mbj_apr12_2013

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April 12, 2013 • Vol. 35, No. 15 • $2 • 36 pages

Dark since the 1980s, the Millsaps College study shows that the old Capri theater could get new life — and be successful..

TACY RAYBURN / MBJ

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MBJ FOCUS: PUBLIC COMPANIES

Legislation, weak economy make it more difficult for Mississippi companies to go public Page 23

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April 12, 2013

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Mississippi Business Journal

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MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

Blount, Gipson take different views of recently passed business incentives

BY CLAY CHANDLER I STAFF WRITER clay.chandler@msbusiness.com Sen. David Blount and Rep. Andy Gipson agree it’s a matter of time before they join their colleagues in a special session to hash out funding for the state’s Medicaid program.

Blount, a Jackson Democrat, and Gipson, a Simpson County Republican, recapped the just-ended legislative session last Monday at the lunch meeting of the Stennis Capitol Press Corps.

Lawmakers left Jackson last week with no funding for Medicaid after the fiscal year ends on June 30.

Republicans and Democrats spent a lot of the session arguing over the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Like most others in his party, Blount supports expanding the program. “I think we need to admit that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land,� he said. “And Mississippians will be paying for the expansion whether we actually do it or not.�

Blount cited figures that the program would cost the state $555 million through 2025, but would get $12.1 billion back from the federal government. He added that Democrats would be willing to consider alternatives to outright expansion — such as legislation that would trigger expansion if uncompensated care payments were to disappear from hospitals that provide indigent care.

Gipson echoed Gov. Phil Bryant’s assertion that the state could not afford to add another few hundred thousand Mississippians to the Medicaid rolls, and questioned if the federal government would keep its promise to pay 90 percent of the expansion costs. “It’s odd that a group was willing to leave the Capitol without funding Medicaid,� Gipson said of Democrats’ twice killing the legislation to do so.

Gipson and Blount also took differing views of the handful of tax credits and incentives lawmakers passed.

“I think we need to admit that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. And Mississippians will be paying for the expansion whether we actually do it or not.� — Sen. David Blount Gipson said incentives applied properly “are great economic development tools,� listing as an example recently passed legislation designed to spur construction

of a retail shopping complex in Pearl.

Blount said many times lawmakers vote on incentives without knowing their exact financial impact.

“The Legislature is passing bills that will have a longterm impact (on the state’s budget) with no information on what they will cost,� he said.

COLUMBIA

Laundry processor creating 150 jobs

BY FRANK BROWN I STAFF WRITER frank.brown@msbusiness.com " # " !' !

Pensacola, Fla.-based Crown Health Care Laundry Services Inc. will set up laundry processing operations in Columbia, a move that will create about 150 jobs for the South Mississippi community.

The company, which provides specialized laundry services and linen rentals to the health care industry, will make a $6 million investment to establish the Columbia operations. Crown Health Care Laundry will operate out of the Marion County Industrial Building in Columbia.

Company President Don Haferkamp said the Columbia operation “marks another strategic milestone in the continued growth and expansion of Crown Health Care Laundry Services in the Southeast.�

Founded in 1955, the company has been a linen and service provider throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina for more than 50 years.

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!! !! ! !" !" % " # #!" ! # " ! % $ " !" !! !! ! " " " # " " % % " &" "# ' $ " "(! % " ' entergymississippi.com A message from Entergy Mississippi, Inc. Š2013 Entergy Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013 EDUCATION

MSU designated Center of Excellence for Watershed Management

BY FRANK BROWN I STAFF WRITER frank.brown@msbusiness.com Mississippi State University has been designated a Center of Excellence for Watershed Management, becoming the 10th such institution in the Southeast.

Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and Mississippi State University signed a Memorandum of Understanding today to help communities identify watershed-based problems and develop and implement locally sustainable solutions.

The center will be housed at Mississippi State University and will be a resource for universities throughout the state.

“A watershed approach one of the most effective frameworks to engage communities and address today’s water resource challenges,” said EPA Regional Administrator Gwen Keyes Fleming.

“Ultimately, this designation will help fulfill our mutual goals to protect and restore water quality and improve the quality of life in our local communities.”

“MDEQ has a history of partnering with our state’s academic institutions that comprise the Water Resources Research Institute. Together we have improved our approaches to water resource sustainability and water quality protection and restoration throughout the state,” said MDEQ executive director Trudy D. Fisher. “The focused science and applied research through the Center of Excellence for Watershed Management will further strengthen our efforts to address current challenges and needs related to water resources.”

To become a recognized Center of Excellence, the institution must demonstrate technical expertise in identifying and addressing watershed needs; involvement of students, staff and faculty in watershed planning, protection, and restoration; capability to involve the full suite of disciplines needed for all aspects of watershed management; financial ability to become self-sustaining; ability to deliver and account for results; willingness to partner with other institutions; and support from the highest levels of the organization.

“Mississippi State University is extraordinarily pleased to partner with the EPA for this Center of Excellence,” said Dr. David Shaw, vice president of research and economic development at MSU. “Research in water quality and quantity is one of the highest priority areas for the University and our center will utilize the breath of capacity from the entire University to address these needs.”

Some of the benefits of being a recognized Center of Excellence include receipt of EPA technical assistance where needed (instructors, speakers, etc); promotion of the Center of Excellence to stakeholders; EPA letters of support for grant opportunities; and identification of opportunities for Center of Excellence involvement in local and regional watershed issues. » Read more at www.msbusiness.com

TRANSPORTATION

Views differ on how friendly skies will be absent air control towers » Many speculate the FAA made cuts painful as possible to force Congress, White House to find alternatives to tower shutdowns

BY TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com The head of the Mississippi Airports Association insists the federal budget cutting responsible for closing air control towers at five of Mississippi’s regional airports won’t jeopardize flight safety.

On the other hand, the Federal Aviation Administration concluded in a 1990 study that the risk of a mid-air collision is three times greater around airports without control towers than around those with them, national newspaper USA Today reported in a story last week that noted air collisions in the United States have killed an average of 30 people a year since 1982.

The FAA used the 1990 study that cited the increased risk around airports without towers as recently as 2005 when determining which airports should have towers. Many of those same airports deemed to need towers for safety reasons are among the 149 that will lose FAA tower funding.

Beyond the air collision fatalities, USA Today says, the collisions have seriously injured 167 people and destroyed or substantially damaged 729 airplanes.

The contract towers in Mississippi operated by air controllers hired and paid by the Federal Aviation Administration are scheduled to lose their federal funding starting June 15. The cutoff had been set for April 7 but the FAA wanted to give communities more time to search for funding to keep the towers open. Mississippi towers on the FAA hit list are at Hawkins Field, Jackson; Stennis International, Bay St. Louis; Mid Delta Regional, Greenville; Tupelo Regional; and Olive Branch.

The FAA exempted Meridian’s Key Field and Golden Triangle Regional serving Columbus/West Point/Starkville based on support the airports provide nearby military operations.

The cutting off of funding for 149 towers around the country is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s answer to a federal budget sequester mandate that the department shave $636 million from its budget this year. A number of additional towers around the country staffed by the FAA are slated for closing as well.

The delay to June 15 comes after a number of airports filed suit to block the shutdowns, but it is only a temporary reprieve, the Washington Post reported last week. Communities that do not agree to pick up the costs of running the towers are still scheduled to lose them.

None of the Mississippi communities has indicated a willingness to cover the tower costs. “I don’t see where it is in the airport budget or city budget,” John Abramson, director of Tupelo

Regional Airport, said of covering the cost of running the control tower.

The airports will be forced to switch a “uncontrolled airfield” status and rely on radio guidance for flight operations control.

An immediate impact at Tupelo Regional, according to Abramson, will be a slowdown in flight operations during bad weather. Communications snags will be the likely cause, he said.

Nationally, the closures are expected to cost the jobs of more than 1,000 contract air-traffic controllers.

From the start, the FAA’s decision drew sharp criticism from aviation groups, private pilots and affected communities. Despite assurances from FAA officials that safety would remain a priority, the groups worried that it would be compromised if the towers were closed, the Washington Post reported.

The Congressional Research Service concluded the towers closures will have “relatively small but measurable impact on safety and efficiency,” USA Today reports.

House to find alternatives to the tower shutdowns.

That could be happening already, with a pair of senators from both parties seeking to restore the tower funding.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said that he and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) plan to introduce legislation next week that would prohibit the FAA from closing any towers, the Washington Post

The contract towers in Mississippi, operated by air controllers, hired and paid by the Federal Aviation Administration, are scheduled to lose their federal funding starting June 15. The cutoff had been set for April 7 but the FAA wanted to give communities more time to search for funding to keep the towers open.

That risk assessment is not shared by Tom Heanue, executive director of the towerless Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport and president of the Mississippi Airports Association. He said in an interview late last month that he does not expect a drop off in safety at airports in the state that lose their towers.

“I do believe” the shutdowns are something that can be worked around,” Heanue said.

“It’s not a safety issue,” he insisted, while acknowledging he puts a priority on trying “to keep things positive.”

Airport executives and others in the aviation sector speculate that the FAA made the cuts as painful as possible as a way to force Congress and the White

reports. Moran had made an unsuccessful attempt to secure funding to keep the towers open during the debate over the continuing funding resolution, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and its U.S. Contract Tower Association (USCTA) affiliate are turning to the courts to fight the FAA’s plan to close the contract air traffic control towers, Aviation Week reports.

The organizations filed a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sean Broderick, spokesman for the American Association of Airport Executives, said if pressed, the FAA would concede “it is hard to argue that this is the smart way to go about this.”

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EDUCATION

Next year will bring new push for required financial literacy instruction

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

EDUCATION

St. Andrew’s to host ‘Arts on The Green’ in April Ridgeland’s St. Andrew’s Episcopal School will hold its annual Arts on the Green: Learning by Design on April 20.

The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is free.

More than 25 artists will be selling art, including paintings, jewelry, fused glass, and nesting dolls.

While many activities are free, there will be $10 armband for sale, providing access to the Children's Green. There, kids can participate in scavenger hunts, Ultimate Frisbee, science experiments, pantomime lessons, archery, a spider jump, hands-on "Garden to Table" arts and crafts, a petting zoo, face painting, and caricature drawings.

Special ticketed events include "The Little Green Dress" Fashion Show ($10), featuring clothing from local businesses and creations by both art students and Environmental Club members. Additionally, students will "up- cycle" their standard-issue school uniforms through special Fashion Design Workshops ($25/ticket).

For more info, visit www.artsonthegreen.info.

HEALTH

Mississippi officials report first West Nile human case The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) has reported the state’s first human case of West Nile virus (WNV) for 2013. The reported case is in Madison County. The MSDH only reports laboratory-confirmed cases to the public. In 2012, Mississippi had 247 WNV cases and five deaths.

“This is actually not the first time we have had cases reported this early in Mississippi. We have had cases in March before and as early as January in previous years. This serves as a reminder that WNV can occur year-round, even if we are not in the peak summer months of July, August, and September,” said MSDH Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers.

“Also, the timeframe of when the first case is reported has no effect on the type of WNV activity we’ll see in a particular season. The first cases of the 2012 were reported in June, and we went on to set a record for the highest number of human cases in one season.”

Mississippians should take appropriate precautions to reduce the risk of contracting WNV and other mosquito-borne illnesses year-round: remove sources of standing water, especially after rainfall; if you will be in mosquito-prone areas, wear protective clothing during peak times from dusk until dawn.

— MBJ staff

Fitch

state’s required curriculum would fulfill the vision of Mississippi Council on Economic Education founders former Gov. William Winter and John T. Dillion, chairman and CEO of International Paper.

The two launched the statewide initiative a decade ago with the goal of requiring Swartzfager economics courses as a requirement for obtaining a high school diploma.

Without introducing each student to the ins-andouts of spending, borrowing, budgeting household finances, “it’s going to be pretty tough for them to move along in life,” she told the forum audience.

“Let’s change the culture… and I think it starts with financial literacy,” added Fitch, only the second woman to serve as Mississippi’s state treasurer.

Four states — Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Utah — require a semester of instruction in personal finance. An additional 19 states require the training to be incorporated into other classroom instruction, according to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.

As Fitch sets out to rev up support for mandatory financial instruction, the Council on Economic Education “will continue to draw in as many new students as possible as an elective,” said Selena Swartzfager, council president.

There is always next year, says Mississippi Treasurer Lynn Fitch about her campaign to require financial literacy training in the state’s public schools.

The effort gained easy passage in the House but failed to get a vote in the Senate, a circumstance she thinks could be related to a misconception that financial literacy is already widely taught in Mississippi schools.

“Sen. Gray Tollison (chair of the Senate Education Committee) mentioned the reason he did not support it is because it’s already being taught,” Fitch said. “But under current law it’s an option, not a required class.”

Next year lawmakers should be better acquainted with the issue and more willing to examine its merits, the first-term state treasurer said in an email this week.

Fitch asked legislators to make training in such financial basics as household budgeting, writing checks, balancing checkbooks and understanding credit card interest mandatory in public schools. The training is offered in many high schools as a class elective but Fitch says few students are enrolling.

A state that leads the nation in payday loan shops and credit card payment delinquencies needs to do better, according to the treasurer.

During the 2011/2012 school year 5,869 out of 97,613 students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades took the personal finance elective in Mississippi, she said. “That's just 6 percent and that's a failing grade in our school system. Teaching the ins and outs of managing money is a very powerful gift to give a young person.”

The state, she said, is doing its children “a disservice by not providing them with the financial skills they need to support themselves such as how to balance a checkbook, budget, save and invest.”

Fitch said she “definitely” expects a big push to pass financial literacy will occur in the 2014 legislative session. “I would like to see Mississippi become the fifth state to require a semester of financial literacy, not the 50th,” she said. “It not only helps our students it helps our state.”

Fitch, a former bond attorney who ran the Mississippi State Personnel Board before winning election as treasurer in 2011, announced her financial literacy instruction campaign last November at the annual luncheon forum of the Mississippi Council on Economic Education. The council is a 10-year-old partnership with Mississippi’s major universities that has trained “master” teachers in economics who have brought economic and financial instruction to about 800,000 students in the state’s public, private and parochial schools.

Fitch said getting financial literacy included in the

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

EPA wants more info on proposed port expansion

Twin Peaks — competition for Hooters — eyes Jackson

GULFPORT — The federal government wants environmental studies on three projects related to the expansion of the state Port of Gulfport conducted so the impact on the entire Turkey Creek Watershed can be determined.

The Environmental Protection Agency made those comments in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Mobile, Ala. The Sun Herald reports the projects singled out by the EPA are still in the planning stage.

The Corps of Engineers is the lead agency for environmental assessments of port expansion; plans by Ward Investments to develop property in the Turkey Creek Watershed between U.S. Highway 49 and Canal Road in Gulfport; and a port connector road the state plans to build near Canal Road south of Interstate 10 to the port.

BANKING AND FINANCE

Class-action complaint filed over bank merger Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, LLP of San Diego has started a class action, through an amended complaint filed on April 8 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi on behalf of all holders of First M&F

Twin Peaks Restaurant, a sports restaurant with a mountain lodge atmosphere and waitresses in revealing uniforms, is expected to open in June at 6010 I-55 Frontage Road in Jackson in the now-vacant Lone Star Steakhouse building, according the restaurant website fsrmagazine.com. Work has begun on remodeling the structure.

Twin Peeks is a fast-growing eatery, known for its “ultimate man cave atmosphere,” including waitresses in low-cut, midriff tops and short shorts. The Dallas-based chain’s slogan is “Eats. Drinks. Scenic Views.”

According to a legal notice seeking an alcohol permit filed in March in Hinds County, the managing group of Beachside Ski Lodge, LLC is headed by managing member is Lee Bradley Smith of Baton Rouge and member Paul Brian Howard of Myrtle Beach.

Last summer, the group announced plans to open Twin Peaks restaurants in Jackson, Hattiesburg and the Gulf Coast. Opening dates for Hattiesburg and the Gulf Coast are not available.

Last year, Twin Peaks signed agreements with new and existing franchisees for 50 commitments, which would give the restaurant more than 100 stores over the next few years. It hopes to have more than 50 restaurants open by the end of 2013.

— Frank Brown / MBJ staff

Corporation (FMFC) common stock as of Feb. 7, 2013, in connection with the proposed takeover of FMFC and Merchants and Farmers Bank by Renasant Corporation and Renasant Bank.

On Feb. 7, FMFC announced that FMFC, Merchants and Renasant had entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby FMFC and Merchants would be merged with Renasant.

Through the merger, the public shareholders of FMFC would have the right to receive 0.6425 shares of Renasant common stock for each share of FMFC common stock they own.

The amended complaint charges FMFC’s board

of directors and Renasant with violations of §§14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “1934 Act”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Rule 14a-9 in connection with the Form S-4 (the “S-4”) defendants filed with the SEC on March 29, 2013 regarding the proposed merger between FMFC, Merchants and Renasant.

The amended complaint alleges that the S-4 contains material omissions and/or misstatements in contravention of §§14(a) and 20(a) of the 1934 Act and SEC Rule 14a-9 and/or defendants’ fiduciary duty of disclosure under state law.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

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

200 North Congress, Suite 400 Jackson, MS 39201-1902 Main: (601) 364-1000; Toll Free: 1-800-283-4625 Faxes: Advertising (601) 364-1007; Circulation (601) 364-1035 E-mails: mbj@msbusiness.com, ads@msbusiness.com, photos@msbusiness.com, research@msbusiness.com, events@msbusiness.com

Website: www.msbusiness.com April 12, 2013 Volume 35, Number 15

ALAN TURNER Publisher alan.turner@msbusiness.com • 364-1021 ROSS REILY Editor ross.reily@msbusiness.com • 364-1018 WALLY NORTHWAY Senior Writer wally.northway@msbusiness.com • 364-1016 FRANK BROWN Staff Writer/Special Projects frank.brown@msbusiness.com • 364-1022 TED CARTER Staff Writer ted.carter@msbusiness.com • 364-1017 CLAY CHANDLER Staff Writer clay.chandler@msbusiness.com • 364-1015

MBJPERSPECTIVE April 12, 2013 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

OUR VIEW

Jackson Zoo should be moved to LeFleur’s Bluff here needs to be a long-term plan put in place for the Jackson Zoo, which could be a crown jewel for tourism in Jackson. It is in many other cities, like Memphis and Birmingham.

The state Bond Commission recently approved the sale of $199 million in tax-exempt bonds for which the Jackson Zoo will receive $1 million.

Several other local projects received bond money as well. The Mississippi Children’s Museum will receive $750,000; $250,000 is going to the Mississippi Crafts Center; $500,000 to Lovett Elementary School in

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Clinton; $1 million for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge; $1 million for Lake Harbour Road; $100,000 for Parham Bridges Park; the University of Mississippi Medical Center will receive $31 million for a new medical school.

Spending that much money for anything in this day and age should be scrutinized, but a reasonable case can be made for the funding of all of those projects except the Jackson Zoo in its present location.

Last year, the Legislature supplied $1.3 million for the zoo; the year before was the same. Yet, the same problems continue to crop up — year after year.

Just to be clear, this is not an indictment on zoo supporters, staff or fundraisers.

Those are all people who work hard for an entity the Capitol City should have in some form or fashion.

Jackson is better off having a zoo. For that, there is no question. But the 110-acre site has outlived its usefulness.

There are those that would argue the zoo is historic. We would argue it is old and in a high-crime location for zoo-goers; many people don’t visit the zoo simply because of that.

See ZOO, Page 8

STEPHEN MCDILL Staff Writer stephen.mcdill@msbusiness.com • 364-1041 TAMI JONES Advertising Director tami.jones@msbusiness.com • 364-1011

>> CHUCK MCINTOSH

>> EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

‘Sanctuary’ best book I have read in a decade

MELISSA KILLINGSWORTH Sr. Account Executive

melissa.harrison@msbusiness.com • 364-1030 ASHLEY VARNES Account Executive ashley.varnes@msbusiness.com • 364-1013

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VIRGINIA HODGES Account Executive virginia.hodges@msbusiness.com • 364-1012 TACY RAYBURN Production Manager tacy.rayburn@msbusiness.com • 364-1019 CHARINA RHODES Circulation Manager charina.rhodes@msbusiness.com • 364-1045 MARCIA THOMPSON-KELLY Business Assistant marcia.kelly@msbusiness.com • 364-1044 SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES (601) 364-1000 subscriptions@msbusiness.com Mississippi Business Journal (USPS 000-222) is published weekly with one annual issue by MSBJ 200 N. Congress St., Suite 400, Jackson, MS 39201. Periodicals postage paid at Jackson, MS. Subscription rates: 1 year $109; 2 years $168; and 3 years $214.

To place orders, temporarily stop service, change your address or inquire about billing: Phone: (601) 364-1000, Fax: (601) 364-1035, Email: charina.rhodes@msbusiness.com, Mail: MS Business Journal Subscription Services, 200 N.Congress Street, Suite 400, Jackson, MS 39201 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mississippi Business Journal, Circulation Manager, 200 North Congress Street, Suite 400, Jackson, MS 39201 To submit subscription payments: Mail: MS Business Journal Subscriptions Services, 200 North Congress Street, Suite 400, Jackson, MS 39201.

No material in this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent. Editorial and advertising material contained in this publication is derived from sources considered to be reliable, but the publication cannot guarantee their accuracy. Nothing contained herein should be construed as a solicitation for the sale or purchase of any securities.

It is the policy of this newspaper to employ people on the basis of their qualifications and with assurance of equal opportunity and treatment regardless of race, color, creed, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or handicap.

The Mississippi Business Journal, is an affiliate of Journal Publishing Company (JPC), Inc.: Clay Foster, president and chief executive officer.

Entire contents copyrighted © 2013 by Journal Inc. All rights reserved.

>> HOW TO WRITE 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.

>> 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.

>> 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 email at editor@msbusiness.com.

little over a year ago, my sister-in-law suggested a book to my wife.

She, in turn, suggested it to me, saying it was a good book by a Mississippi author.

At the time, I had no idea the book “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” would become one of my favorite books of all time. So much so, that I routinely recommend it to people even if the topic of books hasn’t come up.

Just last week, I suggested it to someone.

Author Neil White couldn’t be more authentic. The Mississippi product put together a spellbinding true story of his life of how he has been through hell and back (much of his own doing) but managed to land on Ross Reily his own two feet. And he is a better man for it today.

According to the book cover, White — a journalist and magazine publisher — wanted the best for those he loved — nice cars, beautiful homes, luxurious clothing. He loaned money to family and friends, gave generously to his church, and invested in his community — but his bank account couldn’t keep up. Soon Neil began moving money from one account to another to avoid bouncing checks. His world fell apart when the FBI discovered his scheme and a judge sentenced him to eighteen months in federal prison.

You absolutely will not believe where the story takes you.

I won’t ruin the rest of the story, but “Sanctuary of Outcasts” is an uplifting memoir that reminds us all what matters most.

See REILY, Page 8

PERSPECTIVE

April 12, 2013 I Mississippi Business Journal

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» RICKY NOBILE » MIND OVER MONEY

NYC trip is a reminder that students will respond when asked m a finance junkie. I love studying markets and tracking economic indicators, all with an eye for finding opportunities or avoiding investing traps. It's a joy to share this with my students.

Thispastweek,Iwasabletocombinethatwithmyotherlove— travel.ItookthreestudentstoafinancialconferenceinNewYorkCity.

NoneofthethreehadbeentotheBig Apple,soitwasadoublewhammy.

This conference is designed for students but offers me the chance Nancy Anderson to sit at the feet of economic and market experts. I lapped up every word, and I marveled at the attentiveness of students.

They came from schools across the country, so it was a big surprise to find ourselves seated directly in front of the group from Mississippi State. These young people, who often show up for class in their PJs, were dressed to the nines for a business conference. They showed up at eight in the morning and listened carefully to words of wisdom from the Wall Street gurus. And they asked great questions.

It occurred to me that we often underestimate young people. When asked, they will clean up. When prompted, they will show up at eight in the morning.

When pushed, they will think critically and ask important questions. It's up to the adults in the room to keep raising the bar.

The conference was very educational for me and for my students, but the education continued when we took to the streets of Manhattan. From street vendors to skyscrapers, we experienced a different world. And we dipped into history with our view of the Statue of Liberty and our trek through the World Trade Center Memorial. The entire experience broadened horizons and was just plain fun.

Along the way, our little group bonded. I think this may have happened about the time I got us lost in the subway! Regardless, they were troopers.

Education doesn't just happen in the classroom, and it doesn't just happen from professor to student. It happens when experiences bring concepts to life. It happens when strangers express new thoughts, and it happens when groups share ideas.

And it can only happen when educational institutions commit to a broader definition of the classroom by putting their money where their mouths are. Thank you, Mississippi College, for the opportunity for this old dog to learn a few new tricks.

I’

»UNDER THE CAPITOL DOME

Legislature often like extended family

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t was a poignant bookend to the 2013 session of the Mississippi Legislature — the passing of a House of Representatives seat from father to surviving son.

During the session’s opening hours on Jan. 8, lawmakers were told that Rep. David Gibbs of West Point was stepping down because of poor health. The resignation letter for 76-year-old Democrat was never filed with the secretary of state’s office, though, and he remained a House member until he died of cancer less than a week later on Jan. 13.

During the session’s closing hours this past Thursday, Gibbs’ only child, 43-year-old Karl Gibbs, stood at the front of the House chamber with his wife, son and mother, put his hand on a Bible and took the oath of office to represent District 36. It’s the seat his father had held since January 1993, in parts of Clay, Lowndes and Monroe counties.

Rep. Karl Gibbs, D-West Point, received a standing ovation from his new colleagues.

“I’m very excited,” he told reporters a few minutes later. “I grew up with this... watching my father and helping him do various things.”

Mississippi lawmakers engage in tough debates over policy issues. But during the past few months, a series of tragedies, including the death of Gibbs, caused them to set aside political differences, if only for a few hours or days, to help each other grieve.

“It is a family down here,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton. “We come from different backgrounds and races and parties, but we do pull together in those times of tragedy.”

When all the seats are filled, the Mississippi House has 122 members and the Senate has 52. It’s not unusual for one or two lawmakers to become ill each year — but it is out of the ordinary for multiple members of the Legislature to die within a matter of months. » Sen. Bennie Turner, D-West Point, died Nov. 27 at age 64, after

an extended illness. He had served at the Capitol 20 years. His daughter and law partner won a special election to fill his seat in District 16, which covers all of Clay County and parts of Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties. Sen. Angela Turner, D-West Point, took her oath Jan. 23.

Emily W. Pettus » Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson, died Dec. 6 at age 64, also after an extended illness.

She made history in 1987 by becoming the first black woman to win a seat in the Mississippi Senate. Sen. Sollie Norwood, D-Jackson, took his oath March 4, after winning a special election in District 28, entirely in Hinds County. » Rep. Joe Gardner, D-Batesville, died of a heart attack Feb. 4 at age 68. He had served in the House since 2007. A special election runoff April 16 will determine who will succeed Gardner in District 11, in parts of Panola and Tate counties. » Rep. Jessica Upshaw, R-Diamondhead, died March 24 in Mendenhall, of what the local sheriff said appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot. She had represented District 95, in parts of Hancock and Harrison counties, since January 2004.

Gov. Phil Bryant has set a May 28 special election, with a June 18 runoff, if needed.

The fathers of two House members died mid-session, and the young niece of one was killed in a wreck. Two House members were hospitalized. Each time, lawmakers bowed their heads and prayed together.

“It has been a very unique and difficult year,” Gunn said. “I talked to one of the members, a Democratic member, who had been here 30 years. He said in 30 years, he has never seen a session filled with as much personal tragedy.”

Emily Wagster Pettus covers state politics for the Mississippi Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus

» It's up to the adults in the room to keep raising the bar.

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.

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8 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

PERSPECTIVE

>>VIEW FROM THE STENNIS INSTITUTE

ZOO

My most useful and favorite business and management books

A

s the end of the semester approaches I recall two questions that one of the smartest students I have ever had in my management class asked. I had just given my thoughts on what it takes to succeed in life. I opened the floor for questions or comments.

The student asked these two questions: “How do you define success?” and “What business or management books do you have on your shelf that you would not throw away?”

The answer to the first question was easy for me because I use it often in seminars and retreats. It is a quote from Earl Nightingale. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal,” he said. I amend the statement slightly to say that success is the progressive achievement of a series of worthy goals. Without goals or purpose there is no hope. Once a person gives up hope there is no longer any reason to live.

Now for my list of books. Note that the question is predicated on the books that I have on my shelf, not what I would list as the best business or management books of all time. That would be another list altogether. The question also contains a qualifier, i.e. which books I would not throw away. Below are the first seven books that come to mind. » The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Free Press) by Stephen Covey — This is the classic business and self-help book. It has sold over 25 million copies. It is on my desk most of the time because I refer to it often for reinforcement of its concepts. Of the seven habits, the one that I use most often is, “Begin with the end in mind.” » Good to Great (HarperBusiness) by Jim Collins — This book changed my perspective about strategic planning. I facilitate a lot of strategic planning retreats and I believe strongly that successful people plan, execute and continually evaluate the plan. Nevertheless, this book and my own business and management experience made me realize that getting the right people on the bus is even more important than strategic planning. In other words, putting together the team is more important than coming up with the plan. » Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (McGraw-Hill) by Kerry Patterson, et al. — One thing I like about this book is its examples of change, especially social change. Among the examples used are a drug rehab center in California that has a 90 percent success rate and a method that curbed the spread of AIDS in Thailand. As a Mississippian, it makes me ponder some of my state’s dismal statistics that are related to behavior, and how changing those behaviors could change the statistics. » The Essential Peter Drucker (HarperBusiness) by Peter F. Drucker — This is a collection of 26 writings by Drucker, a management guru if there ever was one. He is even described as having invented to discipline of management. Taking a cue from the title, it is the essential management book. I like this book because it is a good summary of Drucker’s ideas and research in a

REILY

Continued from Page 6

I recommend it to you as the best book I have read in more than a decade. I hope you enjoy it.

Ban on political yard signs makes Diamondhead community a shining star It’s election time again — that time when candidates from every political party and persuasion are littering neighborhoods with signs pimping themselves to who ever drives or walks past.

The proper word to be used here is litter. Political signs

Phil Hardwick relatively small package. » Roads to Success (DK) by Robert Heller — This book is a collection of “ideas and innovations of eight of the world’s most successful business leaders.” Those eight leaders are Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, Stephen Covey, Jack Welch, Charles Handy and Andrew Grove. It’s part of the publisher’s “Business Masterminds” series. What I like about this book is that I can open it to any page and begin reading. » Man’s Search for Meaning (Beacon Press) by Victor Frankl — This book, which was first published in 1959, opens with Dr. Frankl’s experience as a prisoner in a concentration camp (Aushwitz) during the Holocaust. A psychiatrist, he discusses what happened to prisoners who gave up and what happened to prisoners who did not. Those who saw a future and a meaning or purpose in life were better able to survive. When The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren came out I immediately thought about Frankl’s book. Frankl’s book is also interesting for his discussion of the abuse of power, not by the guards in the prison camp, but by those prisoners who were put in charge of fellow prisoners. I highly recommend this book. » The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library) by Jane Jacobs — I refer to this book quite often because of my interest in neighborhoods and cities, and how they change and evolve. I admire Jane Jacobs because she was interested in a subject and researched it. She was not an architect, a city planner or an expert in the field. At least, not in the beginning. Her story tells me that anyone with an interest in anything can do original research and come to their own conclusions without simply reciting the so-called experts’ opinions. She epitomizes my belief that one should “think for yourself.”

The reason that these six books came to mind is because I find that I refer to them often. They have influenced my thinking.

The above are by no means the only books on my shelf. Some other books on my shelf that I refer to, but not quite as often are as follows: » The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (Harper Perennial) by Barry Schwartz » Leadership is an Art (Crown Business) by Max Dupree » Primal Leadership (Harvard Business Review Press) - Daniel Goleman » The Big Sort (Mariner Books) by Bill Bishop » Wooden on Leadership (McGraw-Hill) by John Wooden » How To Win Friends and Influence People (Simon & Schuster) by Dale Carnegie » Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey Bass) by Patrick M. Lencion So which books are on your shelf that you would not throw away?

Phil Hardwick is coordinator of capacity development at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government. Pease contact Hardwick at phil@philhardwick.com.

in yards are uglier than Jim Hood’s hair at 5 a.m. — you get the picture.

It makes my stomach turn to see the signs. It ruins my day… If you can’t tell, political yard signs are not my favorite thing in the world.

So, I was excited to see a story in Biloxi’s Sun Herald stating that the town of Diamondhead on the Coast has a restriction on political yard signs.

Though the city allows political signs to be placed everywhere except city property, the story states, the Diamondhead Property Owners Association’s covenant prohibits the placement of political signs in yards.

Apparently, Republican mayoral candidate Carl Necaise

Continued from Page 6

It wasn’t that long ago that stray dogs attacked and killed zoo animals. In one instance, five flamingos were killed and two were injured. That was one week after dogs killed two young gazelles.

One of the biggest blows to the zoo’s reputation, though, was the loss in 2011 of two African elephants, Juno and Rosie, which were relocated for financial reasons.

For 87 years elephants had been a staple at the Jackson Zoo. In a more recent move, the zoo has spent $230,000 and built a splash pad for children to play in, but there is so much more that needs to be done.

The bottom line is there either needs to be a concerted effort to develop the area around the zoo or move it to an area that can attract more funding.

One location local parents have suggested for relocation is the Lefleur’s Bluff State Park golf course, along Interstate 55 and Lakeland Drive. That would expand on an already thriving tourist destination Taking away a nine-hole golf course is hardly a problem, considering there are nearly 50 golf courses in or near the Jackson area.

LeFleur’s Bluff offers nearly 150 acres of land which could be developed for a zoo, and the location along the interstate and next to the Mississippi Museum of Natural History, the Mississippi Children’s Museum, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum as well as the Mississippi Agriculture Museum would be perfect for tourists traveling through the Jackson area.

We understand this idea is not perfect as there is a lot more money to be spent by moving the zoo to another location. Zoos are expensive to upkeep, let alone designing and building one from scratch.

But, at least, moving the Jackson Zoo to the LeFleur’s Bluff location would be an investment in the future with a clean, clear plan that takes advantage of the area’s built-in strengths.

If there are better plans out there, we are willing to listen. We are for a better Jackson and a better Mississippi.

With so much competition for tourism dollars, residents and tourists demand quality and the zoo is not providing enough.

When Jackson failed to provide a quality location for a minor league baseball team, Pearl swooped in and provided one and, in turn, provided an economic boost to the suburb.

Now is the time to have vision and make a change before another city decides it is a good idea.

is upset about the policy and is concerned about getting his name out.

My advice to Carl is to buy an ad and quit littering the landscape.

No one wants to see your sign, and if you don’t understand that, you shouldn’t be mayor.

We could only hope that every town in Mississippi and across America would make the same choice as Diamondhead by not allowing political yard signs to litter our neighborhoods.

Contact Mississippi Business Journal editor Ross Reily at ross.reily@msbusiness.com or (601) 364-1018

April 12, 2013

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Event photos by Deryll Stegall

MBJ 50 Leading Business Women Alumni Breakfast

Janel Sullivan with co-workers, family and friends.

It’s not that often that hundreds of Mississippi’s most powerful women are in the same room at the same time. However, that’s exactly what happened last week during the Mississippi Business Journal’s 50 Leading Business Women Alumni Breakfast during the MBJ Business and technology EXPO in Jackson.

Four of the former Business Women of the Year spoke about what the award has meant to them in their lives and careers.

Families and friends saluted business women from Bay St. Louis to Batesville, Cleveland to Columbus and McComb to Meridian.

Raphael Semmes Combo

Business Woman of the Year from 1999, Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, speaks at the alumni breakfast.

Amanda Fontaine

REGIONS SMALL BUSIN ESS Name m :

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SOLUTIONS IN TUNE WITH YOU – IT’S HOW REGIONS KEEPS THE WHEELS OF PROGRESS TURNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS. Rosi Johnson joined Mississippi Music, Inc., in 1973 at the request of the owners – her in-laws. She brought her ďŹ nancial skills to the table and learned the music business from the ground up. In 2002, she became president of the company and its four full-line music store locations. “Our business is complex,â€? says Rosi. “But Regions understands how all the different parts of it work. And I use their branch network and iTreasurySM online banking to move the money from all of our locations into one account.â€?

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! $ Through the years, Regions has helped with lending solutions to purchase more efďŹ cient inventory systems for the company and to ďŹ nance new locations. A line of credit also helps smooth out cash ow uctuations due to the seasonal nature of the business. “Regions has been there for us through all our changes and helped us overcome all our challenges,â€? says Rosi. To learn more about Mississippi Music, Inc., and how Regions can assist your business, visit regions.com/success.

Congratulations to the Top 50 Leading Business Women.

Loans | Checking | Savings | Treasury Management | Wealth Management "

April 12, 2013

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Event photos by Deryll Stegall

MBJ 50 Leading Business Women Alumni Breakfast

Mende Alford, Cathy Northington and Sister Dorothea Sodgeroth

Lynn Fitch and Charlotte Reeves

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The Mississippi Economic Council congratulates the ”Top 50 Women in Business“ Thank you for being an inspiration to us and the rest of Mississippi The contributions made by women who are leaders within the business community throughout Mississippi have brought about positive change in our state’s economic competitiveness, educational achievement and quality of life.

Moving Mississippi forward requires a continuation of the partnership between leaders in both the private and public sectors. This is why it is so important that leading businesswomen in all regions of our state remain at the forefront.

Blueprint Mississippi creates a strategy to position Mississippi in “The Place of Greatest Opportunity.”

As leaders your input is vital to make sure this comprehensive plan is implemented. Stay up to date on the progress by going to www.blueprintmississippi.com.

Your involvement will help ensure a brighter future for Mississippi.

www.blueprintmississippi.com

www.mec.ms

MEC … a proud sponsor of “Top 50 Women in Business” for 13 years.

P.O. Box 23276 • Jackson, MS 39225-3276 (601) 969-0022 1-800-748-7626 Fax: (601) 353-0247 or 1-888-717-2809

April 12, 2013

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Event photos by Deryll Stegall

MBJ 50 Leading Business Women Alumni Breakfast

Mende Alford, 2013 Business Woman of Year

Rosi Johnson, 2011 Business Woman of Year

Janet Sullivan, 2010 Business Woman of Year

Deidra Danahar, Wilma Clopton and Kimberly Hollingsworth

Penny Danford, Carolyn Boteler and Janice Knight

Jane Dennis, 2007 Business Woman of Year

14 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

NETWORKING

EXPO turns 30 with bigger than ever event » MBJ’s annual business & technology showcase saw huge growth in exhibitors

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

With the weather warming up outside, nearly a 100 exhibitors inside the Mississippi Trade Mart last week heated up some interest in their products and services as visitors strolled the aisles of the Mississippi Business Journal’s Business & Technology EXPO, the state’s largest business-tobusiness networking event..

Mercedes-Benz of Jackson salesman Doug White set up shop at a busy corner of one aisle. His plan was simple: gain a two-fer of sorts. One could bring immediate benefits and the other perhaps in 20 years or so.

First, he got to pitch the idea of automotive luxury to plenty of adult visitors to his booth. And kids who accompanied their parents got to see something they would not soon forget: a red, single-seat miniature Mercedes coupe with white-rimmed wheels any child would love. Seeing the youngsters looking wide-eyed at the car, White knew he was cultivating the next-generation of high-end automobile buyers.

“It’s our Mercedes ‘starter kit’,” White said, kneeling by the car to let a visitor snap a photo.

White and the rest of the salespeople at Mercedes-Benz of Jackson are capped off a record year in 2012.

The German carmaker’s small SUVs, starting at around $36,000, are selling well, as are the sedans in the GLK and C classes, he said.

And adding to the dealership’s good fortune is a complete avoidance of any damage from Jackson’s recent hail storm. “We didn’t get the first hit,” White said, breathing a sigh of relief.

The booth next to White was not selling a product — it was promoting the idea of teaching Mississippi’s children the value of learning about finance, economics and starting and operating a business. It was the non-profit Mississippi Council on Economic Education’s first time as an EXPO exhibitor, said Selena Swartzfager, council president.

“We hope to let the business community know we’re here,” Swartzfager said. “Even though there are a lot of people who now about us, there are just as many who don’t.”

An added benefit as an exhibitor came with the networking with teachers and other education professionals involved in EXPO, she said. “We’re having a good time talking with them, and letting them know we’re here for them.”

Through funds contributed by the business-sector, the council provides no-cost training in economics, finance and entrepreneurship to teachers throughout Mississippi.

The idea is to get them to take their new knowledge back to the classroom, Swartzfager said The 10-year-old council will be announcing plans later this month for its annual luncheon forum. Normally held in November, this year’s event at the Jackson Convention complex will likely be moved to late September or early

TED CARTER / The Mississippi Business Journal

AT&T’s Yolanda Gunn introduced visitors to YP.com; Mercedes-Benz of Jackson salesman Doug White brought along a Mercedes “start kit”; Regions Bank’s Jackson executives Candie L. Simmons and Brian Lott acquainted EXPO visitors with Regions’ many financial services products.

October, the president noted.

Last year’s speaker was controversial but entertaining Fox Business News commentator Stuart Varney, an economist by trade. This year’s guest speaker is still a secret, though Swartzfager revealed the speaker is a non-economist but someone well known to Mississippians.

The council depends on business contributions to put on its annual luncheon and gains much of that through the selling of sponsorship banners. “If there is a business that wants to support financial literacy or economic education we are taking pledges,” Swartzfager said of the opportunity to pledge a banner buy and pay later.

Across the exhibit hall was a booth displaying something both entirely new yet quite familiar – the Yellow Pages.

The Yellow Pages can still be found in what use to be the ubiquitous phone book but their content is also digital and parent company AT&T is providing it on many different

electronic platforms. Today’s name for the new generation of Yellow Pages is YP.com.

Access is through the customary web page at YP.com or through a Smart Phone app. The YP.com app, said Yolanda Gunn, area sales manager for new media, “directs consumers in the area to business owners.”

If you need a plumber in Jackson, the app gives you the plumbers and their contact information, she said. If you have a specific plumber in mind but don’t have the contact information, it will give you that as well, she said.

YP.com is expanding the reach of its business listing information through partnerships with search engines such as Yahoo! and Google. But as Gunn is quick to point out: The Yellow Pages “are the original search engine.”

And perhaps best of all, YP.com is promising to end See

EXPO, Page 15

April 12, 2013

EXPO

Continued from Page 14

those annoying and frustrating web searches by the Brand X search sites that get you to the businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; name and address but insist you pay a fee to see the number.

Want the number for free? Click on YP.com, Gunn says.

Among visitors to the EXPO was Jayne Jackson, membership coordinator for the Madison County Chamber of Commerce.

She made a special point of stopping by the Mississippi Business Journalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40-under-40 awards luncheon at the Trade Mart. That gave her an opportunity to cheer on her friends and business acquaintances who were accepting the awards recognizing them as up-and-coming leaders in Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business and civic life.

Some of those same award winners will likely be taking part in the May 18 Dragon Boat Regatta sponsored by the Madison Chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ZIP 39 Young Professionals.

Companies, groups and even individuals participate in the daylong races at Pelican Cove. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We offer businesses a way to have an easy, not-complicated company picnic,â&#x20AC;?

Jackson said.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing it for years and years. We have made a lot of great contacts and new business partnerships.â&#x20AC;?

Carolyn Boteler TempStaff

Competing are teams from the Ridgeland police and fire departments (the police won last year in a photo finish over the firefighters) and dozens of other organizations and businesses, including the likes of Mint the Restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Two-Dollar Ores.â&#x20AC;?

For businesses, the regatta offers an opportunity to practice team building â&#x20AC;&#x153;because you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t row the boat unless you work together,â&#x20AC;? Jackson said.

The dragon boats are trucked down from Canada and raced four at a time in 100-yard heats on the Ross Barnett Reservoir at Pelican Cove.

Besides helping to organize the boat race, Jackson has been bringing her outgoing personality to the airwaves at noon Wednesdays and Fridays on WLEZ,

98.1FM. Some Oldies music and some unscripted talk and call-ins are all part of the show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a lot of fun,â&#x20AC;? Jackson said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not serious. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like chatting on the back patio.â&#x20AC;?

Last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EXPO marked a 30-year milestone for the annual business and technology show. Carolyn Botelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TempStaff crew has exhibited at many of those EXPOs. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a time for the staff of the 29-year-old temporary employment service company to renew old acquaintances and make new ones, said Boteler, owner of the company. said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing it for years and years,â&#x20AC;?

she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have made a lot of great contacts and new business partnerships.â&#x20AC;?

EXPO has become even more important for the staffing firm as more companies begin depending on full-service companies such as TempStaff to provide workers and human resource management. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had significant growth last year,â&#x20AC;? Boteler said, particularly in permanent placement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good sign for the economy,â&#x20AC;? noted Boteler, whose TempStaff has offices in Jackson, Madison, Canton, McComb and Brookhaven. The company specializes in providing clerical and warehouse workers.

TempStaff is known at EXPO for its

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large green cloth carry bags. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great to look down the aisle and see al the green bags,â&#x20AC;? Boteler said with a smile.

Billed as the venue â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where Business Meets Commerce,â&#x20AC;? the 30th EXPO had a 20 percent increase in exhibitors this year.

The visitor draw was just what exhibitor and Mississippi market leader Regions Bank had hoped to see. EXPO â&#x20AC;&#x153;gives people the chance to meet our bankers,â&#x20AC;? said Candie L. Simmons, Regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional marketing director, who staffed the exhibit along with Brian Lott, a Regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant vice president and mortgage loan originator.

16 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

CONSTRUCTION

Building back? » Nonresidential contractors finally hear good news

BY WALLY NORTHWAY I STAFF WRITER wally.northway@msbusiness.com

While there has been a fair amount of good news lately about a rebound in homebuilding in Mississippi and across the U.S., commercial contractors have been waiting impatiently for a little sunshine to come their way.

Perhaps their long wait is over.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said C.J. “Buddy” Edens, president of the Mississippi chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). “We are definitely seeing some positive signs in the commercial arena here in Mississippi.”

Far from just a good feeling, Edens has some numbers to back up his position.

According to figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, nonresidential spending rose 0.7 percent last February. Total nonresidential spending stood at $575.6 billion, up more than 2.5 percent over February 2012.

This marked a significant turnaround from last January, which saw nonresidential spending fall a full 3.3 percent on a monthly basis. Total spending last January was up a mere 0.8 percent compared to January 2012.

February’s healthier figures came as something of a surprise to industry experts, many of whom forecasted a crippled industry being further impacted by wrangling and stalemate in Washington. That has not happened — at least for now — says ABC chief economist Anirban Basu.

“February was unusual in a number of ways, but perhaps the most interesting was the increase in public nonresidential construction,” Basu said in a statement. “This is a segment that has been slumping for an extended period, and the expectation has been that public nonresidential construction would continue to struggle to acquire momentum due to the impact of the automatic sequestration. However, the impacts of sequestration largely remain in front of us.”

Basu, who called last January’s spending decline “particularly alarming,” echoed Eden’s cautious optimism saying recovery will not be brisk but there is “forward momentum.”

Edens said he sees slow growth ahead and a full return to “normalcy” in 2014 or 2015.

“We do have positives to talk about finally here at home,” he added. “We are seeing an upturn in the number of projects out for bid. Perhaps more importantly, we’re seeing an increase in private projects, which tells us private investors are feeling better about the course of the economy.”

Of the 16 nonresidential construction sectors, 11 saw increases in spending in February, and nine recorded yearover-year increases.

The biggest jump was in the lodging sector, which led the February increase at 4.2 percent and was up year-over-year by a more-than-healthy 16 percent.

The biggest losers in February on a monthly basis were communications (-9.1 percent) and amusement and recreation (-2.2). On a yearly basis, public safety was off 13.1 perSee

BUILDING, Page 19

SIGNIFICANT RECENT NONRESIDENTIAL PROJECTS ANNOUNCED IN MISS. » Major infrastructure work in Jackson. The Capital City’s $90-million project to improve its crumbling water/sewer system. The Mississippi Development Authority has approved the work, which is expected to include an upgrade to the city's two water plants, installation new meters and repair or replacement of approximately two miles of sewer lines. The contractor is Siemens. » Design work on GRAMMY® Museum Mississippi in Cleveland.

A host of architects are working on the facility that will sit on four acres and encompass more than 20,000 square feet. Bids are approximately a year out, and opening is scheduled for early 2015. » Renovation of the nursing unit at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jackson. Birmingham, Ala.-based Brasfield & Gorrie will work with Dean and Dean/Associates Architects, The CGM Group, and Jon D. Rice & Associates, all of Jackson, on the demolition/renovation project that will encompass 156,000 square feet. It is expected to be completed in 2015. » Construction of a new navigation system at Madison airport. The Vortac system’s tower stands six stories high and is 100 yards wide. » Conversion of the former Red Carpet Lanes bowling alley in Vicksburg to a four-building retail center. The bowling alley closed in 2007 after nearly 50 years of operation. The new owners are Baton Rouge, La.-based developers Michael and Mitch Kimble of Kimble Development. » Demolition and redevelopment of the Singing River Mall. Last month, the City of Gautier, the Wal-Mart Real Estate Trust and developers Singing River, LLC and SM Properties Gautier, LLC, reached an agreement to convert the space into a 350,000-square-foot mixed-use development. It will entail demolishing 250,000 square feet of the existing space. » Interstate/interchange redevelopment in Laurel.

Dunn Roadbuilders has begun the project on Interstate 59 that will result in a redesign of traffic flow at the Interstate 59/16th Avenue/Exit 95 interchange. The project is expected to wrap up this summer.

ROAD TO NOWHERE » Pepper frustrated by lack of highway funds

BY WALLY NORTHWAY I STAFF WRITER wally.northway@msbusiness.com

Mike Pepper had just stepped out of a meeting during yet another long legislative session. The frustration was evident in his voice.

It hasn’t been very fun being executive director of the Mississippi Road Builders’ Association lately. Pepper has watched a wobbly economy and dwindling state Pepper funding rob his members of work.

So, he almost scoffed when asked if he had seen the numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce showing nonresidential construction spending was up in February, and the road/street sector saw the second-highest month-overmonth gain among the 16 construction sectors.

“I’ve heard people talking — it’s come up in meetings,” Pepper said, “but we’re not seeing it here in Mississippi. My members aren’t seeing it, I can tell you that.

“Perhaps the good news is that we’re holding steady. At least we’re not still in a decline. But to be quite honest about it, we can’t go down any farther — there’s nowhere to go but up from here. We simply must have better funding.”

The state’s road builders have been asking legislators for increased funding, maintaining that the fuel tax assessment passed in the 1987 highway bill is inadequate. And they are not alone.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall has said repeatedly that the bill’s 18-cent fuel tax made short-term political sense, but is not meeting the maintenance needs of the state’s transportation infrastructure. That 18 cents is worth about a dime today, Hall told the MBJ. “Back then, gas cost a dollar,” Hall said. “If we had made it a percentage we would not have this problem now.”

Unfortunately for road builders, two bills that would have offered alternative funding did not make it to the governor’s desk. In fact, neither even made it out of committee.

For Pepper, it means another bad year for his members.

“I don’t understand it,” he said. The fact that the taxunfriendly GOP controls Mississippi is not an excuse, either, he added. “Other states with GOP leadership have changed their funding mechanisms; they’ve found a way to get it done. Why haven’t we done anything?”

Pepper pointed to many states as example, including Virginia where highway funding was increased partially by sales tax.

“I’m not advocating anything that radical,” Pepper said. “But, it does show that state’s are finding creative ways of funding highway and street projects. Mississippi has a reputation for being reactive. Maybe our leaders will see what these other states are doing and come up with something.

“I wonder where the business community is on this. I have just one question for them. Are you happy with your infrastructure? That’s it — all I want to know. If the answer is no, then speak up.”

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REAL ESTATE

Jackson faces geographic challenges on warehouse diistribution front » Mississippi CCIM commercial real estate forum addresses range of subjects

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

Warehouse distribution centers are going to become more prominent than ever once an expanded Panama Canal opens in early 2015 and greatly increases an already-enormous volume of retail goods coming into the United States from China and the rest of Asia.

Jackson, though a trucking and rail crossroads, could have a difficult time taking part in the distribution center boom.

Blame it on geography, says David Hoster II, CEO of EastGroup Properties, a multi-billion dollar industrial real estate company based in Jackson.

As fate would have it, getting situated between the major distribution center cities of New Orleans and Memphis greatly diminishes Jackson’s appeal as a player in the competition for warehouse distribution facilities, said Hoster in comments at a commercial real estate forum last week sponsored by the Mississippi Chapter of CCIM. Jackson’s potential to take part in the coming warehouse distribution boom was among a number of topics panelists addressed, including the affect online retail is having on warehouse building and leasing.

Panelists also addressed the timing of possible interest rate hikes and downtown Jackson’s office building vacancy rate.

In a question-and-answer portion of the forum, the leasing agent for the 350,000square-foot Landmark Center conceded Landmark lost the RFP competition to become the new headquarters of the Mississippi Department of Revenue purely on price. But the state put far more demands on the Landmark for fix-ups and retro-fits than it did principal competitor and lease winner South Pointe Business Park in Clinton, the leasing rep said.

Addressing Jackson’s potential to draw warehouse distribution centers, the EastGroup’s Hoster said the city is a victim of the desire of distributors to the nation’s giant retailers to “come out of one of those big boxes in a big city.”

It’s more efficient for distributors to do it that way, Hoster added. “There is so much regional big box distribution that

TED CARTER / The Mississippi Business Journal

Taking part in the Mississippi Chapter of CCIM forum are Paul Gunn of Watkins & Eager law firm, Dr. Matthew hill of the University of Mississippi, David Hoster II of EastGroup Properties and Jim Ingram of Hertz Investment Group.

nobody wants to distribute out of Jackson.

We’re not a distribution area.”

In fact, noted Hoster, FedEx does not fly in and out of Jackson. “It all comes in by truck and goes back by truck.”

Hoster said that even if a large distributor wanted to come to Jackson and set up at or near Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, the distributor likely would encounter difficulties dealing with the City of Jackson, a main landlord for airport-area land.

Hoster, whose company has 31 million square feet of industrial space valued at $2.5 billion, said he encountered a host of frustrations trying to develop some airport area industrial space. “Part of it was the politics of the city,” he said, calling the effort one of the “worst experiences of my career.”

Beyond development difficulties within the airport’s industrial zone, a developer must deal with the tendency of potential local tenants who want “a Cadillac at a

KIA price.”

As a result, he said, “We deal with national companies that come (to Jackson) from another city. They are looking for quality and expect to pay for that.”

Here is a rundown of other subjects and issues the CCIM panel addressed: >>> Look for online retailers such as Amazon.com to continue building regional distribution centers across the country to meet the demands of customers for nextday or – in some instance s—same-day delivery. Retailers “are trying to save money by sending overnight by ground,” Hoster said. “I think we (EastGroup) will benefit from that.”

On the other hand, online retail and its rapid-delivery effort could be tempered some by the inclination of Americans to want to see and touch the items they buy, said Jonathan Gould, CEO of New York City-based Stonemar Properties.

“Fifty-five percent of our economy is retail,” Gould reminded fellow panelists and the audience. “It’s not just how you can get a good overnight and so forth.

People do enjoy shopping. It’s part of the fabric of America.”

Retailers, he said, are finally waking up and integrating the Internet with their brick-and-mortar operations, he said. This can include having the good ordered online and shipped to the store the same day or returning the item online, Gould added.

He said he sees an opportunity for home improvement retailers – a category he says is well-known for an absence of in-store assistance – to set up online operations that allow the consumer to buy from home and have the item ready for pickup at the store shortly thereafter. “When you walk in you can’t get any help anyway,” Gould See

CCIM, Page 22

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CREATIVE ECONOMY

2013 Film Festivals >> Jewish Cinema Mississippi: January 2327, 2013. An annual Jackson favorite, the festival premiered Jewish and Holocaust-themed films like “My First Wedding” and “Remembrance.” www.jewishcinemams.com. >> Clarksdale Film Festival: January 24-27, 2013. Showcasing music-themed film screenings in historic, downtown Clarksdale. Juried competition for feature, documentary and short categories. www.jukejointfestival.com

Hollywood South » State film office, film festivals mark milestones, continue to grow industry

See

HOLLYWOOD SOUTH, Page 19

>> Natchez Literary & Cinema Celebration: February 21-24, 2013. The festival marked the 150th anniversary of the Civil War by focusing on the literature, films, music and other art forms influenced by the war. ww.visitnatchez.org. >> Oxford Film Festival: February 21-24, 2013. Celebrating ten years of filmmaker competition, screenings and workshops. www.oxfordfilmfest.com.

By STEPHEN McDILL I STAFF WRITER stephen.mcdill@msbusiness.com

Look out Georgia and Louisiana.

The Mississippi Film Office, the Mississippi Development Authority’s extended economic hand to Hollywood, is celebrating its 40th year of operations and many premier film festivals are ready for another summer of marketing the state to the inner echelons of the film industry.

In the last two decades alone, producers, location scouts and film crews have flocked to Mississippi to tell many stories.

Critically-acclaimed thrillers like “A Time to Kill” and “Ghosts of Mississippi” recounted Mississippi’s dark past of violence and racism while “My Dog Skip” and “O, Brother Where Art Thou” explored themes of family and friendship with lighter strokes.

The Best Picture-nominated film “The Help” directed by Mississippian Tate Taylor was filmed in Greenwood and Jackson in 2011 and last fall Oscar-nominated actor James Franco directed his unreleased adaptation of William Faulkner’s novel “As I Lay Dying” at Mississippi Film Studios in Canton.

Actor-turned Mississippi Film Office executive director Ward Emling says recently passed legislation will increase the effectiveness of his agency’s incentive programs that target the film industry and could lead to larger budget films with higher-profile actors in the coming years.

“We’ve been very methodically improving it as we see how the industry works,” Emling says. “We are constantly looking at what other states and countries are doing with their film programs and trying to adapt and improve.”

A bill that would raise to $5 million the amount of production payroll that can be applied to the agency’s motion picture rebate program awaits Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature. Emling says Mississippi already has a cash equivalent to rivals Georgia and

>> Magnolia Independent Film Festival: February 21-23, 2013. Recognized as the state’s oldest film festival, the event is held every year in Starkville and gives out awards for best feature, short, director and homegrown film. www.magnoliafilmfest.com.

>> Crossroads Film Festival: April 11-14, 2013 in Jackson. The event is a juried competition for a variety of genres including documentary.

Workshops on documentary story structure, social media and legal issues. Crossroads Jr. at Mississippi Museum of Art will have art and prop making activities. www.crossroadsfilmfestival.com. >> Delta International Film & Video Festival: April 24-26, 2013. The juried competition and screenings are held each year at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland. www.difvf.com. >> Tupelo Film Festival: May 15-19, 2013.

Celebrating ten years with filmmaker competition in student, short, documentary, animation, music video and feature categories that are screened at the historic Lyric Theater. www.tupelofilmfestival.net

“Crafting a Nation” a feature-length documentary about the craft beer industry had its world premier at the Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson this year. The festival started as a way for local filmmakers to show their own films and has grown to include workshops that are currently training Hollywood’s next crop of Mississippi-born filmmakers.

>> Sun & Sand Mississippi Film & Music Festival: November 13-16, 2013. The Biloxi event will tackle a second year of juried competition with awards going to feature, short and documentary categories. www.sunandsandfestival.com.

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“The Mississippi festivals really help in promoting the state. (Filmmakers) see that it’s a really nurturing environment...”

Nina Parikh

Deputy director, Film Office

HOLLYWOOD SOUTH

Continued from Page 18

Louisiana; states that have had great success with films and television, ranging from the church-based Sherwood Pictures family film “Fireproof” to HBO’s popular vampire series “True Blood.”

Emling calls himself an “industrial developer” and keeps a packed schedule of trade show and film festival dates from Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah to Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It’s a good way to match a face and handshake with a state that’s ripening for more Tinseltown dollars.

“Everybody that comes to Mississippi whether its directors Rob Reiner or Joel and Ethan Coen — they all like it here and love the people and the respect they get shown,” Emling says. “I think just about everybody has remarked on the hospitality and graciousness of the people.”

Mississippi has its own slew of film festivals (see sidebar) and while they may not get the draw or press of Berlin, Toronto or Cannes, they are just as attractive to the industry and a boon for the state’s own filmmakers.

Film festivals usually payout in three ways for their respective communities. They preserve the cultural heritage of filmmaking especially documentary and independently produced projects. They also foster competition among local and regional filmmakers who enter to win prize money or accolades.

Finally, film festivals are a good way to create networking opportunities between Mississippi’s film community and some of the industry’s best and brightest stars.

“I think it’s important for local artists to have a venue and not one that’s super criti-

BUILDING

Special to the MBJ

Mississippi native and Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman meets documentary filmmaker Paul Saltzman. Freeman appeared in Saltzman’s project “The Last White Knight,” which was inspired by Saltzman’s experiences as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in the 1960s.

cal,” says Edward St. Pe. The Jackson meteorologist, filmmaker and B-movie collector is currently organizing his fourth-annual Mississippi International Film Festival.

Last year the event was held at the Davis Planetarium and showed films from China, Japan, Iran and Iraq. St. Pe says film festivals are an important part of preserving the filmmaking culture while inspiring young filmmakers to pursue their own projects.

“I think that if a guy or girl is taking the time to direct, write, shoot, act- then it’s my responsibility to make sure that film is represented in my festival,” he says.

Crossroads Film Festival in Jackson cele-

Continued from Page 16

cent and sewage and waste disposal was down 12.7 percent.

However, at least one the sectors that showed a significant uptick nationally is lagging at home, according to the head of its association. Highway and street project spending was up 3.5 percent on a monthly basis in February, second only to lodging.

brated fourteen years this year with the world premier of “Crafting a Nation,” a documentary that features the country’s growing micro-brewing industry. Other films that screened included “Gideon’s Army” which features Jackson attorney June Hardwick and “Mud” a film that was shot on location on the Mississippi River.

Crossroads organizer and Film Office deputy director Nina Parikh says Mississippi has had a nice run of films at festivals like Sundance in recent years including “Prom Night in Mississippi” and “Mississippi Damned.”

“The Mississippi festivals really help in promoting the state,” Parikh says. “(Film-

Mike Pepper, executive director of the Mississippi Road Builders’ Association, said his members are not seeing any increase in work.

“I’ve seen those figures and have been in on some conference calls about an increase in spending on roads on the national level,” Pepper said. “We are just holding steady, which is better than declining. But, honestly, there’s nowhere to go but up for us.”

Still, one last piece of positive news for February was construction employment, and it was reflected in Mississippi.

makers) see that it’s a really nurturing environment and the locations are unique and a great place to shoot.”

Tupelo-born rock and roll king Elvis Presley starred in more than 30 feature films and Tupelo Film Festival organizer Pat Rasberry says the event has shown plenty of Elvis movies in years past. It also heavily promotes independent films that are outside the mainstream.

“We work that angle of films that people may have never seen,” Rasberry says. The event is not only useful for connecting the community with visiting producers and crew but is an important stepping stone for young filmmakers.

“They want the exposure,” Rasberry says. “They want to win awards and be picked up by a distributor and make it big.”

Past competing filmmakers at the festival have had documentaries air on the PBS and History channels.

The Sun & Sand Mississippi Film & Music Festival held its inaugural event last year on the Gulf Coast. The trade show and competition included more than 100 screenings and was a star-studded event with Hollywood VIPs like Kevin Costner, Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi making appearances.

Veteran Hollywood producer Wes Benton helped start the event and says it has a year-round impact of bringing Hollywood to Mississippi. “Twilight” producer Mark Morgan and Benton’s company Red Planet Entertainment have since signed a three-picture deal that will be filmed in Mississippi.

“This isn’t the only place in the world that you can go see films on the beach and have the casinos and all part of it,” Benton says.

“The other one is Cannes.”

On a national level, the industry’s unemployment rate stood at 15.7 percent, down from 16.1 percent from the prior month and 17.1 percent in February 2012.

Here in Mississippi, the construction sector added 1,600 jobs in February from the previous month, bringing total construction employment up to 47,600 in February, according to figures from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

20 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013 TACY RAYBURN / The Mississippi Business Journal

HIGHER EDUCATION

Dark since the 1980s, the Millsaps College study shows that the old Capri theater could get new life — and be successful..

Millsaps class finishes up Fondren theater market research project

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

The developers of a proposed dine-in theater in Fondren will soon have some market research to serve as a guide moving forward.

A marketing class at Millsaps College wrapped earlier this week a survey designed to gauge overall demand and consumer interest in certain parts the theater, which is being developed by Jackson attorneys Jason Watkins and David Pharr.

The Pix/Capri Theater stopped showing films in the late 1980s, and has sat mostly vacant since, with the exception of temporary tenants.

Watkins and Pharr intend to restore it to its original use. Knowing that, Millsaps marketing professor Dr. Penny Prenshaw decided that quantifying potential interest in the theater would be a good project for one of her graduate-level marketing classes.

Students broken into groups set up websites that asked basic demand questions — like how likely a respondent would be to patronize the theater — and more indepth diagnostic questions, such as their interest in certain food and beverage offerings and their price points.

“The Metro Jackson area is definitely engaged in this idea and I think it has a lot of potential.”

Dr. Penny Prenshaw Millsaps marketing professor

“They also did a pretty thorough external analysis of the movie theater industry, and then the sub-sector of the dine-ins,” Prenshaw said.

“There’s a significant number of models out there. The big corporate players have their own version, and then you’ve got some of the private, smaller type cinemas.”

The difference in the two is pretty basic, Crenshaw said. The corporate models generally show first-run films; the stand-alone, privately owned models show what’s called “second-run” films. For example, the award-winning “Argo,” which left theaters late last year, would be considered a second-run. Independent dine-ins also regularly show foreign films, classic films and documentaries, to go with serving as host for community-wide events like concerts and art showings. Another thing that separates independent theaters like the Pix/Capri is their customers.

Corporate theaters that show strictly first-run films generally cater to traditional movie-goers — teenagers. A lot of independents, which are likely to serve alcoholic beverages, restrict anyone under the age of 18 years.

“So it’s an interesting business model in that they’re purposely not allowing the heavy user,” Prenshaw said. “Nevertheless, you still have a group of heavy users that are older, in that 21 to 32 age range, who will probably be the primary target for this dine-in concept.”

Prenshaw said it was likely that her class’ survey was the first of its kind that was geared specifically toward the Pix/Capri.

“I would think maybe at some point people have thought about refurbishing the Capri for theater space, but certainly to our knowledge, this is the first that is looking at the dine-in concept.”

The surveys’ results were presented in class last Monday night, and will be shared with Watkins and Pharr around semester’s end, Prenshaw said. Otherwise, they will remain confidential. The project is unique as far as market research, Prenshaw said, because the data collection process was done in two weeks, which is “incredibly fast from a market research standpoint. But this is a class, so we have primarily as a goal to learn about what affects consumer behavior. We only had two weeks and it was likely that the majority of the collection would be via social media platforms. So I purposely designed the teams to facilitate the most diverse membership thinking that would allow for diversity in responses.”

The response to the survey exceeded expectations, Prenshaw said. One received over 1,000 responses.

“The Metro Jackson area is definitely engaged in this idea and I think it has a lot of potential.”

Watkins and Pharr hope the surveys’ results will give them an idea of how much demand exists for the Pix/Capri and exactly what kind of amenities their customer base will want the most.

Pharr, a Millsaps alumnus, approached the college with the idea.

“I just had in mind when Jason invited me to join this group that this would be a good idea to ask for their help,” he said. “I also had a hunch that it would be a project that would appeal to that kind of student.

I can’t imagine a more fun concept to work on as a project.”

Processing the results will take a few months, Watkins said. Then he and Pharr can finalize a lot of the theater’s details.

Other than short briefings, they know little about what the results will be.

Beginning renovation work on the 10,0000 square-foot building is at least a year away, Watkins said.

For now, Pharr has his law office in a small corner of the building. He moved it there last November.

“I’m anxious to evict myself,” he said. “I love being here but I’m ready to get going with the renovations.”

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TRANSPORTATION

Highway revenue study committee to start work in May

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

One of the last things the Senate did before adjourning the first week of April was pass a resolution forming a committee to study revenues and expenditures deemed necessary to expand and maintain Mississippi’s highways.

The committee will have 19 members, and its findings will be presented to the entire Legislature next session.

Members have to be selected by the first week of May, and chairpersons have to be selected within two weeks of the membership being finalized.

Members will be drawn from private entities like the Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, advocacy group Citizens for a Better Mississippi, the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and the Mississippi Trucking Association.

Several members of Senate committees will serve, as will designees from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and several other state agencies. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves will also appoint one member of the Senate to serve on the committee.

Legislation that would have added to Mississippi’s flat, 18-cent per gallon tax on gasoline and diesel failed in the session that just ended. One bill that died would have made added to the 18-cent tax an additional charge equal to 6 percent of the wholesale cost of a gallon of gas, to be recalculated every six months. Another would have earmarked a portion of casino payout taxes — up to $35 million — for the highway fund.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall has been the most vocal political champion of doing something to increase the revenue available for highway maintenance via the fuel tax.

The 18-cent tax was set in 1987 as part of the state’s comprehensive highway program. With more fuel-efficient cars on the road and the cost of roadbuilding increasing, Hall told the Mississippi Business Journal last fall that there’s not enough money available to keep the state’s highways in appropriate condition.

“Back then, gas cost a dollar,” Hall said.

“If we had made it a percentage we would not have this problem now.”

Mississippi Roadbuilders Association executive director Mike Pepper echoed Hall earlier in the legislative session.

“What state agency or groups are still running on a budget they had crafted in 1987?” Pepper said. “Very few. It’s finally catching up. The cars are getting better gas mileage, construction costs are doubling and tripling, more than that in some instances. It’s come to a head. I don’t think there’s a member of mine that would not

agree with MDOT becoming more efficient,” Pepper said. “But you can save all the money in the world, but it’s still not a highway program. You could save millions of dollars, but we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Several states have enacted some kind of mechanism to increase their pool of money

available for highway construction and maintenance. Aside from directly raising fuel taxes, some states have increased vehicle registration fees or other privilege costs.

There has been little political will to take on the issue here, though, as any increase in taxes has been considered dead on arrival at the Capitol the last handful of ses-

sions. The House in the session that just wrapped declined to pass a similar measure to the one forming the Senate-driven committee. That resolution would have formed a committee made up of members designated by House and Senate leadership, to go with the other appointments.

Business keeps getting better in Mississippi...

ELIGIBILITY

Nominate Your Company as a Best Place to Work This publication will rank companies doing business in the area according to how well they treat their most important asset- their employees. Eligible companies must have a human resource office in Mississippi and have operated here at least one calendar year.

The program is open to all companies who meet the following criteria: 8[ W \eh#fheÓj eh dej#\eh#fheÓj Xki_d[ii$ 8[ W fkXb_Ybo eh fh_lWj[bo ^[bZ Xki_d[ii$ >Wl[ W \WY_b_jo _d C_ii_ii_ff_$ >Wl[ Wj b[Wij '+ \kbb#j_c[ [cfbeo[[i _d C_ii_ii_ff_$ I[WiedWb" temporary or contract workers do not participate in surveys.)

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Final rankings will be based on results from the enclosed questionnaire as well as a separate brief survey of a sampling of your employees conducted by our research department. To help facilitate that surl[o" fb[Wi[ fhel_Z[ ki m_j^ W Yecfb[j[ list of your employees and a method of contacting them. This survey will be anonymous and take less than five minutes of their time.

If you have any questions about this fhe`[Yj" fb[Wi[ YWbb ,&' ),*#'&&&1 fax (601) 364-1007 or e-mail to events@msbusiness.com.

BEST PLACES TO WORK SURVEY

AWARD CATEGORIES 8Wi[Z ed j^[ ikhl[o iYeh[i" j^h[[ jef m_dd[hi m_bb X[ dWc[Z _d [WY^ of four size categories.

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PARTICIPATION DETAILS The award winners and finalists will emerge through their employees’ participation in an anonymous multiple-choice online survey or paper survey (if needed) that is administered in strict confidentiality by our fWhjd[h" Iekj^[hd H[i[WhY^ =hekf$ 7j j^[ [dZ e\ j^[ ikhl[o f[h_eZ" Iekj^[hd H[i[WhY^ =hekf m_bb beea Wj the data from all companies that participated and met the criteria to determine the rankings. Winners will then be revealed to the program administrators at the Mississippi Business Journal.

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Company name:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone: _________________________________________ Fax: ____________________________________________________________ Average starting salary: ______________________________ Median salary: ___________________________________________________ Average length of employment to be eligible for benefits: _____________________________________________________________________ Number of employees: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Benefits (please check all that apply): Daycare options _______ Health care benefits (% covered) _______ Unmarried partner benefits _______ Paid Leave/Sick time (length) _______ Paid Maternity/Paternity leave (length) _______ Continuing education (tuition assistance) _______ Relocation assistance _______ Stock options _______ 401(k) (% match) _______ Prescription _______ Telecommuting _______ Dental _______ Vision _______ Flexible hours _______ Job sharing _______ Employee recognition program _______ Fitness program _______ Subsidized meals _______ Other: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Information Supplied By: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Title: ______________________________________________ Date: ____________________________________________________________

events@msbusiness.com / (601) 364-1000 / Fax (601) 364-1007 Download form at: www.msbusiness.com Click on Events and scroll down to Best Places to Work for link to form.

22 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

AGRICULTURE

Wanted: A few dry days for row crop planting » Late plantings could dim prospects for price premiums through early crop deliveries

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

Nervousness has not yet set in among Mississippi’s row crop growers but they nonetheless would welcome some dry days to get more planting done.

Continuation of the rainy days much past mid April could stir some concern, said John Michael Riley, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Corn typically starts going in during early March. Frequent rain has helped to stall planting, but even more problematic has been the chilly temperatures, Riley said in an interview in early April.

“The cold weather has more to do with it than rain. You want the ground a little warmer. Rain has also wreaked havoc on everybody‘s schedule as well. They just can’t seem to find some dry days to get out there.”

An immediate downside to the delayed planting could be a lost opportunity to gain price premiums through delivering a corn crop ahead of Midwest growers, according

CCIM

Continued from Page 17

said, and suggested the online approach should end the frustration of searching out sales assistance. >>> Expect interest rates to rise by 2015 – provided the national employment levels reach the Federal Reserve target of 6.5 percent to 6 percent by then, said several panelists.

Fountain Barksdale, senior vice president and senior real estate lender for BankPlus Jackson, said the 6 percent to 6.5 percent employment level “is exactly the point where the Fed said they would start increasing interest rates.”

In 40 years as a banker, Barksdale said he has never seen a prime rate – 3.25 percent since Dec. 16, 2008 – this low. The average in his decades as a banker has been in the 6.7 percent to 6.8 percent rate, he said. “I would look for the rates to start rising in 2015.”

He cautioned, however, that investors are growing impatient with their yields and may force interest rates to move up before then. “”If you wait for the Fed to tell you interest rates are going to move up, it’s too late,” Barksdale said.

A contrary perspective came from Jim

to Riley.

“We might lose that competitive advantage,” he said, though he added the good news is that technological improvements have made it possible to have fields ready and planted in a short period.

“It use to take a few weeks where now can have it done in a few days,“ he said.

The MSU Extension Service said in a press statement that as of March 24, farmers had planted 37 percent of the state’s corn crop. But rains the last week of March slowed field work after that point, the Extension Service said.

Travis Satterfield, a Benoit row crop farmer, said it may not matter whether Mississippi’s growers get their corn to market early. A premium is possible, he said, but “right now the market is not telling us that.

The supplies seem to be more adequate now than last year” when drought plagued farmers in the Midwest corn belt and beyond.

Most growers in the Delta have their land ready to plant “as soon as it gets dry,” said Satterfield, who noted in early April farmers need a 10-to-15 day dry spell.

“We’ve got adequate sub-soil moisture,” he added, conceding the understatement.

While last year set record prices for corn and soybeans, higher yields in Mississippi and elsewhere make a repeat of those prices unlikely, Riley and Satterfield say.

Prices at Mississippi elevators last year came in around $17.50 a bushel for soybeans and corn at just under $8 a bushel. Riley said futures markets are betting soybeans may get as high as $12 to $13 this year and corn could reach the “high $5s or low $6s.”

Profits could be whittled some by rising prices for fuel, fertilizer and machinery, Riley said.

Nonetheless, he added, “If everything goes as planned and Mother Nature cooperates, we’re probably looking at some very big soy bean and corn crops.”

The U.S. Agriculture Department’s March 28 prospective plantings report predicted the state’s corn acreage will reach 1.05 million, a 28 percent increase from the 820,000 acres planted in 2012. Soybean acreage -- at 1.95 million acres -- is predicted to remain largely unchanged and continue to account for the largest portion of Mississippi’s row crop acreage, the Agriculture Department report said.

The prospect of strong pricing and good yields and dryer weather may lead some Mississippi growers to switch from planned crops to later-planted soybeans, according to Trent Irby, Extension soybean specialist.

The increased acreage devoted to corn will come at the expense of cotton, which is predicted to drop by 43 to 270,000 acres.

The record success of last year’s corn crop

“If you wait for the Fed to tell you interest rates are going to move up, it’s too late.”

Fountain Barksdale Senior vice president/senior real estate lender, BankPlus

Ingram, executive VP and chief investment officer for Hertz Investment Group, a commercial real estate firm that either owns or controls more than 20 percent of downtown Jackson's office space.

“I think the economy is brittle enough and the Fed knows any indication of increasing interest rates will absolutely send us right back into a recession even deeper than what we had in 2008-2009,” he said.

“I do think the Fed is going to keep interest rates low. They are just ‘hinting’ about 2015. The only way our economy can grow is to keep interest rates low.” >>> Assessing downtown Jackson’s office vacancy rate should exclude properties that are awaiting conversion to residential or

are having build-outs done for new tenants, Ingram said.

Downtown’s actual rate – at least for Class A – is below the national average, he said. In a calculation that included Class A properties Pinnacle, One Jackson Place, Regions Plaza, 111 Capitol and City Center, “the vacancy rate is about 15 percent and actually a little better than the national average,” Ingram added. >>> Conceding the Landmark Center lost its bid to South Pointe Business Park for the new the Department of Revenue HQ based on rent proposals, Ingram indicated the outcome could have been different had the state not set extensive build-out requirements for the Landmark.

is driving acreage decisions this year, MSU Extension Service corn and wheat specialist Erick Larson said.

Darrin Dodds, Extension cotton specialist, attributed the drop in cotton acreage to an expectation of lower potential profits and pest management costs.

“The decrease to less than 300,000 acres is caused by potentially poor profits from cotton production compared to those of grain crops, as well as the challenges associated with cotton production,” Dodds said ion a press release. “The acres leaving cotton are going primarily to corn, but soybeans are expected to pick some up as well.”

Rice acreage is expected to fall slightly to 120,000 acres, down 8 percent from last year, according to the Ag Department forecast.

Sorghum is expected to drop 6 percent to 45,000 acres, and hay acres are anticipated to drop 5 percent to 710,000 acres. USDA predicts sweet potato acreage will dip 8 percent to 22,000 acres, but the crop will remain solidly in second place nationally behind North Carolina.

Meanwhile, winter wheat saw an 8 percent increase in acreage to 400,000 acres planted for a 2013 harvest, according to the Extension Service.

Specifically, the state put much higher “cost-allocation” demands on the Landmark than it did South Pointe Business Park, Ingram said. “The allocated costs the state appropriated to Landmark greatly exceeded those of South Pointe,” he said, though he conceded: “I think I lost it anyway on rental rates.”

It’s much easier to be flexible on lease rates when your building is about to be 100 percent leased, he said of South Pointe, the former HQ of WorldCom. “We were highly disappointed but not surprised,” Ingram said of Hertz Group, which has an option to buy the Landmark.

“I do think South Pointe may have had a better economic proposal.”

Landmark Center, meanwhile , is on the market for $7.6 million, down from $14.6 million 12 months ago. Ingram said the building is ideal for state office use, though he emphasized Hertz does not yet own the building so the firm’s interest in the state buying it is limited. “ “That building should be a state office building at some point. The state could save a lot of money by buying that building and moving a lot of state agencies into it.”

It’s got 350,000 square feet and a “highly efficient floor plate of 43,000 square feet,” he noted.

April 12, 2013 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

AN MBJ FOCUS:

PUBLIC COMPANIES

Numbers down, and there’s a reason » Legislation, weak economy make it more difficult for Mississippi companies to go public

By BECKY GILLETTE I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

The last Mississippi company to go public was The First Bancshares Inc. in 1996. Only four Mississippi-based companies have gone public since 1950. And since the 1990s, the number of public companies in Mississippi has dropped a significant amount.

Experts say the reason more companies in Mississippi and elsewhere in the country aren’t going public is the SarbanesOxley Act. “Sarbanes Oxley was passed by Congress in 2002 with the intent of preventing a crisis like the one in the rearview mirror,” said Ashby M. Foote III, president and chief investment officer of Vector Money Management. “As so often happens with such laws, it has had many unintended consequences. Congress was reacting the dotcom bust and the collapse of a multitude of companies that had gone public with little more than PowerPoint plans for profits in the great by and by.

Unfortunately, the resulting blizzard of preventative regulations and red tape has made it extremely burdensome for startup companies to consider IPOs as a reasonable way to raise capital.

“In the interest of protecting potential investors, Sarbanes Oxley has put the public markets out of reach for many young and growing companies. Rather than a boost to get a fast growing company off the runway, a company now needs to already be at 5,000 feet and climbing.”

Smaller companies can’t afford the additional staff needed to comply with all the regulations. Going public means you need to be a bigger company with more revenues, and it may interfere with you being a lean operation.

“For companies that might have gone public in late 1980s or early 1990s with limited revenue, it wasn’t a doable deal when you’ve got more layers of bureaucracy and paperwork you have to satisfy with the new heavy-handed laws,” Foote said.

The purpose of companies going public is to raise capital to grow or expand. It used to be companies might do that to get market capitalization of $10 million or $15 million.

Now IPOs are typically much, much bigger.

The recession has also been a factor.

“The economy itself is just not as strong as in the 1990s,” Foote said. “Sadly for Mis-

“For example, the Affordable Health Care Act is going to really hurt small businesses that have a young workforce due to the fact that insurance companies will not be able to use age and claims like they used to in pricing” Jeremy Nelson, Pinnacle Trust chief investment officer sissippi, a lot of companies that were public in the 1990s have gone out of business or have merged with companies headquartered elsewhere. In the mid-1990s Mississippi had 15 to 20 public companies of a variety of sizes and in a variety of industries to include telecom, oil services and fertilizer. It is a sad development from the standpoint of a vibrant economy.”

Pinnacle Trust chief investment officer Jeremy Nelson agrees going public is not as attractive as it used to be. He said the markets are not paying as much as they used to for IPOs and there are increased regulatory burdens. There is a limited base of companies in Mississippi that would benefit from going public.

Going public creates a liquidity event for ownership and the ability to raise capital for management. “If you are a business that

needs capital and can’t borrow it, selling equity is one way to do it,” Nelson said. “If your business is too big for a private sale or you can get a better price in the public markets, then going public makes sense.”

Regulations are definitely becoming a larger issue. Nelson said it affects the capital raising process by creating uncertainty about some industries as a whole, and the profitability of most companies.

“For example, the Affordable Health Care Act is going to really hurt small businesses that have a young workforce due to the fact that insurance companies will not be able to use age and claims like they used to in pricing,” Nelson said. “Small business pricing will be much more community based, which will drive cost up for these small companies. It will also hurt companies that employ a large quantity of lower

wage employees.”

Nelson said the state would benefit by having more public companies creating jobs. Also, if more Mississippi-based companies were growing into companies that were large enough to go public, it would indicate a growing economy.

Some of the losses of public companies based in Mississippi in recent years have been due to mergers. A company in Columbus, Microtek Medical, was bought out Ecolab based in California. There was a recent announcement that First M&F Corp., the parent company of Merchants & Farmers Bank in Kosciusko, is merging with Renasant Bank in Tupelo. Parkway Properties did a merger and is now headquartered in Florida.

WorldCom went bankrupt and Mississippi Chemical went out of business.

Foote said the company’s plant in Yazoo City now under the ownership of CF Industries is doing great. But Mississippi Chemical shareholders ended up getting nothing out of it because the company went into bankruptcy.

The lack of public companies is a detriment to a state’s economic climate.

“There is a lot of benefit to having a company headquartered in the state,” Foote said. “You have an executive management team, and lots of service industries get work from the companies. Accounting firms and other business service firms benefit from having a company headquarters close by. So I think it is a real blow even if you continue having some of the company’s operations in the state, but you lose the executive leadership in the community.”

Two of the Mississippi public companies doing well, Foote said, are Sanderson Farms and Cal-Maine; chickens and eggs have done very well over the past five to 10 years.

Foote said Mississippi could position itself better for a climate conducive to launching new public companies if it adopted a pro growth state economic policy to encourage investment.

“One of the states sending a good example is Louisiana,” Foote said. “Gov. Jindal is trying to eliminate corporate and personal income taxes in Louisiana. You already have no personal income tax in Tennessee, Florida and Texas. Lowering taxes at the state level has a huge positive impact on attracting investment to the state and encourages entrepreneurial activity.”

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PUBLIC COMPANIES

April 12, 2013

I

Mississippi Business Journal

I

25

BANCORPSOUTH

Looking to the future » CEO credits decades of leadership, innovation to bank’s 135-year history nine-state footprint.”

The banking law changes in the 1990s provided opportunities for further innoFrom a humble beginning as a small vation with a wide range of new product bank in a hardware store in Verona, Ban- and service opportunities. As a result, corpSouth has grown into a regional fi- nearly 40 percent of BancorpSouth’s nancial holding company with $13.4 total revenue now is derived from nonbillion in assets and is listed on the New interest sources. “BancorpSouth leads York Stock Exchange. The Mississippi the nation in adapting technology for the company began trading under the sym- check clearing for the 21st Century Act, bol BOMS on NASDAQ in 1985. Since which involves creating digital versions of original checks known as check truncation,” Rollins said. “BancorpSouth was also an industry leader in offering mobile banking services to our clients.”

Looking ahead, this Tupelo-based company is focused on growth through serving more of existing customers’ needs and through attracting new clients.

Pursuing quality loan growth is a priority through programs such as the creation of $500 million in initial funding for loans to Mississippi businesses and entrepreneurs. “The Grow Mississippi loan pool is a collaborative effort in support of the state’s economic development efforts,” Rollins said.

“Focusing on efficiency efforts by soliciting team C. Todd Sherman / Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal members’ ideas and sugDan Rollins is CEO of BancorpSouth, Mississippi’s first statewide bank. gestions is another important initiative that 1997 it has traded on the New York Stock can have an impact on our bottom line.”

Exchange under the symbol BXS. The company teams with communities With 135 years of history, CEO Dan to support economic growth by providing Rollins says BancorpSouth’s growth is a capital through innovative, privatelyreflection of decades of leadership and placed taxable bond financing, together innovation. “This tremendous market with traditional forms of financing to help expansion has been matched by the con- businesses with construction and permatinuous growth in new products and nent financing for a range of developservices,” he said. ments. Rollins says the Duling “After becoming Mississippi’s first Elementary School building located in statewide bank and later expanding out- Jackson’s historic Fondren District is an side the state shortly after the federal in- example of BancorpSouth’s public-priterstate banking law passed in 1992, vate partnerships. “That project is an exBancorpSouth strategically expanded its ample of the creation of an urban, footprint through a series of mergers and mixed-use development that helps supin-market expansion to create its current port corporate businesses, entertainment

By LYNN LOFTON I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

and restaurants, while also putting them back on the tax rolls,” he added.

BancorpSouth also works to enhance each of its markets by embracing local communities inside and outside the walls of local offices. “The range of activities in which we engage is limited only by the interests of our team members and the needs of our communities,” Rollins said.

“While it is almost impossible to measure a return on the many hours and efforts devoted by our team to community involvement with more than 4,000 committed employees in nearly 300 locations across nine states, we know the investment is both substantial and meaningful.”

Government regulations are considered as BancorpSouth looks to future growth. “From an industry standpoint, during the last decade the regulatory burden for banks has increased tremendously, affecting banks’ traditional role of facilitating credit, job growth and eco-

nomic expansion,” Rollins said. “Beyond the hard dollar costs, there are significant costs incurred by all bank customers.

“Regulatory changes reduce credit available to bank customers, raise the cost of services and limit bank products.

Things such as excessive capital requirements, over zealous examinations, preferential tax status of credit unions that compete head-to-head with taxpaying banks, and other regulatory burdens all have a direct impact on the operations and services banks provide.”

However, BancorpSouth’s CEO is optimistic about the future of this public company. “BancorpSouth has a bright future, and our team is excited about the progress we have made and the momentum we have gained,” he said. “Our company is well positioned in its markets with a team of professionals dedicated to continuing to improve shareholder value.”

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26 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

PUBLIC COMPANIES

A wing man steps up

Photo courtesy of Mississippi Development Authority

The Sanderson Farms Championship will be July 18-20 at Annandale Country Club in Madison.

» When governor asked, Sanderson Farms agreed to back pro tournament for this year

By LYNN LOFTON I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

When Mississippi was at risk of losing a big, revenue-generating golf tournament, Sanderson Farms stepped up to accept the sponsorship and keep it going.

The Sanderson Farms Championship is the new name of the tournament formerly known as the Viking Classic. The tournament will be played July 18-20 at Annandale Country Club in Madison.

“When Viking dropped the sponsorship, Gov. Phil Bryant called and asked if we’d be interested in the sponsorship,” said Sanderson Farms CFO Mike Cockrell. “It’s not typical of what we do; it’s not our target market. But, it makes a significant economic impact on the state, and brings in a lot of money. Joe (Sanderson) has been involved with the governor on economic projects for the state.”

Aside from economics, the tournament’s primary beneficiary, the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, was the decisive factor for Sanderson Farms.

“We’ve been a big supporter of (Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children) and didn’t want to lose the support that comes from the golf tournament.”

Mike Cockrell Sanderson Farms CFO

“We’ve been a big supporter of that hospital and didn’t want them to lose the support that comes from the golf tournament,” Cockrell said. “We’ve done a lot of things with the hospital because it benefits people from every walk of life and it’s something we’ve always supported.”

He noted that other charities also benefit from the golf tournament although the children’s hospital receives the greatest benefit.

Laurel-based Sanderson Farms

agreed to a one-year sponsorship, after which a decision will be made regarding any future sponsorship. The Professional Golf Association-sanctioned tournament is part of the FedEx Cup and always attracts a high-quality field of golfers. Without a major sponsor, the PGA would have considered withdrawing its sanction of the tournament.

Century Club Charities is responsible for putting on the tournament. This non-profit organization – made up of more than 140 businessmen and

women – has a mission of promoting the game of golf for the benefit of local charities. Since 1986, it has generated more than $7.3 million for local charities and adopted the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children as its primary charity.

Cockrell says he and others at Sanderson Farms have found out there’s a whole lot involved in staging a golf tournament of this size. “It’s everything from what the t-boxes look like to a Friday watermelon social,” he said. “We have a couple of people here who have picked up the ball and they’ll make sure it’s a magnificent event. There are a lot of constituencies for it, and anything that brings more participation will help the charities more.”

Sanderson Farms was founded in 1947 as a small family-owned business.

It has grown to become the third largest poultry producer in the country with more than 11,000 employees and 800 independent growers. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ with the symbol SAFM.

PUBLIC COMPANIES

April 12, 2013

I

Mississippi Business Journal

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28 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013

DOWNTOWN

Hertz targeting Regions building for apartments » Hertz exec says the nine-decades-old former Deposit Guaranty building’s 9,000 square-foot floor-plate makes residential ‘highest and best use.’

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

Downtown Jackson’s Regions building has borne many names in its nearly 85 years, but the 18-floor historic landmark may soon be called “home” for renters eager to live downtown.

Developers for several years have eyed the circa 1928 office building for conversion to residential apartments. The challenges of lining up financing and securing the requisite historic and new market tax credits have been too much to overcome.

Now, however, the deep-pocketed Hertz Investment Group has entered the picture.

The privately held California-based commercial real estate company has the advantage of already owning the 165,000square-foot building, as well as more than 20 percent of the remaining office buildings downtown, including the adjoining Regions Plaza.

Jim Ingram, Hertz Group senior vice president and chief investment officer, told a gathering of commercial real estate professionals last week that the company is giving serious thought to converting the 253-foot tall building.

“We haven’t announced it yet but we are strongly considering converting that building to residential,” Ingram said at a panel discussion organized by the Mississippi Chapter of CCIM. Ingram, a former Parkway Properties executive, said the building’s 9,000-squarefoot floor plate makes residential “its highest and best use.”

The building has been out of downtown’s office inventory since Hertz bought it several years ago and moved the tenants into Regions Plaza.

Though briefly named the AmSouth building before Regions acquired that banking company and gave the building its current name, the Capital Street landmark

is perhaps most widely known today as the Deposit Guaranty building, a name it held until 1998 when the bank merged with First American National Bank. A year later AmSouth took over First American and gave the building a name that stuck until Regions acquired AmSouth.

Don Hewitt, principal of Jackson real estate investment firm Advanced Technologies Building Solutions, sought to convert the Regions building to apartments but gave up the quest after encountering difficulty persuading the Jackson Redevelopment Authority to issue $5 million in tax-exempt urban renewal bonds for the project. He said Monday he expects Hertz will do well with the conversion, considering the unmet demand for downtown apartments.

When he pursued the conversion project last year, the market had pent-up demand for 700 units, Hewitt said.

“We felt it would be dynamic based on where the building was located” in the center of the Central Business District close to the Capitol.

Hewitt said converting the building and bringing hundreds of new residents downtown should invigorate downtown at a time it is in sore need of a boost. “Momentum is starting to stall there,” he said. “And that is the worst thing that can happen with a downtown.”

Most immediately, a residential conversion the size of the Regions building should help to stabilize downtown’s retail market, he said.

Hertz should be a strong candidate for gaining Jackson Redevelopment Authority approval for urban renewal bonds. “They will love it because Hertz is, of course, investment grade,” Hewitt said.

Further, the owner has the advantage of converting a building that has been well maintained over its long life, he added.

“The building is in great shape.”

Stephen McDill / The Mississippi Business Journal

Built in the 1920s, developers say the best future use of the old Regions building is as residential space.

“We felt it would be dynamic based on where the building was located...”

Don Hewitt Principal, Advanced Technologies Building Solutions

April 12, 2013

I

Mississippi Business Journal

DeSoto 7.1

29

I

Tunica 20.1

MISSISSIPPI’S FEB. UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

Tate 10.3

Jan ’13 1,320,200 140,900 9.3 10.7 1,179,300

Feb ’12 1,332,100 127,200 9.6 9.5 1,204,900

’12 Avg. 1,336,800 120,600 xxx 9.0 1,216,300

Yalobusha 10.2

Bolivar 11.7

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Unemployment Insurance Data •• Initial UI Claims Continued Claims Benefits Paid Weeks Paid First Payments Final Payments Average Weekly Benefit

Feb ‘13 154,727,000 12,500,000 7.7 8.1 142,228,000

Jan ’13 154,794,000 13,181,000 7.9 8.5 141,614,000

Feb 2013 8,323 101,832 $14,387,099 75,614 4,502 2,076 $190.27

Feb ’12 154,114,000 13,430,000 8.3 8.7 140,684,000

Jan 2013 13,777 118,153 $16,394,633 86,217 6,583 2,183 $190.16

’12 Avg. 154,975,000 12,506,000 xxx 8.1 142,469,000

Leflore 14.7

Montgomery Carroll 13.1 10.4

Humphreys 17.6

Holmes 18.8

Yazoo 12.5

Issaquena 18.1

Monroe 12.6

Clay 19.3 Lowndes 10.8

Oktibbeha 9.6

Choctaw 10.8

Winston 12.8

Attala 12.2

Leake 11.4

Neshoba 7.8

Scott 7.8

Newton 8.9

Noxubee 16.1

Kemper 11.5

Madison 7.0 Warren 11.4 Rankin 6.2

Hinds 8.9

Claiborne 15.8

Copiah 11.0

Adams 9.8

Wilkinson 12.0

Franklin 10.4

Lincoln 9.9

Amite 10.2

Pike 11.6

Jasper 10.6

Smith 9.2

Simpson 8.9

Jefferson 15.7

Covington Jones 8.7 7.6

Walthall 12.3

Marion 11.2

6.2 - 7.6 7.7 - 10.7 10.8 - 16.6 16.7 - 20.1

— Mississippi Department of Employment Security

Lamar 7.5

Forrest 9.2

Pearl River 9.8

Hancock 9.5

Lauderdale 10.1

Clarke 11.7

Wayne 12.2

Lawrence Jeff Davis 10.6 12.6

Unemployment Rates ates

** Average for most recent twelve months, including current month •• Unemployment Insurance amounts presented in this section only represent regular UI benefits, federal program amounts are not included.

Labor force amounts are produced in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Note: Unless indicated state and county data presented are not seasonally adjusted.

Perry 9.7

Stone 9.1

Harrison 9.4

Greene 11.4

George 10.6

Jackson 10.7

Source: Labor Market Data Publication February 2013 Design: Labor Market Information Department, MDES

2013 UPCOMING EDITORIAL FOCUS DATE

FOCUS

Tishomingo 10.8

Itawamba 9.5

Chickasaw 12.2

Webster 13.8

Washington 15.6

Moving Avg.** 155,135,000 12,398,000 xxx 8.0 142,737,000

Feb 2012 9,304 114,144 $15,759,873 84,454 4,797 2,384 $186.61

Calhoun 10.9

Grenada 10.7

Sunflower 16.6

Lee 9.2

Pontotoc 8.8

Quitman 15.2

Coahoma 15.3

Moving Avg.** 1,334,500 121,300 xxx 9.1 1,213,200

Lafayette 7.7

Sharkey 13.6

UNITED STATES Labor Force Data Civilian Labor Force Unemployed Unemployment Rate (Adjusted) Unemployment Rate (Unadjusted) Employed

Alcorn 9.2

Tippah 12.0 Union 8.5

Tallahatchie 14.0

Feb ‘13 1,320,200 130,500 9.6 9.9 1,189,700

Benton 12.6

Prentiss 10.2

Panola 12.5

Labor force and employment security data STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Labor Force Data Civilian Labor Force Unemployed Unemployment Rate (Adjusted) Unemployment Rate (Unadjusted) Employed

Marshall 10.6

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30 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013 February 2013 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).

February February Year to date YTD CITY 2013 2012 2013 2012 ABBEVILLE $3,207.62 $8,555.16 $34,821.04 $52,808.41 ABERDEEN 61,677.08 63,687.65 542,663.14 549,320.33 ACKERMAN 20,259.20 21,303.82 183,745.81 182,370.30 ALCORN STATE U 764.79 1,777.67 6,296.49 11,045.07 ALGOMA 1,853.64 2,117.56 15,742.53 54,859.75 ALLIGATOR 510.18 588.29 5,538.52 5,623.81 AMORY 133,881.80 139,053.96 1,222,405.17 1,237,551.02 ANGUILLA 2,502.95 3,373.88 23,670.32 26,844.65 ARCOLA 1,331.45 1,664.89 12,381.05 14,692.69 ARTESIA 820.79 1,318.90 7,083.26 9,131.10 ASHLAND 10,663.35 12,432.32 93,508.61 103,088.42 BALDWYN 43,377.12 40,745.66 363,247.51 361,465.03 BASSFIELD 10,411.36 11,269.55 97,104.45 100,484.29 BATESVILLE 277,901.69 275,296.69 2,556,110.36 2,515,576.14 BAY SPRINGS 47,023.55 45,524.42 403,675.41 396,269.96 BAY ST LOUIS 123,857.42 81,160.97 846,370.88 721,698.60 BEAUMONT 5,961.78 6,807.88 48,952.72 54,107.52 BEAUREGARD 292.73 204.71 1,891.95 1,660.62 BELMONT 20,111.57 20,746.48 178,968.29 174,123.84 BELZONI 38,839.14 39,538.72 368,147.77 344,502.68 BENOIT 5,386.22 6,470.92 51,050.63 54,778.05 BENTONIA 74,491.18 30,786.38 183,483.86 208,521.51 BEULAH 367.82 389.01 3,045.25 3,070.17 BIG CREEK 337.20 442.40 2,994.13 3,904.13 BILOXI 759,012.03 762,583.93 7,157,062.69 6,812,824.15 BLUE MOUNTAIN 7,228.87 9,577.15 70,838.83 72,867.84 BLUE SPRINGS 2,770.93 2,584.92 20,918.63 20,625.98 BOLTON 7,189.58 6,549.05 80,659.98 72,851.27 BOONEVILLE 130,985.04 141,117.32 1,179,477.68 1,155,377.08 BOYLE 11,870.48 12,084.96 115,414.94 105,669.28 BRANDON 374,177.06 354,287.78 3,348,717.00 3,214,442.85 BRAXTON 1,203.09 995.08 9,261.27 8,336.28 BROOKHAVEN 378,426.69 382,861.08 3,424,274.88 3,322,317.20 BROOKSVILLE 8,558.29 9,564.77 69,481.64 71,697.47 BRUCE 38,514.58 34,594.74 322,564.73 311,750.84 BUDE 9,704.38 7,827.19 82,047.14 77,377.05 BURNSVILLE 10,844.67 11,610.76 94,587.29 98,519.24 BYHALIA 57,940.62 52,245.96 466,204.38 465,606.20 BYRAM 144,773.16 129,545.47 1,248,684.43 1,105,763.08 CALEDONIA 10,044.15 10,951.31 90,447.85 88,942.56 CALHOUN CITY 23,531.01 22,149.65 191,042.94 195,340.59 CANTON 172,158.57 158,910.00 1,596,710.46 1,434,118.19 CARROLLTON 5,657.35 5,559.74 47,514.02 43,175.78 CARTHAGE 112,128.57 107,787.90 1,029,348.86 1,000,925.74 CARY 1,196.42 1,478.60 11,949.02 11,947.09 CENTREVILLE 19,409.29 18,725.87 147,913.30 151,153.53 CHARLESTON 24,980.20 26,413.69 226,594.94 223,430.34 CHUNKY 529.25 566.81 4,391.77 4,600.57 CLARKSDALE 205,309.89 212,488.06 1,837,413.74 1,821,691.19 CLEVELAND 256,471.19 264,591.25 2,260,191.30 2,349,588.51 CLINTON 315,692.17 303,910.35 2,938,372.54 2,748,297.49 COAHOMA 466.73 375.31 3,582.41 3,482.31 COAHOMA COLLEGE 1,370.48 2,095.68 2,014.65 COFFEEVILLE 9,330.41 10,080.84 83,451.46 93,385.21 COLDWATER 16,219.59 18,449.03 136,559.27 135,052.09 COLLINS 102,542.40 95,170.66 866,524.98 866,865.52 COLUMBIA 244,223.65 245,387.43 2,177,465.32 2,122,080.88 COLUMBUS 626,213.89 650,387.47 5,675,597.55 5,820,744.01 COMO 13,187.46 12,790.79 113,496.11 106,375.38 CORINTH 393,678.44 399,876.05 3,621,812.15 3,576,008.27 COURTLAND 1,183.92 1,453.00 10,584.62 10,963.02 CRAWFORD 1,070.60 1,311.14 10,185.89 8,677.15 CRENSHAW 3,937.73 4,586.44 39,370.86 40,122.34 CROSBY 2,847.50 1,909.25 8,140.32 9,139.21 CROWDER 1,430.46 1,843.35 14,234.81 15,434.42 CRUGER 426.87 481.81 4,520.96 5,358.53 CRYSTAL SPRINGS 47,289.88 50,310.41 411,507.40 415,629.68 D LO 2,991.04 3,020.57 24,513.37 25,080.20 D'IBERVILLE 438,296.19 413,060.84 3,923,315.57 3,763,388.05 DECATUR 11,551.67 12,999.51 93,412.13 99,188.62 DEKALB 19,087.55 18,643.65 158,813.93 166,214.34 DERMA 4,386.98 4,526.26 39,062.31 39,667.88 DIAMONDHEAD 35,087.57 313,498.77 DODDSVILLE 200.54 350.58 4,527.83 2,476.32 DREW 7,838.69 10,852.12 76,082.06 94,143.93 DUCK HILL 3,380.90 3,281.11 30,387.86 30,529.19 DUMAS 949.11 974.66 7,929.69 8,077.58 DUNCAN 1,850.60 970.28 8,881.85 4,580.24 DURANT 21,874.95 21,396.22 191,877.73 191,578.63 EAST MS COLLEGE 1,131.65 1,164.76 2,836.81 3,296.71 ECRU 11,150.40 12,247.02 88,060.18 85,983.41 EDEN 59.20 54.39 417.40 397.02 EDWARDS 5,409.36 6,025.81 47,014.66 42,489.87 ELLISVILLE 81,627.58 68,751.08 692,298.02 580,820.10 ENTERPRISE 4,563.25 5,067.19 40,581.55 40,895.58 ETHEL 1,222.61 1,565.96 8,957.62 11,606.11 EUPORA 32,778.21 32,709.99 279,972.02 298,408.64 FALCON 61.98 39.96 463.47 431.99 FARMINGTON 3,834.69 3,829.66 35,769.37 33,179.14 FAULKNER 4,328.33 3,627.92 27,409.95 28,193.00 FAYETTE 16,677.32 16,505.82 131,681.08 130,031.57 FLORA 21,517.83 24,561.18 221,426.95 209,138.14 FLORENCE 54,377.24 50,763.71 471,106.35 447,900.55 FLOWOOD 744,471.17 724,125.60 6,924,143.90 6,735,004.38 FOREST 142,916.89 153,971.32 1,355,819.39 1,365,521.22 FRENCH CAMP 629.19 1,484.66 7,407.84 13,460.35 FRIARS POINT 2,125.72 2,481.44 19,122.94 18,911.20

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

103,936.82 104.90 152,655.83 3,246.45 1,382.52 301.23 10,145.42 4,113.02 3,086.08 458,782.23 318,490.51 302,441.33 1,411,729.99 883.78 14,962.57 458.91 1,530,927.28 91,403.18 31,769.56 212,571.85 3,548.51 4,796.54 419.58 14,134.89 84,656.35 311,247.52 7,417.63 70,925.84 135,794.20 6,900.54 1,390.20 10,948.83 56,629.24 2,521,876.10 3,668.24 617.95 5,609.17 143,328.17 4,055.78 6,781.62 3,781.13 716,803.07 21,479.96 384.73 38,219.90 1,713.13 33,275.24 17,391.84 96,881.20 2,352.27 867.37 131,833.91 137,901.86 3,291.79 12,824.52 6,718.49 5,904.81 45,137.85 466,392.54 137,998.43 31,800.55 15,529.23 2,759.23 4,585.40 15,411.74 18,429.08 13,558.81 666.74 387,305.29 426.41 5,111.58 10,009.34 45,914.48 1,040,253.41 5,134.26 1,085.38 12,554.58 35,657.90 385.69 7,219.43 813.02 37,768.96 120,759.58 3,508.45 1,269.10 19,165.45 1,308.14 7,318.91 3,885.18 374,623.78 21,968.05 196,564.98 14,395.53 6,417.86 79,589.10 2,194.50 8,379.37 5,065.69 322,027.63 21,996.98 559,762.94 4,751.90 503,351.58 517.80 1,764.87 175.75

109,508.54 118.03 154,810.62 3,678.89 1,407.36 296.18 11,317.05 4,370.91 3,517.39 453,444.14 323,501.53 289,599.35 1,381,231.49 690.26 15,036.67 691.77 1,461,605.09 91,248.88 34,700.36 199,271.73 4,285.51 5,673.91 489.70 15,473.99 89,516.80 287,567.13 8,072.03 73,297.89 140,639.66 6,615.87 1,651.93 11,927.34 54,527.08 2,324,049.82 4,009.42 649.89 11,214.85 147,063.50 3,781.49 6,598.18 3,079.90 707,066.10 21,374.45 787.29 30,105.25 1,688.71 32,098.89 17,801.52 99,919.83 2,141.05 1,109.68 127,919.81 145,530.91 2,817.73 14,998.47 2,540.08 6,928.75 42,542.82 405,934.55 152,210.16 32,053.09 14,689.44 2,095.62 4,884.97 15,669.42 17,287.98 15,465.27 479.26 375,620.62 741.61 5,447.57 10,253.52 42,774.26 1,007,587.76 5,244.76 1,197.54 16,399.56 37,521.61 564.36 6,907.45 607.82 38,254.66 126,584.35 3,509.63 861.73 37,232.50 1,960.63 12,087.25 3,727.61 366,971.18 23,786.32 193,155.46 13,715.10 6,799.64 75,340.65 2,592.92 8,078.24 5,985.94 331,477.69 21,367.44 522,495.26 6,165.59 465,419.38 670.06 1,699.27 151.15

941,974.13 1,025.40 1,460,325.58 28,570.47 13,046.41 2,757.96 88,806.87 34,584.86 28,033.42 4,170,974.59 2,888,151.99 2,641,801.96 12,768,485.19 5,948.42 120,884.76 4,564.40 13,935,277.84 833,222.15 273,776.63 1,888,066.40 31,631.40 46,906.57 5,494.32 114,305.81 782,548.65 2,577,740.15 63,864.54 660,990.27 1,211,649.86 44,481.18 13,889.09 93,297.19 525,918.17 20,902,646.41 30,226.57 6,572.41 46,854.69 1,316,740.13 30,260.82 54,939.51 26,433.62 6,007,318.75 185,619.62 3,599.09 347,727.26 13,212.44 293,964.13 151,845.43 868,984.36 18,923.29 8,122.03 1,146,473.92 1,271,037.84 26,178.64 115,718.58 46,854.10 50,738.81 393,047.86 3,989,522.18 1,297,028.24 275,220.21 130,358.39 22,557.30 37,928.26 128,029.29 156,195.30 121,960.17 4,496.90 3,494,392.57 4,157.39 46,110.51 81,731.22 388,231.68 9,495,103.08 55,448.75 8,789.09 94,938.83 303,808.40 3,891.40 71,076.86 4,806.22 305,954.95 1,048,363.54 37,367.43 4,584.88 200,567.01 6,577.32 65,205.24 30,015.52 3,504,621.33 186,425.15 1,841,017.38 122,244.79 57,954.01 680,466.93 23,450.47 74,677.20 45,961.65 2,984,206.99 194,299.43 4,958,212.94 44,378.10 4,582,521.47 4,527.68 14,537.54 1,273.56

930,360.53 1,111.36 1,452,493.37 28,219.73 13,245.46 3,402.64 94,291.07 37,679.82 30,934.74 4,063,919.25 2,877,219.63 2,610,120.14 12,501,776.74 5,883.13 122,311.01 8,328.96 13,433,333.58 815,556.81 293,819.57 1,756,091.20 32,409.01 47,443.44 5,978.48 121,052.19 756,826.42 2,550,113.89 67,710.18 659,842.49 1,252,318.21 48,284.52 18,710.54 89,152.47 492,238.53 20,725,892.55 32,240.13 6,826.80 45,321.50 1,291,933.45 29,601.09 51,784.43 23,163.22 5,849,784.88 181,178.33 5,698.92 289,712.61 13,227.15 294,740.83 150,416.97 850,524.01 28,916.03 10,033.92 1,116,229.00 1,218,855.09 23,855.52 193,832.42 24,868.43 53,292.71 395,865.31 3,584,507.28 1,279,456.07 266,808.03 124,802.08 20,089.04 39,268.08 122,128.72 158,004.03 129,067.60 4,303.53 3,402,432.52 5,299.38 47,408.90 81,977.35 380,777.29 9,162,476.36 53,522.28 9,499.77 117,418.09 305,015.16 5,300.65 68,329.37 5,105.05 310,727.83 1,067,716.48 32,504.75 3,702.78 207,555.97 8,342.42 73,299.87 29,014.04 3,429,495.97 191,195.15 1,753,186.31 120,031.15 55,736.07 662,738.15 24,951.73 68,193.83 46,784.67 2,822,014.43 187,390.33 4,685,735.96 46,043.48 4,357,173.12 5,151.24 13,788.64 1,187.16

PASCAGOULA 435,619.76 PASS CHRISTIAN 77,245.76 PAULDING 96.21 PEARL 582,673.08 PELAHATCHIE 22,841.91 PETAL 162,045.23 PHILADELPHIA 257,302.30 PICAYUNE 397,041.02 PICKENS 6,634.26 PITTSBORO 404.78 PLANTERSVILLE 3,467.04 POLKVILLE 75.23 PONTOTOC 160,290.88 POPE 3,395.59 POPLARVILLE 46,971.27 PORT GIBSON 19,161.69 POTTS CAMP 6,843.84 PRENTISS 32,824.38 PUCKETT 7,049.41 PURVIS 53,882.62 QUITMAN 44,834.15 RALEIGH 15,040.98 RAYMOND 14,407.10 RENOVA 1,921.83 RICHLAND 331,962.71 RICHTON 24,374.65 RIDGELAND 880,673.51 RIENZI 2,669.80 RIPLEY 86,522.97 ROLLING FORK 31,414.98 ROSEDALE 8,591.76 ROXIE 1,474.04 RULEVILLE 18,000.30 SALLIS 2,229.25 SALTILLO 54,427.20 SANDERSVILLE 112,526.98 SARDIS 21,996.30 SATARTIA 441.04 SCHLATER 931.46 SCOOBA 5,484.55 SEBASTAPOL 11,564.06 SEMINARY 10,013.56 SENATOBIA 146,048.58 SHANNON 14,927.58 SHAW 5,016.28 SHELBY 9,359.76 SHERMAN 9,756.00 SHUBUTA 3,354.78 SHUQUALAK 1,741.85 SIDON 819.43 SILVER CITY 377.59 SILVER CREEK 2,959.69 SLATE SPRINGS 438.30 SLEDGE 1,550.40 SMITHVILLE 4,571.26 SNOWLAKESHORES 127.65 SOSO 13,697.19 SOUTHAVEN 911,749.90 SOUTHWEST COMM 89.73 STARKVILLE 430,732.94 STATE LINE 7,294.37 STONEWALL 6,227.58 STURGIS 2,508.76 SUMMIT 26,684.27 SUMNER 2,458.68 SUMRALL 34,479.40 SUNFLOWER 1,302.14 SYLVARENA 246.79 TAYLOR 1,608.95 TAYLORSVILLE 22,499.72 TCHULA 5,957.85 TERRY 23,358.40 THAXTON 2,417.84 TISHOMINGO 7,426.09 TOCCOPOLA 550.23 TOWN OF WALLS 2,931.37 TREMONT 1,521.30 TUNICA 38,455.40 TUPELO 1,285,942.22 TUTWILER 3,863.12 TYLERTOWN 48,533.50 UNION 27,582.26 UNIV OF MISS 9,265.58 UTICA 10,338.77 VAIDEN 9,441.24 VARDAMAN 8,721.33 VERONA 16,568.11 VICKSBURG 585,501.87 WALNUT 14,955.68 WALNUT GROVE 7,121.58 WALTHALL 1,821.99 WATER VALLEY 35,659.16 WAVELAND 156,586.49 WAYNESBORO 150,045.57 WEBB 6,171.43 WEIR 2,230.86 WESSON 11,622.38 WEST 1,401.23 WEST POINT 150,859.20 WIGGINS 127,078.47 WINONA 75,740.37 WINSTONVILLE 318.02 WOODLAND 4,891.40 WOODVILLE 25,113.13 YAZOO CITY 124,980.88 TOTAL $29,623,978.46

385,784.25 3,500,775.78 3,402,078.65 78,928.21 729,004.27 701,857.66 104.01 884.84 1,332.30 600,096.00 5,417,972.46 5,301,453.67 22,136.62 209,026.99 195,677.49 162,450.56 1,423,982.80 1,392,205.61 265,353.65 2,501,506.90 2,480,774.68 312,136.78 2,711,568.63 2,641,987.13 7,837.44 62,788.77 66,981.96 368.34 3,599.01 3,606.59 4,040.51 29,045.43 32,178.95 303.61 3,044.21 3,747.03 158,832.46 1,438,360.95 1,435,459.25 3,787.08 30,630.37 28,856.12 47,999.27 404,768.27 406,517.73 20,155.31 157,491.81 161,704.62 7,822.36 68,859.45 65,124.38 33,671.37 276,019.71 275,587.96 7,972.17 68,351.78 61,655.39 49,902.47 450,954.68 405,068.26 39,652.74 344,410.85 343,434.56 16,683.70 129,981.30 143,830.19 15,510.05 129,056.53 133,762.72 1,979.78 21,483.53 22,115.40 306,683.24 3,029,358.84 2,781,525.12 21,859.16 207,712.38 187,098.12 811,972.50 7,961,864.81 7,624,572.75 2,843.41 20,605.21 22,927.70 85,093.39 804,564.89 759,970.64 26,760.19 277,989.99 244,242.05 9,098.24 80,233.17 78,900.92 1,589.40 11,216.05 11,532.98 17,498.43 149,854.66 142,416.70 2,091.43 17,753.58 15,820.86 50,686.80 485,693.09 430,082.79 54,711.68 527,395.79 395,848.27 25,943.84 193,431.14 219,319.97 352.43 3,326.33 2,865.12 918.36 7,704.15 7,280.89 5,598.29 51,693.13 47,404.23 12,494.32 117,835.59 112,075.06 11,096.75 87,383.02 91,404.58 139,645.23 1,217,654.40 1,200,897.16 13,210.42 115,008.15 106,073.03 5,813.98 49,738.49 53,924.34 8,755.58 78,490.04 80,168.21 10,296.00 88,153.50 88,073.21 3,521.12 28,009.68 28,735.60 1,649.17 14,691.11 15,981.51 762.47 6,259.85 6,311.10 507.27 3,057.42 2,999.28 2,861.54 23,068.91 23,938.34 291.56 2,596.34 2,955.37 1,447.03 12,178.91 12,960.88 4,966.47 44,044.51 35,611.37 131.17 1,020.32 1,122.80 10,743.44 112,633.54 93,691.52 878,046.69 8,306,517.76 8,181,729.63 219.04 1,563.09 3,034.75 420,146.98 3,767,196.08 3,669,529.93 9,040.82 67,788.59 67,724.24 5,645.15 52,144.09 44,808.94 2,715.29 32,093.87 22,645.98 26,981.89 241,792.88 240,257.13 2,802.15 31,412.94 30,924.14 28,903.52 277,764.06 270,574.05 2,054.76 16,455.57 17,375.59 307.47 2,479.58 2,428.98 1,686.83 14,895.86 16,137.94 22,239.92 196,377.15 195,464.21 6,355.07 56,308.69 51,696.14 22,545.79 192,258.27 197,943.95 2,682.93 23,449.82 23,425.15 8,777.02 65,460.63 66,957.23 596.12 4,519.16 4,136.91 2,527.47 26,238.20 24,776.53 1,233.57 13,562.30 12,201.60 38,976.98 323,025.26 326,570.55 1,245,453.26 11,926,438.57 11,706,820.33 3,580.49 30,600.95 43,198.78 50,572.15 426,611.98 430,036.56 29,986.73 229,888.34 244,931.99 173,247.69 310,115.52 276,979.07 10,166.15 94,106.95 92,986.67 10,959.26 83,741.71 87,948.74 8,030.74 84,346.98 74,077.01 15,568.67 155,141.59 142,920.95 557,230.36 4,996,231.39 4,921,547.84 15,669.55 131,320.04 167,817.96 7,258.94 52,763.30 47,415.22 2,057.14 14,702.74 15,816.45 36,916.33 314,628.05 314,568.94 158,312.00 1,412,699.05 1,370,247.92 152,070.81 1,353,169.65 1,329,514.95 8,129.57 62,276.70 69,508.36 2,325.35 18,765.85 19,502.90 14,921.77 113,361.73 116,729.61 1,705.66 12,260.89 13,500.97 151,936.12 1,402,600.64 1,372,268.02 120,152.33 1,107,596.36 1,066,687.41 74,045.71 694,466.92 677,243.87 576.74 2,593.02 5,090.19 5,213.95 43,376.32 43,372.35 26,080.38 208,872.65 206,279.10 129,934.44 1,180,033.27 1,135,117.80 $28,792,980.13 $262,754,944.80 $255,683,498.98

NEWSMAKERS

April 12, 2013

Profiles of growing young professionals in Mississippi

Mississippi Business Journal

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31

Age: 27 Advocacy Coordinator, Mississippi Coalition for Public Charter Schools

Keeping our eye on... ERIKA BERRY Talk to Erika Berry for long and the conversation will wind its way around to education policy.

“As technology continues to advance and our marketplace becomes more global, public education is going to have to innovate so that every student graduates as a 21st century careerist,” Berry says.

The Brandon native speaks from experience having been a product of Rankin County public schools and a math teacher for Teach For America in Charlotte, N.C. She also helped canvass for various charter schools in Nashville, Tenn., and was a Citizen Schools teacher in Charlotte where she taught healthy eating practices to middle schoolers.

As advocacy coordinator for the Mississippi Coalition for Public Charter Schools, Berry was at the center of the controversial public charter school debate at the State Capitol this past session.

The debate led to the passing of a charter school bill as part of a

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larger education reform package that will be signed by Gov. Phil Bryant later this year.

With a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Mississippi, a master’s in public policy from Vanderbilt University and graduate work experience at the Tennessee Department of Education, Berry was a frequent champion for charter schools on radio, social media and in local newspapers.

“Our public schools cannot continue to do the same thing we've been doing for the past several decades and expect all of our children to compete nationally or internationally,” she says.

“Kids in Mississippi are just as capable of success as kids in Massachusetts or Finland.”

In her free time Berry enjoys traveling, visiting friends and being anywhere outside especially close to the water.

— By Stephen McDill

Best thing about Mississippi: “No matter where I’ve lived or traveled, I would meet an immediate friend and a fellow Mississippian. This state really is an overgrown small town.”

Best Mississippi event: Springtime in Natchez and fall in Oxford Favorite Mississippi food: The vegetable casserole at Ajax Diner in Oxford First job ever: Lifeguard Favorite TV Show: “Law & Order SVU” and “Downton Abbey” Favorite Movie: “Crash” Favorite Music: Van Morrison, Motown Twitter: @erikarberry

Firm welcomes Overstreet

Perry headed to White House

Frye made analyst

Robinson receives promotion

Neel-Schaffer Inc. has added Kreg Overstreet, PE, to its team of professionals. Overstreet brings with him over 10 years of experience in transportation and water and sewer infrastructure repairs. Overstreet holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and is a registered professional engineer Overstreet in the state of Mississippi. He is also a member of the Mississippi Engineering Society, past president of Mississippi Engineering Society Gulf Coast Chapter and a member of Leadership Gulf Coast Class of 2013.

Capt. Kyle Perry, a critical care nurse in the 81st Inpatient Operations Squadron intensive care unit at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, will soon join an elite medical staff when he becomes a member of the White House clinic. Perry reports there in October for the three-year assignment. The staff is led by the president's physician, a Navy captain, and is comprised of medics from the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The medical unit cares for the President, his family, the White House staff and visitors and the job requires two to three weeks of travel each month. The clinic is located on the grounds adjacent to the White House and five to six staff members provide care in the clinic.

Before leaving Keesler, Perry will attend flight nurse training at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and survival school at Fairchild AFB, Wash. He anticipates further training after he begins his new duties.

TEC has appointed Timothy Frye as operations analyst in the Revenue Assurance Department in the corporate office in Jackson. In this role, Frye will be responsible for compiling and analyzing financial data as well as supporting the Revenue Assurance Department.

Frye Frye, currently residing in Jackson, graduated from Millsaps College with a bachelor of business, emphasis in finance, as well as recently completing his MBA. He is originally from Sugar Land, Texas.

Lee Robinson, lead economist of the Vicksburg District, was recently selected as the new lead economist for the Mississippi Valley Division. Robinson will be the lead for all economists throughout the six district offices in the Mississippi Valley Division. The Mississippi Valley Division is located in Vicksburg and oversees six district offices located in St. Paul, Minn.; Rock Island, Ill.; St. Louis, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; Vicksburg; and, New Orleans.

Robinson grew up in Hinds County, and earned a bachelors of science degree in economics from Mississippi State University. He is married to the former Amy Pugh of Vicksburg and they have two children.

Easterling gives presentation Randy Easterling, MD, of Vicksburg was recently one of the key presenters at the National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit held in Orlando, Fla. Easterling, medical director for River Region’s Marian Hill Chemical Dependency Unit, presented on the topic of the cost of prescription drug abuse, both from a human and a financial perspective.

Easterling is past president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, past president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and immediate past chair of the Mississippi Medical Political Action Committee board of directors, a post he held for seven years during his decade-long stint on the board. He has also held numerous public service posts including a 2004 appointment by former Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck to the Tort Claims Board, appointment on two of former Gov. Haley Barbour’s Transition Subcommittees (Medicaid and Access to Health Care) and appointment as chair of Gov. Phil Bryant’s Healthcare transition team. He also now serves as president of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.

Easterling has practiced family medicine and has served as medical director of Marian Hill Chemical Dependency Unit since his practice was established in Vicksburg in 1987. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Alabama. He is a diplomat with the American Society of Addiction Medicine and has served multiple years as a Mississippi delegate to the American Medical Association.

Calhoun joins governors William B. “Bo” Calhoun, MD, FACC, a cardiologist with Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi in Tupelo, has joined the Board of Governors of the American College of Cardiology (as the governor of the Mississippi chapter. Calhoun’s term will run until 2013-2016, and he will concurrently serve Calhoun as the president of the ACC’s Mississippi chapter.

Calhoun was born and raised in Natchez. He finished medical school at LSU and is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. He is married to the former Jennifer Sayman, and they have three children.

Dania’s paper wins award Alcorn State University School of Business faculty Dr. Akash Dania’s research paper has won an award.

Titled “Examining Performance of Socially Responsible Investing: Case of Faith Based Compliance,” Dania was awarded the McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award in International Business studies at the recently held 2013 Federation of Business Discipline conference in Albuquerque, N.M.

Blocker succeeds Taylor Adrian M. Blocker has joined Weyerhaeuser Company as vice president of lumber. Blocker's appointment follows Robert Taylor's planned retirement from the company in May. Blocker has held positions in leadership, strategic planning, business development, manufacturing and sales management at Champion International, International Paper and West Fraser. Most recently, he served as CEO of the Wood Products Council.

He holds an MBA and bachelor of science degrees in business and forestry from Mississippi State University.

McNease seated on board Independence Contract Drilling of Houston, Texas, has added Daniel F. McNease to its board of directors. Currently McNease serves as the chairman of AXON EP Inc. and as a member of the advisory board at HitecVision AS. He has been a director of Dockwise, Ltd. since 2007.

From 2004 through 2008 McNease served as president, chairman of the board and CEO at Rowan Companies plc. In total, he spent 34 years at Rowan, serving as CEO from 2003 to 2008, president from 2002 to 2008 and as executive vice president of Rowan Companies, plc and president of its drilling subsidiaries from 1999 to 2002.

McNease is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and the Columbia University Executive Program. He is a member of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, the National Ocean Industries Association and the American Petroleum Institute.

Mendenhall appointed leader The law firm of Baker Donelson has named William S. Mendenhall leader of the real estate and finance practice group. Mendenhall, a shareholder in the firm's Jackson office, concentrates his practice in general corporate law, business transactions, economic development projects and commercial real es- Mendenhall tate. He regularly represents clients in business acquisitions, commercial lending transactions and insurance regulatory matters. As leader of the practice group, he will oversee approximately 45 professionals across the firm's 18 offices.

A graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law, Mendenhall has been recognized in the areas of corporate law and real estate and insurance law by The Best Lawyers in America since 1999 and in Chambers USA for corporate law since 2003. He has also been listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers in real estate since 2006. Mendenhall is a member of the board of directors for the Mississippi World Trade Center and has been a member of the Secretary of State's Business Law Advisory Group since 1993. He is a past president of the Business Section of the Mississippi Bar and a member of the American, Mississippi and Capital Area bar associations.

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

SALES MOVES

32 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013 >> JEFFREY GITOMER

The biggest thing sales leaders overlook: SALES! Dear Jeffrey, I’m a big fan of your weekly column, especially the one about making sales vs. measuring sales activity. Brilliant! It describes my situation to a tee. I'm an outside salesman who spends countless hours filling in itineraries, CRM notes and reports. I had the biggest-ever increase in sales last year by far, yet I have been told at times I didn't make enough calls that week. Very frustrating. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

My first piece of advice is: Get your boss fired as soon as possible. Get a real boss, leader, coach and helper, and your sales will double.

You seem to be doing the right thing — INCREASING SALES, and having the best year of your career. What else could a manager want?

Sounds like it’s your manager that needs to make more calls and increase his activity.

Let me address sales leaders...

REALITY QUESTION FOR SALES MANAGERS: Why would you, as a leader, take an improving salesperson who is having the best year of their career, and tell him or her they’re “not making enough calls?” Why not do something to actually help?

REALITY ANSWERS: (Pick any or all that apply.) You’re an idiot who knows nothing about

leadership, coaching or creating winners. You’re a micro manager with little or no current sales talent yourself. (You may have sold before, but that was before the Internet — and you’ve probably never tweeted). You’re an unschooled leader, following the old way rather than learning what's new. You’re using CRM as an accountability tool rather than a sales tool. You’re totally clueless about your customer base and what will grow more and profitable sales. OUCH! Successful sales leaders… » Manage the sales cycle, not call activity. » Measure the sales cycle, not sales activity. » Help make follow-up calls with their salespeople to learn more about the sales cycle. » Study the last ten sales to help understand what will make the 11th. » Discover their most profitable customers – and then go on to uncover WHY they’re the most profitable. » Find where the profit comes from in every sale made. » • Discover their most loyal customer – and WHY they stay loyal. » Make a few successful sales calls together with their people.

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» Teach salespeople to ask better questions that emotionally engage.

REALITY: Maybe by spending more VALUE time with each existing customer it will increase their wallet share and your market share and re- Jeffrey Gitomer ferrals will go UP. REALITY: Maybe making too many calls is actually hampering growth. Someone measuring activity and numbers would never know that. Pity.

“Measuring activity” gives you a false read on the reality of sales. And as a leader, a manager, a coach, a teacher, you have a far greater responsibility to help increase sales than to just bellow out “more calls” as your cure-all answer.

And maybe more calls IS the answer, but until you uncover the other ninety nine possibilities, you have no right to destroy or discourage your best salespeople from becoming better.

Or worse, they quit because they’re sick of you and your style.

Sales management and sales leadership is one of the hardest jobs in the world. First, you have to know each of your people, why they’re working, why they’re working for you, and what will make them better. Second, you have to know your customers, why your customers buy (beyond price), and what keeps them loyal.

Third you have to be a better salesperson than they are. And fourth, you have to be a great teacher — able to convey your knowledge in a way that others WANT To hear you.

You know these things so that when your salespeople come to you with issues, you can actually help them make the sale — not make more calls.

Make more cold calls? Huh? In 2013? Really?

If you’re looking to become a hated sales leader, with lots of turnover, make your people make lots of cold calls.

If you’re wanting to drive your best people to

the competition, make your people make lots of cold calls.

And if you’re looking to have low morale and poor performance on your team, make your people make lots of cold calls.

NOTE WELL: • The new cold call is a social media connection. Start with LinkedIn. • The better cold call is an expanded relationship with an existing customer.

• The best cold call is a referral. One that you earn, not ask for.

BIG REALITY: The object of sales leadership is to IMPROVE INDIVIDUAL SALES, not improve “team” sales.

BIGGER REALITY: Your encouragement and enthusiasm — to them, and with them — will help build both their confidence AND their sales.

BIGGEST REALITY: Managers somehow believe their salespeople want to be on their team and win for the team and the company. To hit some big goal arbitrarily set by management.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Salespeople wanna win for themselves and their families — and they wanna win for their customers. Not for you, your other employees, or the company.

Get a grip on “why” salespeople want to win.

Give them real-world help. Coach them, and it will have a major impact on their sales, and your leadership success.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Sales Bible”, “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless” “Customer Loyalty is Priceless”, “The Little Red Book of Selling”, “The Little Red Book of Sales Answers”, “The Little Black Book of Connections”, “The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude”, “The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way”, “The Little Platinum Book of ChaChing”, “The Little Teal Book of Trust”, “The Little Book of Leadership”, and “Social BOOM!” 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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April 12, 2013

I

Mississippi Business Journal

I

33

>> MISSISSIPPI LEADERS by Martin Willoughby

Passing the baton Payne succeeds father In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, both the men’s and women’s United States relay teams dropped the baton between the third and anchor leg of the relay races.

These incredible athletes failed to make a critical transfer and it cost them victory on a very public stage. I think of this analogy when I consider succession planning in family-owned businesses. The first-generation founder and second generation leader have to execute a “handing of the baton” of the family business which often does not go well. In fact, fewer than half of family-owned businesses successfully make it from the first to the second generation, and less than 15 percent make it to the third. Interestingly, an internal investigation of the U.S. track team’s disappointing performance in Beijing found that “a lack of communication between coaches and athletes, poor management of the relay pools and questions over which coaches were responsible for the relays resulted in the 4 x 100 failures in Beijing.” Poor communication, management, and a lack of defined roles is similarly often a challenge in family succession. Because of the challenges, I always take note when companies have successfully made this transition.

I recently interviewed Abb Payne, president and CEO of Camellia Healthcare.

Abb’s father, W.A. Payne, founded the company in 1974, and they have successfully transferred leadership to create a thriving organization. The company has grown 10 fold in the last 10 years and now

Up Close With ... Abb Payne Title: President & CEO, Camellia Healthcare Favorite Books: Good to Great (Jim Collins); The Snowball (Alice Schroeder), Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand) First Job: “My first job was working as a stock boy in our family business.”

Proudest Moment as a Leader: “There have been several, but I think the proudest moments have been that we have consistently been one of Mississippi’s fastest-growing companies and one of its Best Places to Work per the MBJ. The balance between workplace happiness with rapid change is hard to manage and I think we do a good job of that.”

Hobbies/Interests: “I have a young child and one on the way so that takes up most of my time outside of work, but I do enjoy golf and reading and attending any college or professional football game possible. ”

operates 20 home care agencies and 13 hospices around the Southeast. Abb earned his undergraduate degree from Ole Miss and then went on to get his J.D./M.B.A from Florida State University.

After interning in the legal field, he decided that he would return to the family business in 2000. He shared, “One of the first things my father had me do was to work in every department to gain a full perspective of the business.” Abb also pointed out that for his first real leadership opportunity with the company, he was asked to move to Ft. Lauderdale to run the office in that hyper-competitive market.

Abb said, “Working in the Florida market really accelerated my growth and learning exponentially. It was a great environment to learn our industry at a rapid pace.”

After they successfully built up and sold their operations in Florida, Abb returned to the home office in Hattiesburg and assumed the role of president of the company using the sale proceeds to begin their hyper expansion. Abb noted, “One of the most important things my father has taught me is that if you don’t hire good people then you are always going to have problems.” In a people-oriented and customer service-intensive business like theirs, this is particu-

“One of the first things my father had me do was work in every department...”

Abb Payne President/CEO, Camelia Healthcare

larly true. Camellia takes customer satisfaction very serious.

They send out a survey to the patient or family at the end of every service. If the results are not above Martin Willoughby average, then Abb makes a personal phone call. He noted, “Fortunately, of the thousands of customers we serve every year, I only have to make a few calls.” This type of attention to customer service and a flat management structure keeps Abb plugged in to the front lines of the business. I find too many CEOs get too removed and lose the ability to really hear the “voice of the customer.” If management resists following the 2nd generation leader, the results can be disastrous. Fortunately, Abb noted, “I am truly appreciative that the seasoned management team at Camellia embraced my leadership and vision for the company and will be forever grateful to our long-term people who welcomed me and followed my lead to growth.”

Today, under Abb’s leadership Camellia is poised to continue its rapid growth and is entering new lines of business, as well.

Abb and his father have done a great job of transitioning a family business. Their success is creating jobs and making an impact in our state. In an industry where many smaller players have been squeezed out, they have achieved a critical mass that will allow them to be a force in their markets going forward. Seeing family businesses transition in our state and thrive provides encouragement to me for our future.

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.

Things happen when Yankee family moves to small Southern town in '60s

T

>> iss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

By Amy Hill Hearth Published by Atria Paperback, a division of Simon & Schuster $15.00 paperback

his book was thoroughly enjoyable to read. Don't be put off by the title. Although Miss Dreamsville has lots of humor and will have you shaking your head "yes" in agreement with many of the small-town types and things the characters say, it also has a moral lesson and scenes from history woven throughout.

The story takes place in 1962 in a sleepy Collier County, Fla., town when Florida was still part of the South in every way.

Those of us old enough to remember the 1960s, recall the turbulence of the Civil Rights Movement. Distrust — and often hate — were aimed at outside agitators who came from up North to upset our way of life. Jackie Hart and her family did not move to Naples, Fla., to be outside agitators. They moved there from Boston when Jackie's husband took a job with the county's leading and richest businessman.

As the book's narrator, Dora Witherspoon, puts it, "From the get-go, Jackie was a troublemaker in the eyes of the town fathers, but to the few of us who gave her a chance, her arrival

in town was a godsend."

Jackie started a reading group at the public library. The book club pulled in seven odd characters, including a quiet plain Jane who secretly writes lusty romance novels; a woman just released from prison for murdering her husband; one Negro maid brave enough to join and hoping to go to college; and one man, who is the town's only openly-gay citizen.

Jackie, the hapless but charming Yankee, is not content just to start a reading group; she accepts an invitation to host a

late-night radio show. She dubs herself Miss Dreamsville and disguises her voice (you know, gotta cover up that Boston accent). She slips in and out of the station to pre-record the show, thus keeping her identity a secret. There's lots of conjecture around town as to who the sexy-sounding woman on the radio is. Her identity is revealed in a startling way.

Things are going fairly well until Jackie is delivering members of the book club to their homes one night, (including the Negro member) and comes across hooded KKK members burning a Negro church. Everything goes downhill from there for Jackie and her family and members of the book club. Her reaction is one of several ways Jackie sends the conservative, racially segregated town into an uproar.

This book is Hearth's first novel, but she is the author or coauthor of seven works of nonfiction, including Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, a bestseller that became a Broadway play.

— Lynn Lofton, mbj@msbusiness.com

34 I Mississippi Business Journal I April 12, 2013 SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Monument Coffee Company

Photos by Stephen McDill / MBJ

“A glorified walk-in closet” » Coffee drive-thru gets business brewing

By STEPHEN McDILL I STAFF WRITER stephen.mcdill@msbusiness.com

Typically when Monument Coffee Company owner Jerry Watson interviews job applicants he wants to know if they have any babysitting experience.

While the Memphis native does consider the Clinton drive-thru coffee shop his baby, there is a deeper meaning to the question as he hunts for traits of stewardship and accountability in each potential employee.

“We look for folks who are faithful, available and teachable,” Watson says, his rich baritone voice rising over a screeching milk steamer.

Small businesses don’t get much smaller than the 300square-foot building at the corner of Northside Drive and Clinton Parkway which opened last October. The branding and name for Monument Coffee was born after an inspirational trip Watson took to the Grand Canyon.

“Our tagline is faith, family, freedom and great coffee,” he says.

Watson acquired sound business principles at an early age from his father who worked as a concrete contractor. After graduating from Belhaven University in 1984, Watson started in the food business literally at the ground level, running orders from a downstairs kitchen to the second-floor dining area at the original Iron Horse Grill in Jackson.

While hoping for a career as a radio announcer, a management stint and mentoring from Iron Horse owner John McWilliams Jr. gave Watson the teeth-cutting he needed to one day make a name for himself in the food and beverage industry.

“Nothing goes to waste in God’s economy,” Watson says. “When you see a turtle on a fence post he didn’t get there by himself.”

Watson gained more experience working for a food preparation non-profit, growing it from a shoestring budget, church-based operation to 11 locations with more than $2 million in sales servicing daycares, schools, churches, and camps across the state.

His first foray into the coffee business came as an operations manager for Seattle Drip, a popular drive-thru coffee chain in Jackson. The Clinton location Watson currently leases is actually an old Seattle Drip shop that had previously closed.

“There’s such a loyal following,” Watson says of the customers. “Those folks came right back.” One recent customer didn’t even realize the name change until he saw it on his cup label. “We’re about the business of recapturing,” Watson says.

Monument’s prime location gives it a good chunk of morning commuters, neighboring retailers and students and faculty at nearby Mississippi College.

In exchange for their hard work and loyalty, Watson gives back to his employees. When federal pay increases pinched profits, he changed the pay structure to a team commission incentive that helped drive and inspire his staff to pull together.

“Its a tiny little piece of real estate but we’re making it,”

Top: Monument Coffee’s Molly Sims steams milk for her morning customers. In addition to selling and grinding coffee, Monument offers milkshakes and iced drinks in the summer and caters coffee for local businesses. Left: Patriotism and good business are important to Monument Coffee Company owner Jerry Watson. The food and beverage veteran opened up his first free-standing coffee drive-thru in Clinton last fall.

Above: Quick, crisp service that is both high-quality and stable from genuine personnel that know the products and embrace the company vision are all uncompromising standards at Monument Coffee Company.

he says. Less than three minutes expire from order to service. Coffee is actually roasted in Seattle and shipped to Watson every week.

Watson says there are three types of restaurant owners.

“You’ve got folks that take what comes, folks that are wellheeled or have resources, and the rest of us that take something out of nothing and by scratching and clawing turn it around into something that has momentum.”

Monument’s five-year plan includes more company stores and licensed locations throughout Greater Jackson and along Interstates 55 and 20. A breakfast menu and

several fruit smoothie and milkshake products are being planned to hold them up during the triple-digit temperatures of the summer months.

While Watson has a conservative advertising budget he goes beyond it by delivering complimentary coffee to local offices and companies, meeting people in their environment and putting a face on what Monument does.

“If you’re redundant there’s no reason for you to be there,” Wilson says. “The market won’t bear it. I don’t need to be Starbucks. I don’t need to be Cups. Competition is going to be in place. We have a little different vision of capturing revenue and sales."

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