed so the state can close the books at the actual end of the fiscal year, instead of waiting until the next month.

But, Aldridge said, the early deadline does not actually solve anything for the state.

“The state still gets the money, it’s just technically paid after the fiscal year is over.

Really, all you’re doing is just solving a budget problem on paper.”

Gov. Phil Bryant, in his executive budget recommendation he issued in November, recommended that small businesses with less than $50,000 in average monthly tax liability be exempt from the accelerated sales tax system. Bryant reiterated that stance in Tuesday night’s State of the State.

Though both personal income and sales and use taxes are due on June 25, Bryant’s budget recommendation only specified sales and use taxes. Any reductions to the budget, under Bryant’s budget plan, would be offset by surplus funds.

In 2007, the Legislature passed and former Gov. Haley Barbour signed a law that would have raised the accelerated sales tax threshold from $20,000 to $50,000. The implementation of that law has been delayed, though, which creates the scenario in which most small businesses pay two months of taxes on one day.

AGRICULTURE

Back in business Rainfall, snow melts improve outlook for Mississippi River navigation

By TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Recent sustained rains and melting snow across the Mississippi Valley will ensure continuing navigation on the Mississippi River through mid-February, even if no additional rain falls between now and Feb. 15, the Army Corps of Engineers says.

The period from Jan. 9-13 saw three-eighths inches of rain, with 10+ inches locally, over the Ohio River Valley and the Mississippi watershed south of St. Louis. Warm temperatures last week also melted existing snow water equivalents of one to two inches over the watershed to the north of Memphis, helping provide much needed relief from the persistent drought plaguing the middle and lower Mississippi Valley since mid-2012.

Additionally, workers completed the first phase of the most critical rock removal work on the Mississippi River near Thebes, Ill., ahead of schedule last week, deepening the navigation channel by two feet in just three weeks.

“The Corps has used every resource available to us to successfully sustain navigation,” said Maj. Gen. John Peabody, Mississippi Valley Division commander. “The success of the rock removal work, combined with recent and forecast rain, increases our confidence we will sustain an adequate channel through this spring,” he added.

The rain and melting snow have caused numerous tributaries within the Ohio and lower Mississippi watersheds to rise above minor to moderate flood levels. At press time, the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo, Ill., was forecasted to crest at flood stage Jan. 21. Weekend rainfall amounts of one-half to two inches to the north of St. Louis have caused the mainstem Mississippi River to rise slowly and have delayed the river from dropping below critical stages north of the confluence with the Mississippi River. The critical navigation area near Thebes, Ill., rose nine feet on Sunday, Jan. 13, due to local heavy rains.

Removing the rock formations was one of many operations the Corps initiated along the narrowing river to maintain a nine-foot-deep channel for river navigation. Dredging has been ongoing since early May 2012 to preserve the channel, as well as continued surveys and channel patrols by the Corp and U.S. Coast Guard to keep commerce safely moving on the middle Mississippi River.

Worsening drought conditions in the past nine months forced the Corps to deploy as many as 25 dredges during to maintain the Mississippi River’s navigation channel and re-open sand-choked harbors between St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico. in response to one of our nation’s most severe droughts.

Beginning in May, and continuing today, Corps and private dredges contracted by the Corps, worked around the clock, seven days a week, to remove sediment deposited by the 2011 flood and fight extreme low-water conditions. Since May, the dredges have moved more than 29 million cubic yards of sediment - enough material to fill 1,333,333 dump trucks, or more than six Louisiana Superdomes, with a weight (67 billion pounds) equal to 92 Empire State Buildings, the Corps says.

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January 25, 2013

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ECONOMY

Ramey cuts workforce while new Viking owner examines budget

BY CLAY CHANDLER I STAFF WRITER clay.chandler@msbusiness.com A decision by Middleby Corp., the Illinois-based parent company of Viking Range, to curtail the marketing budget for the high-end kitchen appliance maker has led to a Jackson ad agency reducing its number of employees.

Jack Garner, president of The Ramey Agency, said last Monday afternoon that the firm specializing in brand strategy and marketing communications had recently “eliminated a number of positions,� but did not say exactly how many. Ramey’s website lists 39 employees between its Jackson headquarters and its media office in Memphis. Garner said the positions

eliminated were all in the Jackson office.

Garner said Middleby told Ramey shortly after the acquisition in December that it would focus its marketing efforts in-house and limit outside expenses for Viking while its overall promotional budget was being evaluated. “Any outside marketing for Viking will continue to come through Ramey,� Garner said in a phone interview, noting his agency was still working on a

large project in Canada for the range maker.

At full strength, Viking was a substantial account, Garner said, but it was only a minority of the firm’s work. “More than 80 percent of our work is non-Viking clients,� he said. Among the clients listed on Ramey’s website are BankPlus, Entergy, University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Mississippi Development Authority. “We are really fortunate to have a significant number

of blue-chip clients. We’ve been able to enjoy steady and solid growth because of that. Dealing effectively with a cycle of changes is normal for any agency. We’ve done our best to stay nimble and ready to do whatever is needed. We are considering all opportunities for business expansion, which is an ongoing commitment, and also looking to control expenses.�

Middleby officials had not responded to phone and email messages by press time.

2013 BOOKOF LISTS Electronic Edition

ENERGY

Miss. Supreme Court to hear Kemper Coal Plant arguments

2013 BOOKOF LISTS Electronic Edition

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BY CLAY CHANDLER I STAFF WRITER clay.chandler@msbusiness.com The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral argument Jan. 28 related to the Sierra Club’s ongoing legal opposition to Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County coal plant.

The hearing will center on this question: Why should the (MSSC) not reverse the Public Service Commission for its failure to hold the rate case in abeyance until the case of Sierra Club v.

Mississippi Public Service Commission currently on appeal in Harrison County Chancery Court is finally decided?

Attorneys for MPC will have six minutes at the beginning to respond to the question. Attorneys for the PSC will have six minutes to do the same immediately afterward.

Attorneys for Thomas Blanton, a Hattiesburg resident who has challenged the constitutionality of the Baseload Act, will then have 20 minutes to make their case against the 2008 legislation that authorized utility companies to pass construction costs on to ratepayers before the generation facilities they were building were operational.

The hearing will conclude with MPC and PSC splitting 20 minutes to respond to Blanton.

The Sierra Club has fought the coal plant from its inception, calling it an expensive and unnecessary environmental hazard. Mississippi Power has said it’s the best way to ensure long-term availability of economical power for its nearly 200,000 ratepayers.

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STRICTLY BUSINESS

ECONOMY

Mississippi job levels dip to 17-year low

Return of the full Social Security tax led state economists to lower expectations for overall economic growth across Mississippi

By TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Mississippi’s job levels sank to their lowest levels since 1996 last year and ended the year looking slightly worse than 2011, the first quarter Mississippi Economic Outlook reports.

The January report from the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning was not all gloom, however. Leading indicators such as retail sales, tax collections and housing starts have trended upwards since July. Both retails sales and general fund tax collections are ahead of last year’s pace, according to the report, which also noted a sharp rise in housing starts and building permits, a trend seen elsewhere in the country as well.

“In Q2 of 2012, starts were 18 percent higher than a year ago,” the report said. “The value of residential building permits issued was up sharply, and the median home price increased. The upsurge in permits issued and in housing starts bodes well for the sector in 2013.”

What doesn’t bode so well is the effect of the re-instatement of a 2 percent portion of the federal payroll tax that had been suspended as a way to stimulate consumer spending. The return of the full Social Security tax led state economists to lower expectations for overall economic growth across Mississippi.

Increased payroll tax deductions will cut personal income growth from a projected 3 percent to 2 percent and cause an expected 1 percent growth in job levels to fall to 0.8 percent, said Marianne Hill, senior state economist.

A further economic toll of reinstatement of the payroll tax is a lowering of forecasts for the state’s gross domestic product to grow by only 1.4 percent, down from a previous forecast of 1.6 percent.

Nationally, the return of the tax is expected to cut the growth in the gross domestic product from an initial forecast of 1.9 percent to an even more anemic level of about 1.7 percent, according to HIS Global Insight, an international provider of economic forecasts. The forecaster attributed the drop in growth expectations to the 16 percent average increase in Social Security taxes brought by reinstatement of the payroll tax.

The end of the first quarter should give economists a glimpse of just how damaging expiration of the payroll tax cut will be nationally. Global Insights expects consumer spending for the quarter will decline from a previously projected 2.6 percent to 1.4 percent.

“The looming debt-ceiling crisis will also restrain growth,” Global Insights said.

Hill said most economists had expected President Obama and Congress to work out a gradual phase-in of the payroll tax return. Instead, economic growth must now bear the cost of a sudden drop in worker incomes, she said. “Even though the economy may not go into recession, it is closer to the brink than it was.”

Mississippians saw a 3.1 percent increase in personal income the first nine months of 2012. State economists expect that final calculations for the year will show a leveling off in income growth to 2.9 percent.

GROWTH RATES OF EMPLOYMENT AND OUTPUT, MISSISSIPPI AND U.S. Historical and Forecast

MS

US

2.9% 2.5% 1.7%

1.1% 0.3%

-0.9%

0.6%

-0.7%

Forecast 2012-17

Real GDP 2006-11

Forecast 2012-17

Employment 2006-11

MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR, Average Annual Growth 2012-2017 Constr Health,Social Transport,Util Business,Prof Trade Manuf Leisure,Hosp Finance Govt Agric Serv Mining TOTAL

-0.2

-5

5.2

2.2 2.2 1.3 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.1 1.1

0

10

5

Percentage Change

PAYROLL JOB GAINS & UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY STATE , SA November 2010 - November 2012

15.0% 10.0%

Job Gain 8.5%

7.5%

7.0%

5.0% 0.0%

0.2%

0.5%

Unemp Rate Nov '12 5.8% 4.3%

0.8%

7.6%

2.8%

2.8%

MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR, Average Annual Growth Rate 2007 - 2012 Constr Manuf Retail Trade Leisure,Hosp Finance Mining Business,Prof Govt Transport,Util Health,Ed Serv TOTAL

-4.5 -4

-1.5 -1.3 -1.1 -0.6 -0.3

-1.2

-10

-6

0.1 0.5 1.5

-2

Percentage Change

2

7.7%

6

Payroll employment in 2012 fell 0.2 percent below 2011 levels, based on year-to-date numbers through November, according to the report.

“On the other hand, the household survey, which includes the self-employed, shows employment of residents was up 1.4 percent,” the report said. “The payroll figures, however, are considered to provide a more accurate assessment of trends within establishments.”

Mississippi’s unemployment rate ticked up to 8.6 percent in December from 8.5 percent in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, matching Connecticut and Georgia for the eighth-highest unemployment rate among the states.

The BLS said the unemployment rate rose because the state’s labor force increased faster than people found jobs. Mississippi reported 115,000 unemployed people in December, up from 113,000 in November, but down from 141,000 in December 2011.

What decline the state has seen in its jobless rate can be attributed in part to Mississippians retiring or giving up the job search, the BLS says.

Among business sectors where payrolls fell in Mississippi in December were trade, transportation and utilities; leisure and hospitality; construction; manufacturing and government. The professional and business service sector posted a healthy gain, though, and also rising were education and health services and financial activities, the Associated Press reported last week in its analysis of the BLS data.

For the year, however, transportation and utilities showed the strongest gains among business sectors, according to the Outlook report. Those sectors grew an estimated 4 percent, and in health care and social assistance and mining and logging all grew about 2.2 percent. Manufacturing employment rose 1.1 percent for the year, with durables manufacturing up 2.2 percent, based on the November data, the IHL report said.

The remaining major sectors employed fewer workers in 2012 than in 2011, including government (down 0.2 percent, construction (down 6.3 percent, trade (down 1.4 percent), leisure and hospitality (down 0.7 percent) and business and professional (down 1.8 percent.

Overall, employment in 2012 was about 5.5 percent lower than at the start of the recession in 2007, the state economists reported.

That assessment followed a November forecast by IHL economists that the state will be nearing the end of this decade before job numbers in manufacturing, leisure & hospitality and several other sectors returns to the pre-recession levels of 200.

The November report noted Mississippi’s businesses have not performed as well as their counterparts nationally in the recession years, having recorded bankruptcies at twice the national rate in the previous decade.

“The recent recession makes clear that the economic landscape in the state has changed,” said Hill, the economist for the IHL. “Data indicate that the skill and resource deficits here are limiting the ability of smaller firms to survive and thrive as market realities change.”

Business bankruptcies rose 129 percent in Mississippi between 2000 and 2010, versus an increase of 60 percent in the United States as a whole, she said.

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Mississippi Business Journal

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ENERGY

Twin Creeks building likely to draw buyer interest

>> It could be difficult to sell the abandoned solar panel manufacturing equipment, energy expert says

By TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Renewed demand for manufacturing space â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially for a facility equipped to take in immense amounts of electrical power â&#x20AC;&#x201D; makes the soon-to-be-vacated Twin Creeks Technologies building in Senatobia a strong bet to attract a buyer or tenant.

So say economic development specialists and real estate professionals in assessing the future of the 85,000-square-foot solar-panel plant built with a $16-million loan from the Mississippi Development Authority.

The MDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bet on Twin Creeks went south after the California-based start-up company failed to reach market with its solar photovoltaic panels. A Boston company that bought Twin Creeks' assets won't take over its agreement with Mississippi, the Associated Press reports.

Twin Creeks had agreed to invest at least $132 million and create at least 500 jobs in exchange for loans, tax breaks and other aid.

While the likelihood is strong the state can find a buyer or tenant for the Twin Creeks plant, the approximately $10 million in specialized manufacturing equipment is unlikely to draw much interest, said Ed Bee, a New Orleans-based certified economic development specialist who specializes in the energy sector.

In selling or leasing the building and seeking a buyer for Twin Creeksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; equipment, Mississippi must compete with other failed solar plants and equipment on the market, said Bee, president and founder of Taimerica Management Co. For instance, Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Schott Solar is shopping a fully equipped 200,000square-foot factory it opened in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2009 but abruptly closed in July. The plant employed 250 people and had been expected to grow its workforce to around 500. It made PV and concentrating solar power modules and components. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They probably have the same situation you have in Mississippi,â&#x20AC;? Bee said, referring to New Mexico economic development recruiters who provided Schott with $16 million or so in infrastructure improvements as an incentive for opening the plant.

It will be a challenge for both Schott and the MDA to find takers for their abandoned solar panel manufacturing equipment, Bee said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of remote, unless you just basically give it away.â&#x20AC;?

On the other hand, the Senatobia building should draw ample interest, Bee said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There could be a real demand for the building.

There is a real shortage of good quality industrial buildings around the Southeast.â&#x20AC;?

The new user need not be in the solar power business, he noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The opportunity for marketing the building for some alternative users could be pretty strong.â&#x20AC;?

The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to accommodate a huge amount of power usage makes it especially attractive, according to Bee. With the recession, very few buildings of the kind built for Twin Creeks have been constructed in recent years, creating a dearth of inventory, he said.

Bee added the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 85,000-squarefoot size adds to its attractiveness, with current demand being strongest for buildings sized from 60,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet.

Its proximity to Interstate 55 and approximate 30-mile distance to Memphis International Airport further increase its appeal, he said.

Senatobia Mayor Alan Callicott said he thinks the building will get a lot of interest and noted having Northwest Mississippi Community College as a resource for training a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workers should add to the appeal.

Though custom-made for solar panel manufacturing, the building â&#x20AC;&#x153;is perfectâ&#x20AC;? for just about any kind of technology company, Callicott said.

A group of business people from San Francisco noted that potential on a visit a couple of weeks ago to look over the Twin Creeks equipment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They were standing in the lobby and looked around and said Hewlett-Packard could move in here next week.â&#x20AC;?

Callicott said he thinks the highest and best use would be a single user rather than several tenants sharing the building.

Patrick Burke, a senior vice president with the CB Richard Ellis commercial real estate firm in Memphis, is marketing a nearby 200,000-square-foot BMW parts distribution center. Interest in industrial space overall has picked up in the past six months, he said, but added prospects want lease discounts and other incentives.

The MDA or Senatobia may have to put more incentives on the table to attract a user, Burke predicted.

The main thing, though, is that national and international manufacturers seem to be on the hunt for space, he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are ready to do business, based on the interest weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had.â&#x20AC;?

Lee Katz, an Atlanta-based specialist in finding buyers for distressed commercial properties, said he thinks the â&#x20AC;&#x153;real estate funkâ&#x20AC;? of the past four to five years is slowly lifting. Though it is still difficult to find takers for large vacant properties, â&#x20AC;&#x153;for the right price there are people who are interested,â&#x20AC;?

said Katz, chairman of turnaround firm Grisanti, Galef & Goldress.

Katz, who is marketing the vacant Roberts Walthall Hotel in downtown Jackson, said dollars unavailable to buyers four years ago are now available. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a matter of finding the right match,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some very good mortgage financing is out there.â&#x20AC;?

While Callicott may have his fingers crossed that another solar panel maker will take over the Twin Creekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plant, Taimericaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bee would advise him not to get his

hopes too high.

The sector is in a sustained slump that has pushed down both demand and prices for its products, he said, citing the low cost of natural gas and the emergence of converting shale oil to crude as a viable option.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, the Chinese are undercutting prices worldwide, added Bee. A few years ago when Mississippi and others made their bets on solar, everyone expected the per watt price to go from $7 to $15, Bee said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Instead, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now going for $3.â&#x20AC;?

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January 25, 2013

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MBJPERSPECTIVE

January 25, 2013 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

OUR VIEW

Jobs — not disunion — are what Mississippians value

O

le Miss has its black bear. Not to be outdone, the Governor’s Office has its pander bear.

What besides a pander to the “civil-war-is-around-the corner “ crowd could be behind Gov. Phil Bryant’s order to his lieutenants in the Legislature to adopt measures that have their foundation in the long-discredited mid19th century idea of state nullification of federal laws?

President Obama has vowed to initiate gun control measures he says are designed to prevent a repeat of the mass slayings that have occurred across the United States in re-

cent months. In the best tradition of the Mississippi of 150 years ago, Bryant is fighting back with a cry for disunion.

How’d that turn out for Mississippi back in the day, Governor?

In his directive to legislators to enact laws intended to free Mississippi from federal dictates, Republican Bryant said he was acting in anticipation of Obama issuing executive orders to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

“I am asking that you immediately pass legislation that would make any unconstitutional order by the President illegal to enforce in Mississippi by state or local law

>> CHUCK MCINTOSH

See VIEW, Page 8

>> OTHER VIEWS

Getting a hold on many antiquated laws

MELISSA KILLINGSWORTH Sr. Account Executive melissa.harrison@msbusiness.com • 364-1030

ASHLEY VARNES Account Executive ashley.varnes@msbusiness.com • 364-1013

M

VIRGINIA HODGES Account Executive virginia.hodges@msbusiness.com • 364-1012

The hot potato that is charter school legislation is now in the hands of the Mississippi House of Representatives.

The Mississippi Senate passed its version of charter school legislation in a vote that went along party lines, for the most part. The 31-17 vote had the unanimous support of Senate Republicans, with only a couple of Democrats voting with the majority.

The House’s version of charter school legislation will likely be less sweeping and more contested.

Allowing charter schools in only under-performing districts has met opposition from Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves who has openly thrown his support behind charter schools expansion. ...

In 2012, the House charter schools bill died in committee. But Chism said Speaker of the House Philip Gunn’s decision to remove state Rep. Linda Wittington, D-Schlater, from the education committee in November could be the key to the bill making it onto the floor. ...

ississippi’s law books are filled with antiquated, head-scratcher laws. Some are unusual and obscure in their very existence; others attract attention into their baffling absence or omission.

Currently, state law prohibits county sheriff's deputies from using radar speed detection devices to enforce speed violations on county roadways.

Sheriff’s associations have lobbied for years to have the law changed to allow the use of radar.

Such a change seems not only logical, but highly needed.

Adams County residents who regularly travel the county “highways” such as Liberty Road, Kingston Road or Hutchins Landing Road (among others) know that the remote locations can bring out the inner NASCAR driver in some people.

In most cases, sheriff’s deputies are pretty powerless to do anything about speeders beyond effectively shaking their finger at them, an indistinguishable action as motorists whiz past.

One of our local legislators, Rep. Robert L. Johnson III, seems to be intent on changing the law. He introduced HB 278, which would allow the use of radar by county sheriffs in some Mississippi counties.

Unfortunately, Johnson appears to have forgotten the community he represents since his bill allows radar only from Mississippi’s largest counties, by population. Adams County’s population is far below the 95,000-citizen minimum required by Johnson’s bill.

It’s the right idea, but too restrictive.

We urge Johnson and other state lawmakers to work quickly to give sheriff deputies — in all Mississippi counties — the tools they need to protect the public from its heavy-footed element.

— Columbus Commercial Dispatch

— Natchez Democrat

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enforcement,” Bryant wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who are also Republicans.

The Associated Press reported that Bryant said in the letter that he believes any guncontrol executive order by Obama “infringes our constitutional right to keep and bear arms as never before in American history.”

Mississippi resisted federal authority to enforce voting rights and racial integration during the civil rights era, but Bryant wants to avoid any comparison now.

More on charter schools

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A member of the Mississippi Press Association and the Alliance of Area Business Publications www.mspress.org www.bizpubs.org

January 25, 2013 ■ Mississippi Business Journal

■

>> RICKY NOBILE >> MIND OVER MONEY

Public service not a service to the public

I

>>VIEW FROM THE STENNIS INSTITUTE

The inauguration: Celebrating our American Democracy

I

t is hard not to be a sentimental fool when the opportunity comes to celebrate our American form of government. There is no better time to have such a celebration than a Presidential inauguration.

In many countries a transfer of power or an extension of the term of office of a leader is an opportunity for violence and protracted instability. Not so in an America governed by the world’s oldest constitution.

In the United States each inaugural event, whether as a result of a transfer of power from one party to another or through the re-election of the incumbent, has its unique features. Often, events of the day frame the urgency or the level of celebration associated with the inauguration. This year, Mississippi State University students of the Stennis-Montgomery Association attended their fourth consecutive inaugural — two for Republican George W. Bush and now two for current Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.

The first George W. Bush inaugural was marked by the unbridled enthusiasm of a Republican Party that felt it had enough of the Clinton-style of Democratic Party politics. Add to that the brutal six-week long fight to pry the 2000 election from the jaws of defeat in Florida, and the makings were there for one large celebration. The euphoria was clearly evident throughout the nation’s capital as George W. Bush ushered in an eight-year run in the White House after his narrow Electoral College victory over Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore.

The second Bush inauguration in 2005 was, by comparison,

Marty Wiseman fairly somber given the mood of the public in the post-9/11 world. The attitude was one of anticipating the potential for decades of military action all around the world against an enemy known only be the name of “Terror.” Indeed the “War on Terror,” both militarily and financially, set the stage for the historic election of Democrat Barack Obama in November 2008.

Thus, in the 2009 inaugural Barack Obama became the first African-American President to take up residency in the White House. All previous attendance records were shattered when 1.8 million people attended the inauguration on the National Mall.

Had Obama’s political career ended with that election it might have been passed off as simply a yearning for something unique — a momentary desire for a turn toward something very different from the previous eight years marked by multiple Middle Eastern military actions and a growing financial crisis.

Political thinkers have observed that in many respects Obama’s 2012 re-election by a popular vote majority and the subsequent clear majority of the Electoral College is more significant than the first election. Indeed, it serves as an affirmation by the majority of the nation’s voting public of the programs and policies of Barack Obama’s first-term administration. That President Obama’s re-election took place after four years of facing enormous challenges is testimony to pubSee WISEMAN, Page 8

n the financial business, I act as a fiduciary. That means I am required to always put the interests of my clients first. In doing so, I put my own concerns and interests at the back of the line.

Politicians are public servants. I thought part of the job description was to be a type of fiduciary for the public trust. The question they should ask before each policy vote is, “What is best for my constituents?” Their own job security should be at the back of the line.

Getting re-elected shouldn’t even cross their minds. Instead, public service has morphed into a take-noprisoners climb to the top of the Nancy Anderson garbage heap of public office. Every decision is based on what will get that pol to the next level of the political game. And we all end up losing.

How can this happen in a democracy? Money from groups who don’t have Mississippians’ interests at heart is flowing into campaign chests of local candidates. They dictate positions and insist on allegiance to their objectives. Marketing strategists hold candidates hostage by telling them which votes will win in a 30-second ad and which will bury them.

Just go online and check out the campaign contributor list of your favorite politician. You’ll be shocked. Mississippi money just can’t compete, so voter influence is diminished. And I’m left wondering why anyone should be allowed to contribute to a campaign when they don’t even get to vote in the election.

The end result is a criminal loss of fiduciary duty. So the fight is on over bond issues and health care exchanges and gun control and hurricane relief, and no politician stops to ask, “What is best for my constituents?” They’re not even asking, “What is the right and honorable thing to do?” Their only concern is how to get through the next campaign. Their political ambitions trump public service.

So scream all you want. They can’t even hear you, because you don’t have enough money to get that treasured spot near their ear.

Mississippi deserves better.

Money from groups who don’t have Mississippians’ interests at heart is flowing into campaign chests of local candidates. They dictate positions and insist on allegiance to their objectives.

Nancy Lottridge Anderson, Ph.D., CFA, is president of New Perspectives Inc. in Ridgeland — (601) 991-3158. She is also an assistant professor of finance at Mississippi College.

Her e-mail address is nanderson@newper.com, and her website is www.newper.com.

7

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PERSPECTIVE

PERSPECTIVE

>>PERCOLATING WITH BILL CRAWFORD

WISEMAN

Collins would freeze, not cut, 13th checks for state workers

S

Bill Crawford

tate Sen. Nancy Collins of Tupelo is courageously preparing legislation to address growing financial problems with the state retirement system (PERS).

She said her goal was to start a conversation about PERS’ long-term sustainability. “This is the elephant in the room,” she told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. “We should not be afraid to talk about it.”

Collins proposal would implement many of the recommendations made by the PERS Study Commission appointed by former Gov. Haley Barbour, including freezing retirees’ annual cost of living adjustments (COLA) for three years.

While many state legislators will privately admit to growing concerns about PERS, few have had the courage to do so publicly, much less prepare legislation.

Why do this?

The answer starts with unconstitutional actions by the Legislature and the PERS board in 1999. Here is what PERS executive director Pat Robertson wrote in a special report “Are Mississippi’s public retirement plans secure:” “Benefit improvements were enacted in 1999 without a funding mechanism in place other than the expectation of continued investment gains. Since June 30, 1998, PERS’ accrued liabilities have more than doubled, due to growth in the number of retirees, improved mortality and the compounding effect of benefit improvements.”

“Without a funding mechanism” means in violation of Section 272(A)(2) of the Mississippi Constitution enacted at the request of state retirees in 1986: “Legislation shall not be enacted increasing benefits under the

Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) and the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System in any manner unless funds are available therefor, or unless concurrent provisions are made for funding any such increase in accordance with a prior certification of the cost by the board of trustees of the systems based on accepted actuarial standards.”

Not only were benefit improvements enacted without funding, they were backdated at no cost to participants.

The answer continues with the disturbing financial consequences of these unconstitutional actions. Despite increasing what employers pay (i.e., taxpayers) from 9.75 percent to 15.75 percent and employees pay from 7.25 percent to 9 percent, PERS’ funded levels have plummeted from 85 percent to 58 percent since 1998.

Collins proposal says retirees, the ones getting the unconstitutional extra benefits, should help pay, too. She proposes no cuts to benefits or 13th checks… just no increases for three years, a huge savings for PERS. Some claim Collins’ bill would result in numerous lawsuits.

Frankly, few retirees should want to risk putting the constitutionality of their benefits before a judge just to prevent a temporary freeze in COLA increases. The PERS Study Commission Legal Committee, which included a former Supreme Court Justice and retirement plan legal expert, advised that future COLAs, unlike earned benefits, may be changed for existing retirees.

Nancy Collins, you got grit girl.

>> HOW TO WRITE

>> All letters are subject to editing, and become the property of the Mississippi Business Journal. >> Letters can be sent to The Editor, The Mississippi Business Journal, 200 North Congress, Suite 400, Jackson, MS 39201, delivered to the newspaper during regular business hours or e-mailed to editor@msbusiness.com. They may also be faxed to Ross Reily at (601)364-1007.

Letters to the editor are one of the most widely read features of the Mississippi Business Journal, and they give everyone a chance to voice their opinions about current affairs. We’re interested in what you think and we welcome Letters to the Editor for publication. Here are the guidelines: >> Letters should not exceed 300 words in length as a general rule. >> All letters must bear the writer’s address and telephone number. Street addresses and telephone numbers will not be published, but may be used for verification purposes. Letters may not appear without the author’s name. >> Form letters, thank you letters and letters to third parties generally are not acceptable. >> Letters must be typed or e-mailed. >> Letters must conform to good taste, not be libelous and not involve personal attacks on other persons.

VIEW

Continued from Page 6

“We were going the other direction then. We were saying, ‘We’re standing against the federal government’s authority to provide civil liberties,’” Bryant said in response to reporters’ questions at the Capitol. “And what we’re doing now is saying, ‘We’re standing against the federal government taking away our civil liberties.’

“There is a distance between the east and the west on this.

And so any association with that, I believe, is baseless.”

What?

No, sir, the comparison is hardly baseless. In both instances, Mississippi is ignoring what the rest of America elected its leaders to do.

Bill Crawford (crawfolk@gmail.com) is a syndicated columnist from Meridian.

>> CORRECTIONS The Mississippi Business Journal takes seriously its responsibility to provide accurate information, and will correct or clarify articles produced by the editorial department if we have made an error or published misleading information. The correction will be placed in the perspective section.

If you see inaccuracies in Mississippi Business Journal news stories, please report the mistake via e-mail at editor@msbusiness.com.

Here’s another comparison Gov. Bryant isn’t going to like: The governors who have come before him in the last decade-and-a-half have done much better at job creation than he has. Even as the Great Recession has lifted, Mississippi has failed to show any momentum in job growth.

In fact, the job picture has worsened under Bryant’s watch the past 12 months.

These are findings contained in the January Economic Outlook issued this week by state economists with the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Payroll employment in Mississippi in 2012, estimated at 1.09 million, dropped to its lowest level since 1996. Recent improvement in jobs numbers still leaves 2012 employment about 5.5 percent lower than at the start of the recession in 2007 and slightly lower than in 2011.

Continued from Page 7

lic belief in Obama’s ability to continue to successfully fight the nation’s problems.

The 2013 inaugural carried with it an additional air that was unmistakable. One could easily sense the chests of our nation’s AfricanAmerican community swelling with pride — pride of totally belonging and the pride of a multi-generational struggle for equality and inclusion that has been a success.

By coincidence of the calendar, the 2013 inauguration took place on the Monday that is federally designated as the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King’s life. Simultaneously being celebrated in Washington was the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves in the midst of the Civil War, the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, whose eternally famous “I Have a Dream” speech occurred 50 years ago in the March on Washington and the inauguration reaffirming the work of the nation’s first African-American President.

The National Mall stretches from the steps of the Capitol to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Any who have walked it remember that trek as a long, yet exhilarating, one. It covers hallowed ground that has hosted many a celebration and an equal number of 1st amendment-protected protests. That famous speech by Dr. King was delivered 50 years ago from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Barack Obama made his commitment to a second and final term as President from the south steps of the Capitol at the opposite end of that great expanse of Democracy.

Thus, in addition to the myriad of problems currently facing the nation’s decision makers the 2013 inauguration was characterized by the celebration of three landmark events in American as well as African-American history. No doubt some heard the echoes of Dr. King’s speech about his “Dream” meeting the eloquently delivered words of President Barack Obama somewhere above the National Mall.

The acknowledgment of the confluence of these events hopefully means that an important page has been turned in the relationships among all Americans.

Dr. William Martin Wiseman is director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government and professor of political science at Mississippi State University. Contact him at marty@sig.msstate.edu.

That’s a harsh critique of the governor’s job performance but you recall he promised to put Mississippians back to work if we would only give him the job he so coveted.

If Bryant wants to keep that promise, the best advice we can give is to spend a lot more effort on creating prosperity than thinking of ways to separate Mississippi from the rest of the country.

And it could serve the first term governor well to remember the words fellow Republican George W. Bush spoke to America upon his first presidential election after a bitter recount fight: “Remember, what unites us is far greater than what divides us.”

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8 ■ Mississippi Business Journal ■ January 25, 2013

Our name says it all.

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South Pointe in Clinton is one of the front-running prospects for the new home of the Mississippi Department of Revenue.

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FRANK BROWN / The Mississippi Business Journal

True South sponsorship consortium back on board but at least one more sponsor needed Page 11 to ensure event returns in 2013

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BANKING AND FINANCE

Regions’ earnings beat estimates as net interest margin widens Regions Financial (RF) reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as its net interest margin, a gauge of lending profitability, widened, Bloomberg reports.

Net income was $265 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with a loss of $548 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, when the lender posted a non-cash charge tied to the sale of the Morgan Keegan brokerage, the Birminghambased bank said last Tuesday in a statement.

Excluding some one-time items, profit was 22 cents, compared with the 21-cent average estimate of 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Regions’ net interest margin, the difference between what it pays on deposits and charges for loans, widened to 3.1 percent from 3.08 percent in both the third quarter and a year earlier. told investors in November the bank’s margin could widen or narrow by two basis points. Loan growth is expected to be in the low single digits in 2013, Regions said Tuesday in a slide presentation.

— Ted Carter / MBJ staff

EDUCATION

Jackson State to open satellite campus in Madison MADISON — Jackson State University will enroll students at its new 8,600-square-foot campus in Madison as early as this summer.

The move to expand the historically black university into the predominantly white city of Madison is intended in part to help reach the school’s goal of more diversity among its students.

The state College Board recently approved JSU’s 10-year lease agreement for the space.

Eric Stringfellow, JSU communications director, says the new campus will focus on serving students who benefit from evening and weekend classes, such as those who also have full- or part-time jobs and are seeking to complete a degree.

GULF COAST

Trucking exec, 70, arrested for domestic violence BILOXI — Authorities say a South Mississippi businessman who has received more than $75 million in federal funds for construction work at the state Port of Gulfport has been arrested on cocaine and domestic assault charges.

W.C. “Cotton” Fore, W.C. Fore Trucking, was arrested outside the Palace Casino. Fore’s lawyer, Tim Holleman, says Fore is innocent and he looks forward to trying the case in court.

— staff and MBJ wire services

STRICTLY BUSINESS COLUMBUS

HEALTH

Alcorn County to build year-round farmers market CORINTH — Alcorn County is getting a yearround farmer’s market.

The board of the Fulton Drive farmer’s market, where a covered shed is soon to be constructed, has set up operating rules for the site.

The decision to move to a 12-month market reflects increasing availability of some crops.

“We do have some individuals that are growing hot house tomatoes. They’ve got tomatoes as we speak,” said Patrick Poindexter, county director for the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

The board also established a permit fee of $25 for producers to participate in the market yearround. The board is also requiring producers to be residents of Alcorn, Tishomingo, Prentiss or Tippah counties. Tennessee counties are excluded.

At the Shiloh Road market, the fee remains $10.

The year-round market could open up new sales for growers.

ON CAMPUS

“This will give farmers and producers the opportunity to market their vegetables throughout the year,” said Poindexter. “We’re looking forward to a good growing year this year.”

The current rules will continue for the Shiloh Road market, which will still open from May to November.

The Alcorn County Board of Supervisors recently approved construction of a covered shed for the Fulton Drive market.

— staff and MBJ wire services

Convention center to get $2M makeover A $2 million-plus renovation of the Trotter Convention Center will begin later this year, city officials say.

Work on the city-owned building could take up to two years.

Mayor Robert Smith said initial work will be done on the interior, including installing Wi-Fi, upgrading restrooms, installing a new elevator from the Second Avenue North entrance and installing a new sound system and lighting.

Exterior improvements include redoing copper awnings, installing restrooms in the courtyard and adding benches.

The center was created in 1983 by an act of the Mississippi Legislature to serve Lowdnes County.

Funding for the renovations will come from a tax agreement between the city and Columbus Light and Water. The city will pay back $200,000 a year for 20 years on the project.

— staff and MBJ wire services

All Things Money to feature MEC’s Wilson

CREATIVE ECONOMY

Entrepreneurs will hear from one of the top economic development officials in the state at the All Things Money Conference set for Wednesday, Jan. 30. The program will be held at East Mississippi Community College’s Douglas Building Lyceum from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Blake Wilson, president and CEO of the Mississippi Economic Council, will be the keynote speaker, and he will address potential effects that Wilson recent decisions in Washington may have on Mississippi business.

The purpose of the conference is to build understanding and awareness among entrepreneurs as to funding programs, grants, tax obligations, credit resources and wealth management. Information will be geared toward a better understanding of how to finance small businesses, meeting financial obligations and funding nonprofits.

Daryl Roth Productions is developing a live theater version of John Grisham’s book A Time to Kill, and the New York City production company has told the Mississippi Business Journal that the play will be coming to Broadway for the first time this fall.

The original play by Tonywinning director Rupert Holmes premiered at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in 2011 and tells the story of a young Mississippi attorney who gets caught up in a small town race war after agreeing to defend a black man in a murder trial.

The Arena Stage cast featured Erin Davie, Dion Graham, Rosie Benton, Brennan Brown, Jeffrey Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock from the movie version of A Time To Kill.

M. Bender, Trena Bolden Fields, Jonathan Lincoln Fried, Deborah Hazlett, Joe Isenberg, Chike Johnson, Michael Marcan, Hugh Nees, Evan Thompson and John C. Vennema.

A Time to Kill was Grisham’s first legal thriller and was also made into a 1996 film directed by Joel Shumacher. The movie was filmed in Mississippi and starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson.

BUSINESS EDUCATION

MSU online engineering program ranked No. 12 STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University is listed in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report rankings on the nation’s colleges, getting especially high marks for online engineering and business graduate programs.

The university’s James Worth Bagley College of Engineering ranks No. 12 among the 2013 Best Online Graduate Engineering Programs and also ranks No. 12 among the Best Online Graduate

“A Time to Kill” play is headed to Broadway

— Stephen McDill / MBJ staff Computer Information Technology Programs, which includes Bagley programs in computer science and electrical and computer engineering.

The College of Business also earned a No. 38 rank for Best Online Graduate Business Programs.

Additionally, MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine is listed No. 23 among the top ranks for graduate schools.

Other MSU rankings include the Bagley College of Engineering’s placement among best graduate school rankings with the biological/agricultural engineering program at No. 19; the industrial engineering program at No. 48; and the aerospace

engineering program at No. 49.

For this year’s rankings, statistical information was collected from July 2011 to June 2012. The remaining data was compiled in the summer and fall of 2012.

Established in 1933, U.S. News & World Report releases annual rankings of universities and individual academic programs from across the country. To access the complete rankings or find more information about U.S. News and World Report, visit www.usnews.com.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

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10 ■ Mississippi Business Journal ■ January 25, 2013

AN MBJ FOCUS:

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROFILE

‘I love Mississippi’

>> MDA’s Marlo Dorsey faces biggest marketing task in the state

By BECKY GILLETTE I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

M

ARLO DORSEY, who stepped into the job as chief marketing director of the Mississippi Development Authority in early December, has hit the ground running in a job that remained vacant for more than a year. That has led to a backlog of demand for decisions on how to best market Mississippi.

“Now, every time I see someone at MDA, people need help,” Dorsey said.

“That’s fine, and I love it.”

Dorsey has a background as a successful Internet entrepreneur, working for 10 years as CEO of Cybergate Internet Services, which provided Internet services to the Pine Belt region until it was sold in 2008. She was a volunteer economic development leader, including serving as president of the Economic Development Authority of Jones County. And as vice president of marketing for Jones County Junior College, she was part of a team responsible for the college’s publications, websites and public relations efforts.

“I followed the model used in my private business experience at JCJC, and it really worked out well,” Dorsey said. “My time at JCJC helped prepare me for my present job because I learned about how important education is, why we need a skilled workforce, the importance of community involvement, and what we must have in the state to be successful.”

Dorsey has a long list of “to do” items in her new job. One is to make sure that people know about the state’s positive business climate.

“I love Mississippi,” she said. “I love what I do. It is my job to get everyone else excited about getting a job here, living here, and doing a business here.”

One of her top priorities is improving MDA’s website and social media offerings.

“It is the 21st century, and we know that means we live in a global digital age,” said

‘At any given moment, someone from anywhere in the world could be looking at us online. We have to effectively position ourselves to a number of different audiences.’

Marlo Dorsey, MDA chief marketing director Dorsey, who has a degree in broadcast journalism from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Canyon College. “Online marketing is certainly a very dynamic environment. We have to be effectively marketing Mississippi 24/7. At any given moment, someone from anywhere in the world could be looking at us online. We have to effectively position ourselves to a number of different audiences.”

She considers a top priority providing information on the website about MDA’s offerings to help existing industry in the state continue to be successful. That is in addition to putting forth a web presence that showcases the state’s competitive business climate and workforce training capacities to new prospects.

“The website and materials need to detail the benefits of doing business in Mississippi,” Dorsey said. “We are not only trying to attract businesses domestically, but internationally. We may be asleep while Japanese companies are looking at our website. We need to make a conscious decision that we will be dynamic in our marketing to stay competitive on that level. I have to be very mindful of that. We always have to be in presentation mode so anyone can look at our website any time and see our competitive advantage.”

Currently MDA is in the strategy mode developing a plan to improve the quality of the state’s online presence. By the end of the year, she expects to have a new look and new offerings for their website. To accomplish that, stakeholders such as local devel-

opment officials and site consultants will be involved in a discussion about what tools would make it easier to do their jobs.

“And we will work with other state agencies to see what needs they have,” said Dorsey. “This will be a collaborative and comprehensive effort. People expect the latest information at their fingertips to find the results they are looking for. We need to be very mindful of that. Over the next six months, that will be a big priority for me.”

The work will include not just the main website, but micro sites that effectively target micro industries. An example is MDA’s aerospace micro site.

“We have had a lot of success in our aerospace sector,” Dorsey said. “For example, we recently had the Aurora Flight ribbon cutting.”

Dorsey said they want more video content on the website, and want that easily found through search engines. They might consider YouTube videos that provide vignettes in areas like aerospace, infrastructure and transportation.

They will also be working on honing an effective social media strategy. The goal is to get key announcements out to stakeholders and let Mississippians know all the positive things going on in the state.

“We are looking at strategies to see how we can do that,” Dorsey said. “We are studying what other states do, and also training our staff so we can have a strategy about how to implement that. We know there are right and wrong ways to use social media. We are gung ho about using social

media, but we want to use it effectively. We want people trained properly and the program implemented the right way. We also want to partner with other states agencies and be collaborative with groups such as the Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Municipal Association and the Mississippi Tourism Association. We want to be partners with their success online.”

Dorsey said print advertising will remain a significant way to communicate their message. Coming up soon will be an insert showcasing successes in Mississippi featured in Fortune magazine. That will be in both the print and online editions of Fortune.

“We might be reaching a different market with online Fortune users as opposed to those who get the magazine in the mail,” Dorsey said. “The cross marketing mix is definitely something we are looking at. We want to make sure we are reaching people on multi-levels. We will continue to use print advertising as long as it is giving us the results we need. A printed publication can be picked up and read by multiple people. We do live in an instant age, but we want our message to have lasting value, and not be gone in a blip.”

Dorsey recognizes the challenges of doing more at a time when the economy in the state is still recovering. But she is looking forward to guiding the state’s strategies for actively marketing Mississippi in all the available media.

“That means we have to be on our toes,” Dorsey said. “We have to be trained and communicating effectively not only within our agency, but with all our partners. It makes for a very fast-paced, but fun environment.”

Dorsey was valedictorian of South Terrebonne High School, Houma, La. A graduate of Leadership Mississippi and Leadership Jones County, she has served on the Leadership Mississippi Advisory Board. She and her husband, Christopher Dorsey, have two children. Their daughter, Peyton, is 15, and their son, Carson, is 10.

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January 25, 2013 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

THE GRAMMY MUSEUM

GRAMMY

And the reward goes to ...

Cleveland

The museum site is on the front green of the DSU golf course where there’s direct highway access. That part of the golf course will be relocated to the back side of the course.

>> Grammy Museum is expected to bring an economic boom to the Mississippi Delta

By LYNN LOFTON I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

The first Grammy Museum outside Los Angeles is coming to Cleveland, and with it comes an economic boom for Cleveland, Bolivar County and the Delta. With a goal of raising $15 million and getting the project completed in the next 24 months, hopes are high.

“The fund raising is going quite well,” said Allan Hammons, project consultant of Hammons and Associates in Greenwood.

“It’s an ambitious project but we’re well on our way.”

Hammons, who was involved in the development and building of the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, has been involved in economic development for decades and doesn’t view the Grammy Museum any differently from chasing smoke stacks.

“The B.B. King Museum is the best barometer of how the Grammy Museum will help the area,” he said. “Since the museum opened in Indianola, tourism is up 20 points there and six new restaurants have opened.”

He says there’s no doubt the Grammy Museum will have the same kind of impact on Cleveland. The two music museums along with the Blues Trail and Country Music Trail — along with Graceland in Memphis — will create a synergistic destination for music lovers.

“All the Delta mayors are excited about this because we have so many attractions that can work together,” says Cleveland Mayor Billy Nowell. “We want to get traveling people to stop and see what we have here.”

Nowell, in his fourth year as mayor, predicts sales tax growth will be tremendous for the city. The city has committed $3 million to the project, the county and state have each committed $1 million, and to date $2 million has been raised locally from other sources.

“We’re elated and there’s a ground swell of support for this project,” he said.

The Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce has begun discussing committees that will be needed when the museum opens. “We’re excited and we’re all in,” said executive director Judson Thigpen. “We’ve seen ourselves losing some of See

GRAMMY, Page 13

January 25, 2013

Continued from Page 12

the traffic driving down from Memphis, but we’ll be able to capture some of it with the museum. New people will be coming and we’ll be a destination.”

Thigpen sees the museum as a tremendous opportunity to get traffic off U.S. Highway 61 to downtown Cleveland.

Organizers involved with fund raising are making calls on private investors and corporations. Lucy Janoush, president of the Cleveland Music Foundation, said, “So far no one has told us no. This museum will be a part of culture and heritage tourism and will add an international piece to our pie, giving people a reason to spend the night here.”

The Foundation was set up to build the museum and will serve as its governing board. Janoush also points out the educational opportunities the museum will afford. “There will be opportunities for students at all levels; the possibilities are unlimited,” she said.

The Delta Music Institute at Delta State University has the state’s only accredited program in recording technology and is under the direction of Tricia Walker, a Grammy-winning song writer. Hammons says the Institute and its program struck a chord with the Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles. Music interns from Los Angeles

■

Mississippi Business Journal

Interior and exterior artist sketches courtesy of The Grammy Museum Mississippi

13

The awards are ...

This year’s Grammy Awards are Feb. 10 in Los Angeles and will be televised by CBS. will visit Cleveland and vice versa.

“Mississippi’s level of creativity has had a profound effect on American music,” he said. “There’s really something going on here. Our rich history in blues, rock-n-roll and country music has been a major influence on recording artists past and present.”

Gallagher and Associates of Silver Spring, Md., was selected to do the museum’s exhibit design. This firm designed the B.B. King Museum, the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and recently did work at the World War II Museum in New Orleans.

The architectural firms of Dale & Associates of Jackson and Elay + Barkley of Cleveland will handle design for the site and building. The museum site is on the front green of the DSU golf course where there’s direct highway access. This part of the golf course will be relocated to mitigated acres on the back side of the course.

Hammons said the Institutions of Higher Learning Board has signed the agreement.

Members of the museum group from Mississippi will have their first meeting with the Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles on Feb. 7 to review plans.

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■

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12 ■ Mississippi Business Journal ■ January 25, 2013

CREATE ‘about quality of life’

>> CREATE Foundation on trajectory toward $100 million in assets appears in the newspaper,” Clayborne said.

The story goes that “George bought a bankrupt newspaper from a bankrupt bank and turned a struggling operation into a pretty successful enterprise,” Clayborne said.

In his inaugural address of CREATE’s charter meeting in January 1972, McLean said, “The major emphasis must be on the development of people, not on constructing buildings or other materials things.

CREATE Inc. is not a Community Chest.

Its funds and efforts are not to be dissipated in unplanned, disconnected charities.”

CREATE is the acronym for Christian Research Education Action Technical Enterprises, but the wordy and somewhat confusing name isn’t used anymore. Its original purpose, however, has not changed.

The mission statement has four goals: build permanent endowment assets, encourage philanthropy, strengthen regional development and take the lead on key community issues.

CREATE originally encompassed the Daily Journal’s 15-county circulation area.

Oktibbeha County was added in 2001 and Lowndes County in November 2012.

“Our basic mission is to improve the quality of life of people of Northeast Mississippi in those 17 counties we cover,” said Clayborne.

Today, the foundation has more than 600 funds to which donors can contribute, including endowment funds, donor advised funds and special project funds.

“The CREATE Foundation is more about quality of life than economic devel-

By LISA MONTI I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

The 40-year-old nonprofit CREATE Foundation has experienced tremendous growth in the last eight years, when its assets more than doubled from $30 million to about $64.5 million at the end of 2012.

Driving the growth is Toyota’s $50million endowment as well as CREATE’s successful challenge grant matches in the 17-county region where the nonprofit is engaged.

“It’s kind of phenomenal,” CREATE president Mike Clayborne said, adding that with some recent substantial endowments, the foundation is on a trajectory for more growth.

“With the Toyota gift and others, we expect to have over $100 million in assets within five years,” Clayborne said. “There certainly are a lot larger foundations around the country but we’re proud of the fact that we were the first community foundation in Mississippi and are still the largest in Mississippi.”

The foundation was established in 1972 in Tupelo by George and Keirsey McLean. George McLean was editor and publisher of the Tupelo Daily Journal, now the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. The paper’s owner, Journal Inc., also owns the Mississippi Business Journal.

When McLean died, all of the Journal newspaper stock was given to the CREATE Foundation. “But we don’t have anything to do with running the paper or what

opment,” said Clayborne.

By far the largest impact on CREATE’s assets is Toyota’s Education Enhancement Endowment Fund.

When the automaker located in the region, it made a 10-year $50 million commitment to education through CREATE, which so far has received three $5-million contributions. The endowment will enhance public education in Pontotoc, Union and Lee counties, which came together to locate the Toyota plant in Blue Springs.

Retired Toyota executive David Copenhaver, a member of the fund’s advisory committee, said the fund finances innovative projects and collaborative efforts in the three counties “that each would not be able to do by themselves.”

Initiatives include training for administrators and curriculum development.

The fund’s major initiative is the creation of the Wellspring Center for Professional Futures where high school students will learn about various careers through innovative experiences.

“It will expose sophomores, juniors and seniors to different professions by handson learning,” he said.

A smaller yet still major boost in CREATE’s asset growth has been $1.5 million in challenge grants to community foundations funded equally by the Journal Inc. and Keirsey McLean’s estate. So far 12 counties have accepted the challenge of raising $2 to match every dollar up to $100,000 granted by CREATE. “There is already $5 million in endow-

ment funds for those counties. It makes charitable giving more local but also involves a much broader range of people in understanding how permanent assets can be built for the benefit of their county,” Clayborne said.

In the area of regional development, CREATE formed the Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi in 1995 to “create regional unity and identify issues of common interests to all counties we cover and develop strategies of how to address those issues or some problem in the region.”

Issues include everything from highway construction to leadership development, Clayborne said.

The overall focus of the commission is to improve per capita income. “The primary way to do that is through raising the educational attainment level so that has been our focus,” Lewis Whitfield, senior vice president of CREATE, said.

Members have focused on dropout prevention, early childhood education and spearheading the drive for tuition free community college enrollment for high school graduates. “That’s been one of the things we’re most proud of,” Whitfield said.

Clayborne said he couldn’t overstate how important the work of the commission has been in bringing people together in the region.

“It has created a climate that’s seen other regional collaboration as a result,” he said.

“Mr. McLean’s vision for CREATE was always to be a regional organization.”

CREATE Foundation 2000-2012 Scorecard 2000

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Percentage Change From 2000

Percentage Change From 2011

$28,308,904

$50,680,684

$40,005,185

$44,144,381*

$53,723,287*

$56,489,923*

$64,560,166

128%

14%

$2,234,555 $ 1,747,212

$5,197,226 $4,285,769

$3,239,825 $3,733,403

$5,277,037 $3,993,176

$12,647,155 $7,667,602

$9,659,149 $5,969,016

$9,042,406 $4,639,507

305% 166%

-06% -22%

36 11 $3,770,948

92 18 $18,205,435

98 6 $12,895,971

113 15 $16,968,962

127** 16 $25,607,821

135 8 $28,958,847

144 9 $36,713,754

300%

7%

874%

27%

Donor Advised Funds New

53 16

164 9

168 4

184 16

147** 6

149** 3

157** 8

196%

5%

Special Projects New

29 10

125 28

143 18

136** 27

166 32

185** 27

207** 21

614%

12%

Assets Contributions Grants Endowment Funds Number New Amount

Additional * Does not include $13.5 Million Pierce and Mize Supporting Organizations. Includes Journal Publishing current assets of $22,440,171 for 2012. **Retired several funds that were inactive or transferred into other funds

Chart courtesy of CREATE

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Document: A018MBJ012513.pdf;Page: 1;Format:(254.00 x 317.50 mm);Plate: Composite;Date: Jan 23, 2013 15:36:51;JPC 72 DPI

ECONOMIC & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS

18 â&#x2013; Mississippi Business Journal â&#x2013; January 25, 2013

January 25, 2013

■

Mississippi Business Journal

■

19

Lassiter made partner

Green made partner

Joffrion replaces Nichols

England succeeds Dobbs

Burr & Forman, LLP has elevated John M. Lassiter of its Jackson office to partner. Lassiter represents clients in a wide variety of corporate litigation matters. His primary experience is in construction litigation for high-end commercial and industrial owners and general contractors. In addition, Lassiter defends banks and other major financial corpo- Lassiter rations, insurance companies, railroad companies and retailers in courts throughout the region.

Joe Green, CPA, has been named partner at HORNE LLP. Green works from the firm’s Ridgeland location where he specializes in assurance advisory services for SEC and large private companies.

Green earned his bachelor of accountancy and master of accountancy from Mississippi State University. He is a member of the American Institute Green of Certified Public Accountants and the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants.

The Gulfport City Council has approved the appointment of Gary Joffrion as the city’s urban development director. The Sun Herald reports Joffrion, an urban development department employee, fills the vacancy left open by David Nichols, who recently became Biloxi’s chief administrative officer.

Trotter chosen as Leader

Association acknowledges Walker

Dr. Leslie England of Natchez has been appointed district health officer for Public Health District VII. Public Health District VII includes Adams, Amite, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson counties. England replaces Dr. Thomas Dobbs who is now the Mississippi State Department of Health’s state epidemiologist.

England received his bachelor of science degree in microbiology in 1971 from Louisiana State University and became a doctor of medicine in 1975 from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He has held many positions in the medical field, including chief of the medical staff, chairman of the board of trustees, editor of the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association and president of the Homochitto Valley Medical Society.

Adams and Reese’s Jackson partner Jeff Trotter has been named a Special Business Services Practice Group Leader. Trotter has expanded the scope of the firm’s oil, gas and energy practice through his work with the Energy and Environmental Team. He also chairs the Technology Committee and serves on the Claims Counsel and Ethics Committees.

Trotter Trotter is listed in Best Lawyers - Energy Law, Environmental Law and Oil and Gas Law. He is a member and former president of the Mississippi Oil and Gas Lawyers Association, member of the Mississippi Association of Petroleum Landmen and an adjunct professor of oil and gas law at Mississippi College School of Law.

Dr. Royal P. Walker Jr., executive director of the University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies, has received the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award presented by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). Walker received the award during AUCD’s 2012 conference held in Washington, D.C. IDS executive director since 2008, Walker has a vast background of experience and training in policy leadership. In addition to his many areas of service and leadership at IDS, in Mississippi and nationally, Walker took the lead in addressing policy change for individuals with disabilities and their families.

In 1997, he developed the Home of Your Own (HOYO) housing program. Walker has been a member of the AUCD board of directors, serving as president in 2006.

Magazine recognizes Beckett Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC attorney P. Ryan Beckett has been named to the PORTICO 10. For the third year, PORTICO magazine has recognized the top 10 outstanding young lawyers in the metro Jackson area who are nominated by their peers and vetted by a panel of judges.

As a member of Butler Snow’s Commercial Litigation Group and Energy Industry Team, Beckett focuses on energy litigation, elections and governmental litigation, and general business and commercial litigation, including antitrust, banking and consumer lending, sales practices, consumer protection and fraud, unfair competition and trade secrets. Over his more than 13 years in practice, Beckett has successfully defended numerous business and commercial cases, obtained favorable verdicts at trial, and successfully handled appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court and United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Beckett is AV-rated by his peers through Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating available, and has been listed for several years as a Mid-South Rising Star in business litigation by Super Lawyers. In 2011, he was named to the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40.

Anderson joins EarthCon Ty Anderson is one of the newest members of EarthCon Consultants Inc.’s Madison office. He joins the firm after a successful eightyear consulting career helping industrial clients in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas and Tennessee. In his new role as EarthCon’s corporate health and safety manager, Anderson will Anderson help clients address a wide range of industrial hygiene and environmental issues.

In addition to his environmental consulting career, Ty is an active member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Deep South Section, Mississippi Engineering Society and Louisiana Engineering Society. He holds bachelor of science in biological engineering from Mississippi State University.

Palmertree to retire McComb schools superintendent Therese Palmertree has announced she will retire July 1. The school board named Palmertree interim superintendent in 2007 and she moved into the job full-time in early 2008. She succeeded Pat Cooper, who had been superintendent of the McComb School District for 10 years and who resigned to go to work in New Orleans schools.

Palmertree had been the school district’s director of curriculum.

She said she would stay beyond July 1 until the district is able to find another superintendent.

Citizens announces changes Kevin Brewer has been promoted to the position of Citizens National Bank’s South Mississippi regional president. Brewer joined the Bank in September 2009 as the Hattiesburg market president and senior relationship banker. He was previously employed with Cadence Bank in Starkville for nine years and gained experience in various credit adminis- Brewer tration roles before he was promoted to the position of vice president of commercial banking at Cadence.

While living in Starkville, Brewer served as an advisory board member for the Mississippi State University School of Business and as an executive council member for the Mississippi Young Bankers. He also Brabston served on the United Way of Oktibbeha County’s fundraising committee and as a member of the Kiwanis Club. In 2008, he was named to the Top 40 Under 40 for Oktibbeha County. In Hattiesburg, Brewer is a current member of the finance committee and advisory board for the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club.

He and his wife, Clare, are the proud parents of two daughters. The family attends Crosspoint Community Church in Hattiesburg, where he serves on the ministry advisory team as a member of the finance committee.

Originally from Meridian, Brewer attended Meridian Community College (MCC) from 1995 to 1997.

While at MCC, he played on the baseball team. In 1999, he graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s of business administration degree in real estate finance. He is also a 2007 graduate of the LSU Graduate School of Banking.

Also, Tom Brabston has joined Citizens National Bank in Hattiesburg as a regional senior credit officer. Brabston comes from The Citizens Bank in Hattiesburg, where he was employed as a senior commercial lender. Before joining The Citizens Bank, he served as a business banking relationship manager at Wells Fargo. He also has prior experience as a risk manager at Wachovia in Hattiesburg.

Brabston is a member of the Sertoma Club as well as the funds distribution committee for the United Way of Southeast Mississippi. He and his wife, Shelly, are members of Temple Baptist Church, where he enjoys singing in the choir and playing keyboards in the orchestra.

Brabston, who grew up in Vicksburg, graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988 with a bachelor’s of business administration degree in economics. In 1989, he received his MBA, also from Northeast Louisiana University.

England currently practices general medicine in Natchez.

MSU staff in news Greta Wood, an assistant professor/instructional services librarian at Mississippi State University, is among a team of professional librarians named recently to the 75th Anniversary Task Force for the Association of College and Research Libraries. She will be one of a dozen members of the major committee responsible for planning activities as the 12,000 ACRL members, in particular, and national higher education com- Story munity, in general, prepare to recognize the organization’s past achievements and future goals.

Wood, who joined MSU Libraries in 2011, holds master’s degrees from the universities of North Carolina at Greensboro and at Charlotte in library and information science and in English, respectively. She also is an Wood English graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Also, Dr. Clifton W. Story, a staff physician at MSU’s Longest Student Health Center, is being promoted to executive director of University Health Services. He will assume his new duties in May, succeeding Dr. Bob Collins upon his retirement. Collins joined the MSU medical center staff in 1977 and became its leader in 1988.

Story, who holds American Board of Family Physicians certification, returned to campus as a physician in 2008. An MSU alumnus, he is a 1991 general science graduate who went on to earn a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1995. He additionally completed a family practice internship and residency at UMMC. Prior to joining the MSU staff, Story practiced in West Point, Madison and Oneida, Tenn. He also spent two years as a missionary physician in Colombia and Costa Rica.

Story is a member of several professional organizations including the American College of Sports Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians and Mississippi State Medical Association.

Story said he and his wife, Melanie, are the parents of AlliGrace, 15; Amelia, 13; and Travis, 10.

For announcements in Newsmakers; Contact: Wally Northway (601) 364-1016 • wally.northway@msbusiness.com

Document: A019MBJ012513.pdf;Page: 1;Format:(254.00 x 317.50 mm);Plate: Composite;Date: Jan 23, 2013 15:37:06;JPC 72 DPI

NEWSMAKERS

December 2012 sales tax receipts/year to date, July 1

MISSISSIPPI STATE TAX COMMISSION

Here are cities’ earnings through sales tax collections. Sales tax has a three-month cycle. Month 1 — Tax is collected by the retailer. Month 2 — Tax is reported/paid to the Tax Commission by the retailer.

Month 3 — Sales tax diversion is paid by the Tax Commission to the cities. This report is based on the month the tax is collected at the Tax Commission (Month 2).

December December Year to date YTD 2012 2011 2012 2011 CITY $4,613.81 $10,490.76 $28,338.57 $36,011.53 ABBEVILLE 59,450.79 63,636.87 402,389.79 416,062.82 ABERDEEN 22,302.34 22,902.66 138,830.25 136,799.47 ACKERMAN ALCORN STATE U 953.68 1,014.17 4,875.13 8,605.84 ALGOMA 1,785.01 1,994.67 11,716.68 13,512.83 591.95 608.46 4,164.25 4,146.42 ALLIGATOR 152,639.27 151,013.97 910,584.66 926,392.31 AMORY ANGUILLA 2,848.68 3,422.09 18,704.97 20,000.24 1,464.42 1,784.48 9,659.74 11,140.14 ARCOLA ARTESIA 814.68 714.69 5,548.98 6,626.32 ASHLAND 11,595.52 12,278.71 70,870.37 77,559.99 43,139.11 42,872.58 271,802.83 273,890.76 BALDWYN BASSFIELD 13,351.48 12,942.10 75,169.64 75,815.60 323,609.94 307,691.56 1,906,963.11 1,869,084.01 BATESVILLE 46,627.77 49,597.79 302,472.75 299,082.80 BAY SPRINGS BAY ST LOUIS 93,113.16 79,983.70 574,736.87 549,296.01 5,862.64 6,982.63 36,693.94 40,114.47 BEAUMONT BEAUREGARD 249.07 222.47 1,329.25 1,271.37 BELMONT 21,590.49 20,189.27 136,383.00 129,983.94 40,271.16 39,797.87 262,648.45 254,630.54 BELZONI BENOIT 7,752.96 6,608.86 39,166.16 41,656.64 20,909.00 23,885.70 96,291.96 160,388.44 BENTONIA 325.13 335.95 2,302.35 2,305.39 BEULAH BIG CREEK 332.39 380.61 2,270.52 2,955.50 BILOXI 764,075.69 759,320.47 5,357,348.34 5,094,050.82 8,479.32 9,039.34 54,927.53 54,061.24 BLUE MOUNTAIN BLUE SPRINGS 2,565.62 2,385.06 15,719.35 15,390.95 BOLTON 9,089.02 8,458.09 63,452.85 57,550.82 147,040.05 145,426.04 865,388.49 851,417.42 BOONEVILLE BOYLE 10,500.32 9,872.76 93,265.30 82,863.37 BRANDON 397,977.20 374,742.20 2,542,035.28 2,383,018.13 1,382.68 1,106.26 6,783.86 6,294.32 BRAXTON BROOKHAVEN 428,398.57 397,661.21 2,535,833.93 2,475,749.40 8,950.40 7,770.22 52,326.88 52,558.57 BROOKSVILLE BRUCE 39,609.97 37,597.02 239,783.77 236,917.48 10,658.12 9,098.70 61,016.01 58,277.78 BUDE 12,092.34 12,022.32 71,170.79 74,339.36 BURNSVILLE BYHALIA 50,536.46 56,407.51 350,918.23 358,351.32 BYRAM 137,589.07 125,707.59 917,493.96 810,075.05 CALEDONIA 11,069.63 10,426.25 67,479.63 65,543.78 CALHOUN CITY 23,915.52 24,933.65 143,583.66 151,326.48 190,976.68 169,774.66 1,221,998.23 1,088,784.03 CANTON CARROLLTON 5,837.17 4,803.75 34,700.59 31,337.09 CARTHAGE 129,427.41 122,050.79 769,333.86 755,987.69 CARY 1,125.20 1,553.52 9,575.60 9,387.27 CENTREVILLE 19,773.76 19,866.31 107,862.65 111,754.57 CHARLESTON 28,538.53 26,795.68 172,706.18 165,155.37 CHUNKY 515.19 584.20 3,293.12 3,450.30 CLARKSDALE 219,387.56 224,126.45 1,380,488.95 1,350,367.45 CLEVELAND 283,536.78 301,760.86 1,685,520.84 1,734,357.23 CLINTON 332,444.96 347,861.35 2,188,130.89 2,000,261.89 COAHOMA 439.38 316.54 2,472.77 2,499.92 COAHOMA COLLEGE 1,283.90 618.64 COFFEEVILLE 9,636.96 10,618.60 63,659.50 72,099.30 COLDWATER 17,807.95 15,238.31 101,932.76 96,912.38 COLLINS 102,840.46 107,676.83 652,940.85 656,442.40 COLUMBIA 273,890.43 261,384.09 1,617,843.53 1,580,411.56 COLUMBUS 694,431.48 715,104.16 4,190,273.72 4,292,707.70 COMO 18,481.79 10,803.44 89,526.56 80,800.46 CORINTH 455,341.20 453,700.53 2,662,456.63 2,633,295.58 COURTLAND 1,174.85 1,267.08 8,227.03 7,800.80 CRAWFORD 748.15 1,171.65 7,651.38 6,029.18 CRENSHAW 4,278.10 4,944.56 29,450.22 30,382.60 CROSBY 902.46 738.20 4,407.98 6,361.33 CROWDER 1,935.50 1,910.69 10,772.46 11,638.63 CRUGER 471.64 510.11 3,563.80 4,062.65 CRYSTAL SPRINGS 51,533.98 50,259.44 311,497.01 304,320.83 D LO 2,808.14 3,657.45 18,475.95 18,963.06 D'IBERVILLE 490,789.67 463,746.52 2,860,108.06 2,741,747.81 DECATUR 10,259.95 10,898.13 70,493.31 74,579.56 DEKALB 20,172.31 19,948.23 117,860.04 123,954.35 DERMA 5,119.96 4,866.11 29,970.00 30,615.42 DIAMONDHEAD 36,596.63 235,304.05 DODDSVILLE 926.30 346.82 3,618.74 1,922.42 DREW 8,786.24 11,507.94 59,134.68 72,502.88 DUCK HILL 3,592.48 3,116.42 22,662.92 22,613.69 DUMAS 775.40 880.50 5,913.21 5,987.10 DUNCAN 785.46 492.66 5,689.10 3,169.84 DURANT 22,130.41 21,607.25 144,592.57 142,474.15 EAST MS COLLEGE 42.92 28.12 1,668.71 2,088.29 ECRU 10,946.54 10,505.46 64,391.71 61,887.15 EDEN 52.73 46.25 300.66 297.12 EDWARDS 5,815.99 5,968.99 35,186.02 30,298.83 ELLISVILLE 86,106.77 70,100.58 517,313.70 436,301.63 ENTERPRISE 5,272.54 4,740.07 30,201.12 30,145.97 ETHEL 1,149.23 1,021.12 6,736.81 8,464.62 EUPORA 34,530.55 35,279.80 210,846.59 212,588.02 FALCON 24.42 39.22 323.79 349.29 FARMINGTON 5,795.37 3,673.71 26,912.29 25,133.58 FAULKNER 3,214.28 3,679.62 19,794.79 21,867.91 FAYETTE 17,131.51 14,151.81 97,187.36 95,409.62 FLORA 42,477.90 23,729.69 172,802.79 153,298.13 FLORENCE 54,272.75 52,866.71 353,128.15 331,531.48 FLOWOOD 860,132.08 866,950.99 4,952,770.76 4,809,012.44 FOREST 169,584.86 167,828.46 1,021,901.06 1,023,023.91 FRENCH CAMP 450.29 1,377.73 5,984.25 10,109.19 FRIARS POINT 2,255.96 2,365.24 14,652.09 14,128.53

FULTON GATTMAN GAUTIER GEORGETOWN GLEN GLENDORA GLOSTER GOLDEN GOODMAN GREENVILLE GREENWOOD GRENADA GULFPORT GUNNISON GUNTOWN HATLEY HATTIESBURG HAZLEHURST HEIDELBERG HERNANDO HICKORY HICKORY FLAT HINDS COMMUNITY HOLLANDALE HOLLY SPRINGS HORN LAKE HOULKA HOUSTON INDIANOLA INVERNESS ISOLA ITTA BENA IUKA JACKSON JONESTOWN JUMPERTOWN KILMICHAEL KOSCIUSKO KOSSUTH LAKE LAMBERT LAUREL LEAKESVILLE LEARNED LELAND LENA LEXINGTON LIBERTY LONG BEACH LOUIN LOUISE LOUISVILLE LUCEDALE LULA LUMBERTON LYON MABEN MACON MADISON MAGEE MAGNOLIA MANTACHIE MANTEE MARIETTA MARION MARKS MATHISTON MAYERSVILLE MCCOMB MCCOOL MCLAIN MEADVILLE MENDENHALL MERIDIAN MERIGOLD METCALFE MIZE MONTICELLO MONTROSE MOORHEAD MORGAN CITY MORTON MOSS POINT MOUND BAYOU MS GULFCOAST MS STATE UNIV MS VALLEY ST MT OLIVE MYRTLE NATCHEZ NETTLETON NEW ALBANY NEW AUGUSTA NEW HEBRON NEWTON NO. CARROLLTON NOXAPATER OAKLAND OCEAN SPRINGS OKOLONA OLIVE BRANCH OSYKA OXFORD PACE PACHUTA PADEN

120,513.50 120.25 176,099.40 3,568.41 1,687.77 331.30 11,086.51 5,059.53 3,484.20 519,298.50 353,561.08 333,845.81 1,587,988.73 477.99 15,073.45 517.37 1,751,578.00 102,850.67 35,044.80 241,219.95 3,945.52 5,923.56 697.27 13,503.52 100,782.78 303,234.83 8,133.20 84,195.86 150,115.54 4,919.54 2,001.52 11,290.05 62,492.03 2,569,253.13 3,607.19 607.16 5,993.92 171,951.47 3,684.30 6,399.41 3,173.03 737,873.72 22,777.17 383.25 41,171.82 1,766.78 34,713.20 16,680.79 106,037.55 2,273.45 1,254.95 144,996.74 163,386.60 3,345.15 13,795.55 6,409.75 5,921.64 50,467.57 492,892.63 162,213.11 36,012.64 15,335.23 2,387.95 4,725.82 15,147.68 18,085.86 15,044.76 557.78 428,953.07 598.15 5,916.52 10,256.96 45,587.45 1,178,414.66 6,961.41 1,119.24 11,376.64 37,837.47 167.95 7,046.56 612.14 39,292.66 125,087.29 4,250.70 418.47 28,632.70 939.80 7,759.60 3,797.86 441,026.28 23,110.64 229,316.02 13,794.75 7,384.12 85,980.27 3,387.19 9,159.57 5,594.16 322,383.16 22,459.17 594,308.40 5,216.31 592,923.64 526.34 1,787.07 163.73

116,574.00 187.41 173,899.50 3,326.05 1,610.86 474.73 11,652.21 4,328.47 3,372.66 492,229.01 354,553.98 322,261.12 1,516,990.51 473.48 14,297.48 819.42 1,711,956.07 103,546.80 34,207.36 233,293.02 4,273.02 5,332.34 459.91 14,355.96 91,056.21 289,658.94 8,033.85 80,896.70 153,015.05 4,283.07 1,415.92 11,631.67 60,161.69 2,447,131.40 3,814.77 655.95 5,187.56 164,084.29 3,567.82 6,138.75 3,158.59 719,079.46 20,594.64 615.98 30,814.03 1,459.68 34,604.11 18,072.25 99,522.69 4,512.54 1,396.99 137,850.02 155,469.90 2,852.25 17,360.53 3,989.53 6,015.96 46,163.38 450,672.15 154,440.53 31,958.84 14,253.44 2,351.73 4,828.41 12,743.99 18,898.98 15,860.93 460.94 435,525.93 645.84 7,045.71 9,760.19 41,183.21 1,136,497.53 6,305.27 1,081.91 13,507.22 35,606.04 579.90 19,153.75 627.76 37,690.39 114,914.91 3,996.53 289.90 30,345.01 926.30 8,713.31 3,495.38 428,117.27 21,232.95 229,202.63 16,031.25 6,875.30 84,133.39 3,166.14 8,362.06 5,655.95 362,465.44 22,319.05 571,737.82 5,073.94 561,669.49 648.85 1,757.64 152.44

701,799.16 717.74 1,099,111.65 21,231.18 9,996.10 2,062.85 66,657.34 26,436.13 21,388.77 3,051,695.03 2,123,259.48 1,957,173.64 9,450,092.09 4,307.33 90,321.61 3,596.26 10,137,257.94 619,932.21 207,956.67 1,389,013.90 23,596.62 35,497.52 4,695.49 85,190.68 587,873.50 1,884,841.80 48,468.61 500,720.31 907,613.62 31,804.54 11,191.12 70,955.76 402,837.61 15,357,530.15 22,465.52 5,234.06 34,796.27 980,564.77 22,189.78 40,791.79 19,246.93 4,443,336.75 137,871.95 2,752.48 271,634.70 9,428.76 220,391.44 112,488.88 661,709.56 13,890.93 6,196.55 853,615.69 939,143.70 19,692.48 86,996.95 32,915.15 37,933.20 299,375.75 2,839,430.19 968,182.44 206,075.48 99,010.26 16,195.40 28,252.22 95,906.38 117,974.12 92,254.43 3,235.38 2,563,272.39 3,050.57 34,718.89 60,695.55 292,176.82 7,019,312.81 41,610.15 6,625.36 62,872.00 227,049.62 3,016.42 56,341.95 3,636.36 228,986.99 792,308.42 29,310.16 2,972.23 158,380.48 5,134.13 49,001.76 22,048.87 2,605,400.30 140,371.43 1,378,561.12 93,152.55 43,195.58 502,058.04 17,719.67 54,932.74 34,790.88 2,186,266.57 144,181.61 3,666,378.64 33,841.73 3,438,382.22 3,385.86 10,920.82 928.72

690,951.13 744.13 1,092,102.76 20,771.69 10,189.50 2,654.51 70,176.17 28,422.07 23,698.57 2,989,030.28 2,140,207.00 1,945,026.37 9,303,191.98 3,893.16 90,521.93 6,804.64 9,784,467.15 603,628.38 222,051.33 1,319,802.33 23,261.77 35,529.27 5,022.76 89,690.71 558,390.50 1,875,134.82 52,000.04 498,146.03 941,267.36 36,739.24 15,771.30 65,915.27 372,840.04 15,349,858.53 23,977.65 5,480.42 28,198.40 964,396.14 21,708.44 40,453.40 17,419.03 4,282,838.84 135,162.70 4,314.34 223,316.36 9,792.38 222,744.82 113,096.02 640,949.39 14,937.72 7,718.29 827,850.25 893,955.13 18,239.99 100,108.19 19,018.32 38,938.76 285,079.67 2,545,294.79 943,274.57 199,384.01 95,765.95 15,539.16 29,039.18 88,395.72 120,617.61 96,994.58 3,276.01 2,497,337.09 3,849.99 35,890.22 60,562.79 284,943.24 6,737,234.61 38,595.23 7,075.31 82,151.90 226,036.29 4,157.50 53,513.50 3,879.09 227,973.23 832,660.39 24,217.55 2,583.90 146,490.35 6,270.97 52,555.50 21,732.99 2,539,992.99 141,432.03 1,313,058.66 91,498.71 40,843.87 491,586.42 19,352.51 50,521.31 34,756.00 2,084,759.27 141,124.19 3,470,912.48 33,489.21 3,291,176.93 3,828.28 10,273.47 892.82

PASCAGOULA PASS CHRISTIAN PAULDING PEARL PELAHATCHIE PETAL PHILADELPHIA PICAYUNE PICKENS PITTSBORO PLANTERSVILLE POLKVILLE PONTOTOC POPE POPLARVILLE PORT GIBSON POTTS CAMP PRENTISS PUCKETT PURVIS QUITMAN RALEIGH RAYMOND RENOVA RICHLAND RICHTON RIDGELAND RIENZI RIPLEY ROLLING FORK ROSEDALE ROXIE RULEVILLE SALLIS SALTILLO SANDERSVILLE SARDIS SATARTIA SCHLATER SCOOBA SEBASTAPOL SEMINARY SENATOBIA SHANNON SHAW SHELBY SHERMAN SHUBUTA SHUQUALAK SIDON SILVER CITY SILVER CREEK SLATE SPRINGS SLEDGE SMITHVILLE SNOWLAKESHORES SOSO SOUTHAVEN SOUTHWEST COMM STARKVILLE STATE LINE STONEWALL STURGIS SUMMIT SUMNER SUMRALL SUNFLOWER SYLVARENA TAYLOR TAYLORSVILLE TCHULA TERRY THAXTON TISHOMINGO TOCCOPOLA TOWN OF WALLS TREMONT TUNICA TUPELO TUTWILER TYLERTOWN UNION UNIV OF MISS UTICA VAIDEN VARDAMAN VERONA VICKSBURG WALNUT WALNUT GROVE WALTHALL WATER VALLEY WAVELAND WAYNESBORO WEBB WEIR WESSON WEST WEST POINT WIGGINS WINONA WINSTONVILLE WOODLAND WOODVILLE YAZOO CITY TOTAL

438,959.85 89,937.85 125.31 680,747.71 25,690.95 180,953.47 318,761.83 335,225.83 7,816.37 437.34 3,455.87 314.43 180,851.61 3,935.98 49,153.24 19,591.65 7,680.97 33,919.32 8,045.05 66,276.07 42,629.59 15,776.09 16,273.88 2,268.84 389,632.61 27,601.91 946,625.98 2,610.23 100,996.01 29,485.69 11,273.20 1,417.62 17,768.82 2,168.39 56,367.31 44,973.22 23,815.24 366.67 774.16 6,040.48 15,376.45 10,494.09 151,311.23 12,849.58 6,182.85 8,604.82 11,227.19 3,511.58 1,801.54 786.50 18,834.30 2,776.48 340.06 1,247.74 5,169.21 128.76 20,170.16 1,022,607.72 39.41 478,587.16 7,951.28 6,170.72 2,347.07 25,859.23 2,794.46 35,500.42 2,348.63 261.96 1,454.65 23,142.36 6,817.36 21,523.15 2,879.78 7,346.64 577.79 2,745.07 1,381.07 36,380.04 1,512,318.81 3,822.63 52,235.00 30,271.29 24,272.00 11,681.69 9,020.88 10,889.40 19,700.22 618,710.45 15,633.76 6,526.99 1,708.40 36,973.98 176,651.95 169,474.02 7,236.26 2,468.77 13,398.75 1,411.75 180,083.48 135,684.42 86,525.16 171.31 5,392.56 16,542.02 148,176.46 $32,333,378.51

SALES TAX 426,858.18 89,279.12 175.19 648,367.99 20,082.13 174,486.49 318,779.57 324,992.86 8,698.97 325.60 3,786.03 525.05 178,330.14 3,331.23 48,578.38 20,676.72 7,830.20 32,965.33 6,337.97 48,363.22 41,726.54 16,835.25 15,304.11 2,426.40 314,427.04 23,855.37 935,139.80 2,868.02 101,059.76 29,770.10 9,962.47 1,445.66 17,554.19 1,874.24 58,083.56 53,415.03 29,721.65 390.72 819.50 5,874.50 13,523.28 11,871.33 150,052.05 13,288.22 5,690.88 8,239.34 10,457.54 3,513.92 2,174.56 747.11 361.31 2,735.64 446.77 1,673.96 4,504.19 133.02 11,500.09 1,004,974.55 297.48 473,450.02 8,151.79 6,261.66 3,052.92 27,315.88 5,133.55 31,613.76 1,906.37 227.74 1,918.64 21,416.08 6,518.65 23,060.48 2,488.62 7,550.42 453.12 2,914.31 1,613.19 38,584.12 1,493,878.96 3,971.83 51,595.73 29,122.46 20,901.99 10,063.21 8,193.04 9,684.93 17,342.49 610,313.45 15,995.13 5,645.59 1,249.25 36,050.26 174,945.78 168,684.69 7,870.29 2,351.19 13,232.34 1,621.41 174,293.51 130,725.19 85,276.48 476.37 4,618.07 24,596.26 136,566.57 $31,389,683.10

2,601,351.65 2,536,384.68 543,875.72 520,039.55 660.79 1,047.34 4,072,433.86 3,961,922.92 160,259.73 150,166.42 1,049,896.01 1,028,211.80 1,869,889.45 1,845,268.56 2,002,030.56 1,965,569.97 47,535.03 49,835.06 2,780.38 2,858.44 21,674.96 24,020.92 2,620.51 3,175.70 1,066,456.75 1,076,988.85 23,038.87 21,118.83 308,043.83 305,727.60 116,516.60 119,253.97 53,350.25 48,787.83 206,111.32 204,810.72 52,631.61 46,336.15 345,808.02 298,024.43 253,709.45 254,707.29 96,939.47 107,361.40 99,099.91 99,170.40 16,778.37 16,340.33 2,309,912.41 2,101,501.25 154,356.66 137,831.33 5,729,394.77 5,499,575.53 15,109.29 17,188.71 605,021.45 559,321.34 207,174.57 186,944.44 60,718.09 59,223.29 8,230.97 8,363.43 113,252.48 107,334.78 13,248.27 11,824.85 356,975.09 324,705.00 360,549.34 284,408.71 145,617.42 166,136.97 2,472.55 2,115.86 5,729.35 5,461.30 41,093.66 36,213.09 90,292.04 84,952.96 65,597.03 68,410.43 902,091.52 896,688.85 89,043.96 77,619.47 37,552.48 41,519.09 56,593.71 61,796.24 68,323.60 67,221.28 20,695.51 21,248.30 11,079.30 12,251.59 4,681.49 4,793.38 20,742.67 2,117.19 17,593.61 17,998.43 1,664.98 2,218.52 9,103.64 9,888.10 33,372.66 25,149.44 759.65 852.32 85,087.97 70,047.60 5,969,938.50 5,923,086.04 1,349.04 2,436.27 2,805,958.45 2,741,190.07 51,163.42 49,691.84 38,557.60 33,290.97 26,584.06 16,871.48 184,656.73 183,807.51 26,525.73 26,028.58 207,139.56 205,714.66 13,641.54 12,991.51 1,955.47 1,849.19 11,294.61 12,528.03 147,099.88 144,044.45 42,609.12 38,518.71 141,187.38 146,578.51 17,856.38 17,516.62 49,378.36 49,761.09 3,393.17 3,065.84 20,856.55 19,349.55 10,468.46 9,680.26 243,674.62 244,020.97 8,669,441.16 8,562,959.58 22,947.98 35,605.39 318,585.37 320,203.44 173,369.45 184,835.60 119,890.15 94,704.27 71,744.80 70,730.62 61,896.66 65,352.84 64,986.23 55,737.60 118,084.73 109,976.12 3,669,397.71 3,645,733.17 99,510.08 134,663.16 38,253.37 32,437.83 11,457.99 11,546.58 237,749.03 235,420.58 1,052,995.24 1,015,114.56 1,022,734.14 990,329.19 48,923.63 53,826.23 14,223.66 14,387.94 86,717.97 86,381.37 9,324.35 9,783.00 1,047,611.96 1,015,940.07 828,895.73 793,133.54 521,451.56 508,280.78 1,920.35 3,737.19 32,594.15 32,187.84 146,345.91 150,917.43 885,773.47 847,560.86 $193,933,674.28 $188,804,763.41

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20 ■ Mississippi Business Journal ■ January 25, 2013

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Mississippi Business Journal

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MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

MBJGOODBUSINESS >> MISSISSIPPI LEADERS by Martin Willoughby

The value of people

NewSouth CEO understands that his workers — and his customers — are human beings

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FFECTIVE LEADERS understand that the employees in the organization are a tremendous asset. These leaders invest in their teams and help them grow. They realize that employees are not fungible cogs in a machine, but are human beings with dignity and worth. They create positive workplaces and invest in training and development. I am also starting to see more companies that realize that one of the most impactful things they can do is to promote a healthy workforce. Healthy employees are happier and more productive. They bring a better vitality and energy to their jobs. I believe this is a real game changer and one of the most Martin Willoughby untapped arenas of opportunity for companies. I know I have personally benefitted from the onsite medical clinic and innovative well-being programs at my place of employment with Butler Snow.

I recently interviewed Frank York, chief executive officer of NewSouth NeuroSpine, LLC in Flowood. He is implementing some cutting-edge concepts regarding wellness. York is a Jackson native and Ole Miss graduate where he majored in accounting. He worked for a “Big Six” accounting firm out of college, and has had a very successful career working in leadership positions with a number of very successful companies including Deposit Guaranty, Southern Pipe & Supply and Planhouse. He joined NewSouth NeuroSpine in 2007 as CEO to lead this large and innovative physician group.

York shared that he learned from Marty Davidson at Southern Pipe & Supply the importance of valuing em-

Up Close With ...

Frank York Title: CEO, NewSouth NeuroSpine Favorite Books: The Bible, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, any historical fiction.

First Job: “Mowing lawns in my neighborhood, pumping gas at the gas station up the street.”

Proudest Moment as a Leader: “NewSouth NeuroSpine being named as one of Mississippi’s Best Places to Work in 2012, and changing a previous company’s turnover rate from 150 percent a year to less than 20 percent a year, and recognizing the financial results — from negative earnings to positive earnings during that two-year period.”

Hobbies/Interests: “I enjoy walking with my friends at night, visiting my grown-up kids (four total), who now live in different parts of the country and reading.”

ployees. York said, “His mantra was ‘people buy from people’ and his aim was to make all of his employees understand their value. To that end, he met with each employee personally in then more than 60 stores across the Southeast every year.” York has tried to replicate and communicate that sense of our employees’ value in the companies he has worked with ever since.

One of the ways that he has acted on this philosophy is by offering excellent benefits to his employees including a strong commitment to Blue Cross’ “Health Workplace” program. He shared, “We offer our employees incentives to participate in running and walking races and giving blood.” They also offer monthly meetings for their employees where they discuss healthy lifestyles. York said: “For example, this quarter our focus has been managing stress. We’ve had presentations on physical stress reduction techniques, managing personal financial stress, and exercising for stress reduction.”

According to York, his experience has been that “happy, healthy employees give the patients the best service experience.” For developing leaders he encourages them to “take care of your physical well-being — it translates into more energy, and clearer thinking.”

What is particularly interesting to me is that York is a seasoned accounting and financial professional, yet he is very comfortable making these types of employee investments because he knows these investments pay large dividends. It is very easy to be shortsighted, pinch pennies on these type programs, and be “pound foolish.”

York had lots of other wisdom to share regarding managing a successful business including that we all need to be humble servants who realize that no one is too important to fill any need in the practice, and that that patient complaints provide excellent teachable moments, as long as they are followed up with in a timely manner.

One of our state’s real strengths is our medical community. Leaders like York are at the front line of growing our reputation by providing top tier service that attracts patients regionally.

I particularly appreciate the model he and the team at NewSouth NeuroSpine provide for us to see the value in investing in our employees to build a healthier, stronger company.

Martin Willoughby, a business consultant in Jackson, is a regular contributing columnist for the Mississippi Business Journal. Willoughby can be reached at martin.willoughby@ butlersnow.com.

N.C. mountains are the main characters of thirteen moons

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LTHOUGH WE MOSTLY feature newly released books in Book Biz, that’s not a requirement for a mention here. I sometimes go to my bookshelves in search of something to read and discover a book I’ve previously passed over for one reason or another. If I enjoy it, I wonder why I didn’t read it sooner. Such is the case with thirteen moons by Charles Frazier.

It was published in 2006 by the acclaimed author of Cold Mountain, winner of the National Book Award. And oh yes, I’m aware that Frazier released a new book, Nightwoods, in 2011. (He likes short titles, doesn’t he?) thirteen moons was in a box of books given to me by a kind person to help replenish my library following Hurricane Katrina.

If writers write what they know, then Frazier knows the mountains of North Carolina very well. There are colorful characters, history and lots of action in thirteen moons, but arguably these beautiful, timeless mountains are the real star — the main character — of this engrossing book. Frazier seems to hold them in reverential awe.

The tale is the story of a remarkable man, Will Cooper, and the equally remarkable Cherokees, spanning a century of change.

At the age of 12, Cooper is orphaned. He is given a horse, a key >> thirteen moons and a map and sent on a journey By Charles Frazier through the wilderness to the Published

by Random House edge of the Cherokee Nation – $29.95 hardcover; $15 softback uncharted white space on the map at that time.

A bound boy, he is obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. He is adopted by a Cherokee chief, learns the language and develops relationships that forge his character.

As an old man, Cooper looks back on his search for a home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture and the pursuit of passion.

I like Frazier’s use of language and style; it’s far from simplistic, yet flows in an easy way.

— Lynn Lofton, mbj@msbusiness.com

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January 25 2013

22 ■ Mississippi Business Journal ■ January 25, 2013

TIM MASK, Vice president, Maris, West & Baker

Stop the ‘brain drain’

Commission founder tries to keep state’s smart folks at home

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im Mask is vice president of brand planning and development with Maris, West & Baker advertising. He is the founder of the Mississippi Brain Drain Commission, which is devoted to keeping Mississippi’s homegrown intellectual capital in Mississippi.

Q — What is the mission of the Mississippi Brain Drain Commission?

A — The direct mission of the Mississippi Brain Drain Commission is to develop of series of recommendations that can be developed into a substantive initiative that helps Mississippi retain more of our intellectual capital.

The forward-looking objective is, as can be said for many other initiatives, to spur sustained economic development in Mississippi. However, I think what makes the notion behind the Brain Drain Commission a little different is that we’re not approaching this from the angle that all economic development is equal. Jobs and opportunity — yes we have to be concerned with both under all scenarios. But it is also true that economic development resulting from a workforce based on bachelor-degreeplus graduates carries with it an inherent element of improved quality of life. Just as we shouldn’t build an economy based on one or two industrial sectors, we shouldn’t build an economy based primarily on a singular level of educational attainment. So in essence, the ultimate mission of the Mississippi Brain Drain Commission is to enhance our quality of life through retaining our valuable native intellectual capital.

More on Tim Mask:

Must have Mississippi food: “Sushi. We have some great sushi places in Mississippi. Although, I have to say that it’s tough to beat good fried chicken.”

Favorite movie: “Braveheart. Really gets the blood pumping.”

Last book read: “The Psychopath Test (don’t read much into that).”

Q — What is t he m ost effe ctive way t o ac hie ve t h at m i s s i o n ?

A — We don’t know. That’s the purpose of the Commission — bringing together stakeholders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Mississippi, isolating and focusing on “brain drain” as an issue in its own right, and developing an actionable plan to “plug the drain,” so to speak.

Speaking as to my own opinions, I believe that there are aspects contributing to brain drain that aren’t as evident but may play a surprisingly large supporting role. “Jobs,” of course, is the explanation that’s most obvious. “If the jobs aren’t here, we can’t hope to retain high-level graduates, right?” I believe that, in many instances, the jobs are here.

We just opened a state-of-the-art movie production facility — real movie sets — in Madison County. Mississippi boasts several high-level aerospace and defense research and engineering companies spread across the state. The headquarters of the second-largest operator of nuclear power plants in the country is in Jackson. We have cuttingedge startup technology companies and industry-leading businesses from DeSoto County to D’Iberville. Plus, the world has gotten smaller with all of the interactive collaboration tools now readily available. I don’t have to be planted at a desk in Washington, D.C., to effect change. I can do it from a smartphone in a field in the Delta.

All this to say I believe a significant contributing component of brain drain isn’t as much opportunity as the

perception of opportunity (lack thereof ). Changing that perception doesn’t start by talking to 40-somethings who have been in the workforce for a couple of decades, either.

Mississippians, largely through environmental osmosis, are conditioned to think from an early age that to “make it” in many careers you must leave the state. Get your degree from one of our fine colleges or universities and take your talents elsewhere. That simply does not have to be the case. Such an attitude conflicts with just about everything else we are trying to do in Mississippi. Attitudes can be changed, but to do so, we need to start addressing the perception at an early age.

Q — What kind of people and/or organizations make up the commission?

A — It’s a wide range, and it’s not necessarily “closed,” either. We wanted to make sure that the commission involves true stakeholders in native intellectual capital retention, and also that we have good representation across the public, private and non-profit sectors. I’m happy to report that we have received great response and participation commitments from entities in all these areas. The aspect I’ve been even more struck by is the degree to which people have a personal interest in the issue. Several people representing companies or organizations participating in the commission have shared with me their reasons for deciding to stay in Mississippi and work to make our state a better place. It is all very compelling.

Q — How did the commission get its start?

A — I’ve worked at Maris, West & Baker Advertising for over a decade. As an ad agency, we’re constantly on the search for creative talent and innovative clients. Mississippi doesn’t exactly have the reputation of being “Madison Avenue South.” Yet, I believe most people would be surprised at the abundance of creative people and creative companies in the state. It has always irritated me that, again, reality doesn’t match perception. Additionally, in my line of work I’ve had the chance to touch projects and initiatives ranging from economic development, to workforce development, to education access. I came to the conclusion that over the past 15-20 years, Mississippi has generally done a great job in these areas. I thought that a chink in the armor came between post-secondary education and economic/workforce development, when we develop highly educated individuals, only to lose them to other states. After stirring and stirring on the issue literally for years, I opened dialogue with a few individuals across a various state agencies, private businesses and industry associations, and we formed what’s nominally called the Mississippi Brain Drain Commission.

>> See the complete unabridged interview with Tim Mask at www.msbusiness.com/blog/category/q-a/

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Interview by Clay Chandler

January 25, 2013

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Mississippi Business Journal

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23

>> JEFFREY GITOMER

With new year comes better, smarter, easier way

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APPY NEW YEAR! Emphasis on the word NEW. In case no one told you, the old way of selling is dead. Problem is people are still using the old way and, even worse, “experts” are still teaching the old way.

Of course, I realize all of you are the most innovative and creative salespeople on the planet. None of you ever resort to old world sales tactics and none of you ever need a sale at the end of the month. Of course, I realize all of you blow away your monthly sales number by the second week in the month. And of course, I realize anything I say in this particular writing will only be a confirmation of how great you are.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s begin a realistic look at your approach to sales, your strategy of selling and the tactics you’re using in order to gain a sale, build a relationship and earn a referral.

Before I get to the new way, I am going to give you some of the elements of the old way so you can … » Determine whether you are old or new. » Determine whether you are progressive or perhaps regressive. » Determine whether you are endearing your customers or disappointing them. » Determine whether you are attracting prospects

or repelling them. » Determine whether this will be a great year for you, or yet another mediocre year of both frustration and lack of earnings.

Let me give you the partial list of the old-world elements — that although are not quite dead, are dying by the day and becoming irrelevant to the sales process — and even though you may be doing some of them, I promise that sales are a greater struggle for you and you’re seeking answers that may not be provided by your leadership, predominantly because they still believe the old way works… » Cold calling » Getting past the gatekeeper » Getting your phone call returned » Getting your email read » Finding the pain » Preparing your “pitch” » Using a standard PowerPoint or Keynote slide deck provided by marketing » Trying to “type” the buyer » Trying to qualify the buyer » Overcoming the objection » Trying to “go around” a lower level person to get to the “real decision maker” » Fighting “price” » Closing the sale » Asking for a referral immediately after making

a sale The worst of all the old world tactics is trying to use some manipulative “system of selling” in order to walk the prospect through your way of making the sale, versus the prospects way Jeffrey Gitomer of buying.

FACT ONE: The Internet has changed the way both businesses and consumers buy. Think about the last time you bought a car. Did you do research on the Internet? Of course you did. Everyone does! You do Internet research for two reasons: one, to get all the facts about making a $30,000 purchase — finding the model, the features, and even the color that suits you best. And two, probably the main reason, is that you don’t trust car dealerships or car salespeople.

The most laughable part of this process is that the car dealer and salespeople have not changed their sales-ways in 100 years. There are still begging, offering cars for a dollar over invoice, switching you from one sales person to another, and using every reprehensible tactic in order to get you to purchase “today.”

Hopefully this is not you, but I have my doubts.

Take a second look at the list above. How many of

those elements are you still using? And how many of you are saying, “My boss makes me do them”? Both funny and sad.

The new way of selling involves strategies that were employed 100 years ago, but somehow buried, or forgotten, or replaced by manipulative tactics that are no longer relevant or acceptable.

The good part about the new way of selling is that it’s easy.

The better part about the new way of selling is that it’s comfortable.

The best part about the new way of selling is that very few people will be doing it, thereby giving you both the strategic and a competitive advantage.

The new way of selling is simply this: Customize your presentation in terms of how the prospect wins after they purchase. Present in a conversational way.

Ask questions that both engage, and prove that you are prepared. Given idea or two in favor of the customer to prove that you have their best interest at heart. Show video testimonials from other customers who have purchased. See the value beyond the price.

Love the product or service, and love you.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author several books on selling. His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com.

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