MBJ_Jun02_2017

INSIDE — Sanderson income and sales up for quarter — Page 2 GROCERY

www.msbusiness.com

June 2, 2017 • Vo. 39. No. 22 • 16 pages

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Farmers Alliance takes to road in battle against ‘food deserts’ — Page 4

MBJ FOCUS

Banking & Finance {Section begins P9}

Fred Carl goes small with latest venture

» MBA foundation promotes education, scholorships » New Belhaven CFO ready for challenge

— Page 2

{The List P12-13}

Courtesy of C3 Design Inc./For the MBJ

The Retreat Series is the first line of products for Fred Carl’s C3 Design Inc.

» Oldest Banks Mississippi 4.3 U.S. 4.1

DeSoto 3.2 Tunica 4.6

Yalobusha 4.3

Tallahatchie 4.1

Leflore 6.4

Montgomery Carroll 4.1 5.0

Washington 6.3 Humphreys 7.3

Holmes 7.8

Sharkey 6.2 Issaquena 11.1

Yazoo 5.1 Madison 3.3

Hinds 4.0 Claiborne 8.6 Jefferson 11.0

Wilkinson 7.9

Franklin 5.4

Amite 5.7

Unemployment Rates

Chickasaw 4.3

Rankin 3.0

Simpson 4.0

Copiah 4.7

Lincoln 4.3

Pike 5.0

Choctaw 3.7

Leake 4.9

Neshoba 4.2

Scott 3.4

Newton 4.5

Smith 3.9

Jasper 5.4

Covington Jones 4.1 4.4

Marion 4.9

Lamar 3.2

Pearl River 4.6

Lowndes 4.3

Noxubee 5.8

Winston 5.0

Kemper 7.0

Lauderdale 4.7

Clarke 5.2

Wayne 5.2

Lawrence Jeff Davis 5.3 5.6

Walthall 6.2

Monroe 4.2

Oktibbeha 3.9

Forrest 4.0

Perry 4.9

Stone 5.3

Greene 5.6

George 5.2

3.0 - 3.5

{P8} April Unemployment 3.6 - 4.8

4.9 - 7.3

Hancock 4.7

Harrison 4.1

Tishomingo 4.0

Itawamba 3.5

Clay 5.4

Webster 4.2

Attala 5.3

Warren 4.8

Adams 6.6

Calhoun 3.7

Grenada 4.0

Sunflower 6.9

Prentiss 3.9

Lee 3.3

Pontotoc 3.3

Bolivar 5.2

Alcorn 3.7

Tippah 3.7

Union 3.0

Lafayette 3.4

Quitman 7.0

Coahoma 6.1

Benton 4.3

Marshall 4.2

Tate 4.0

Panola 6.0

Jackson 4.9

7.4 - 11.1

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

Callon Petroleum announces appointments in wake of Fred Callon’s death Callon Petroleum Co. has appointed Joseph Gatto Jr. as chief executive officer and L. Richard Flury as non-executive chairman, succeeding Fred Callon, former chief executive officer and chairman, following his unexpected death on May 24. Gatto will continue performing his duties as president and

chief financial officer. The remainder of the company’s leadership team will continue in their present roles. No changes are anticipated in the company’s day-to-day business activities, it said in a release.

Gatto worked closely with Fred Callon since 2012 as the company executed an

aggressive growth strategy in the Permian Basin in Texas. Since the beginning of 2016, Callon has completed more than $1 billion in acquisitions and $2 billion in debt and equity raises, nearly tripling the company’s acreage See CALLON, Page 14 Fred L. Callon

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2 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017 AGRIBUSINESS

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Sanderson income and sales up for quarter

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com

Courtesy of C3 Design Inc./For the MBJ

The Retreat Series comes in several exterior treatments, including this Dogwood version.

Fred Carl goes small with latest venture

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com It is a market he helped to create.

Appointed by then-Gov. Haley Barbour as housing commissioner for Gulf Coast rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Fred Carl Jr. oversaw the designing and building of cottages in a traditional style as a better alternative to trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Association.

The so-called Katrina cottages contributed to the “tiny house” trend.

Now in a crowded field – with cable television shows and magazines touting the little spaces – Carl believes he has found a niche.

Carl founded in the mid-’80s Viking Range, maker of one of the premier brands of residential cook stoves and other appliances.

He and other investors sold the Greenwood-based company to Middleby Corp. of Elgin, Ill., in 2013 for $380 million.

Middleby sued the owners in 2015 for $100 million in a case that is still pending.

Now he has launched an equally upscale line of small dwellings.

Carl announced his new company, C3 Design Inc., two years ago. Carl said he would build what he called “modular” homes.

Instead Carl has introduced its first product line, the Retreat Series. Look-

ing for all the world like houses, they are technically recreational vehicles, according to the company’s website, C3spaces.com, which was launched last week.

They are small, no more than 399 square feet not including the porch, which adds another 120 square feet.

Yet they are not really tiny houses in the usual sense.

Classified as “park models,” they are built “in compliance with Standard A119.5 of the American National Standards Institute,” the website states.

The website puts some space between the Retreat Series and tiny houses.

“There is no code or standard governing the design or construction of ‘tiny houses’ mounted on wheels, nor is there an established definition or specification for ‘tiny houses,’” the website says.

Chris Galusha, president of the all-volunteer American Tiny House Association, confirmed that there is indeed no such category.

Galusha said in an interview, however, that the International Code Council will include an appendix in the 2018 edition in the International Residential Code that will define a tiny home as any site-built home that’s less than 400 square feet of “habitable space,” excluding bathrooms and closets, Galusha said.

ANSI 119.5 is for part-time and recreational use, Galusha said. And something built to that standard, with third-party

inspection and certification qualifies for insurance.

The Foremost Insurance Group, for example, does insure temporary homes, such as built by C3 Design, as well as modular and manufactured homes, which are considered permanent, said Chad Seabrook, owner of Chad Seabrook Insurance Agency in Ridgeland.

And it can insure tiny homes, he said.

The C3 website states that its park models are designed for temporary recreational use and for moving from one site to another. That means that insurance is generally cheaper for them than for fixed-place shelters, Seabrook said.

But the Retreat Series comes with a hefty price tag.

They start in the “mid-50s,” said Jane Crump, director of public relations and communications for the Greenwood-based manufacturer.

Looking at the price by square foot is the wrong way to price the units, Crump said.

“It’s a lifestyle item,” she said.

“They’re definitely an upscale purchase,” Crump said, “for people with discretionary income.”

Standard features in the one-bedroom dwellings are a bathroom and a combined living and kitchen area and stainless-steel appliances and heating and cooling units.

Upgrades are possible, such as quartz or granite countertops.

Crump said the company is in the early stages of distribution.

About a dozen have been sold, Crump said. The company has about a half-dozen for sale in Greenwood and Starkville.

Otherwise, they are built when ordered, she said.

“It’s a very measured process . . . to build a business from the ground up,” she said.

Crump would not discuss what C3 Designs future plans might be.

Sanderson Farms Inc. reported net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 at $66.9 million, or $2.94 a share, compared with $47.6 milllion, or $2.11 a share a year earlier.

Net sales for the quarter were $802 million, compared with $692.1 million for the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

Stable feed prices contributed to profitability, Joe F. Sanderson Jr., chairman and chief executive, said in a release.

The Laurel-based processor, the third-largest in the nation, recorded its second consecutive quarter of improved performance.

Net income for the first half of fiscal 2017 was $90.1 million, or $3.96 per share, compared with $58.3 million, or $2.58, a year earlier.

The company beat the Zacks Equity Research consensus estimate of $2.75 per share for the second quarter.

Net sales for six months were $1.49 billion, compared with $1.297 billion a year earlier.

Sales have been boosted by a Palestine, Texas plant now running at full capacity and the latest, at St. Pauls, N.C., which is expected to reach full capacity in June.

The company has 12 processing plants located around the South, seven in Mississippi.

Sanderson Farms announced in March it plans to build a $200 million processing plant, feed mill and hatchery in Smith and Wood counties, Texas. At full capacity, the facilities will employ 1,700 and process 1.25 million birds per week.

Sanderson shares closed at $117.54 on the NasdaqGS market on Tuesday, down $2.49. The 52-week range is $74.07 to $125.87.

Joe Sanderson also stated that the company experienced “continued favorable demand for poultry products from retail grocery store customers, higher demand and improving export environment.”

Exports for U.S. poultry producers were hurt after an outbreak of avian flu in 2015, which struck the Midwest. Sanderson was not struck by the flu.

Processors in Mississippi were put on alert earlier this spring after a strain of avian flu was discovered in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. However, the flu was not detected in Mississippi.

June 2, 2017

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Mississippi Business Journal

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INSURANCE

NMHS, United Health reach agreement

By MICHAELA GIBSON MORRIS / Daily Journal North Mississippi Health Services and United Health Care have mended fences.

Days before its provider participation agreement was set to expire, the Tupelo-based health system and the Minnesota-based insurer announced Friday they had signed a three-year agreement and resolved outstanding questions about more than $40 million in disputed claims.

The agreement brings relief to thousands of people in the region who have United Healthcare through their employers, individually-purchased plans and Medicaid CAN coordinated care plans. United Healthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans that previously included NMHS facilities in their network are also covered by the resolution.

It covers the six North Mississippi Medical Center hospitals in Tupelo, Iuka, Pontotoc, West Point, Eupora and Hamilton, Alabama, as well as other NMMC facilities, affiliated physicians and clinics.

In a press release, leaders from both organizations said they were glad to find common ground.

“The silver lining of our dispute is that each of us has learned much about the oth-

er’s organization through the experience,” said Shane Spees, NMHS president and chief executive officer.

NMHS facilities cover more than 730,000 people in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. United Healthcare has more than 600,000 people enrolled in Mississippi. An estimated 50,000 United Healthcare commercial insurance customers were potentially effected by the dispute.

“I appreciate that our two organizations were able to come together and reach a solution that will maintain our longstanding relationship and keep our focus on supporting the health care needs of the patients we collectively serve,” said Joe Ochipinti, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare’s commercial health plan in Mississippi However, the organizations declined to offer specifics about how they reached a resolution, citing their agreement.

Year-long dispute The agreement brings to a close months of public and private discussions over how United Healthcare paid North Mississippi Health Services. Last spring, NMMC staffers found electronic remittances from United Healthcare that were marked paid in full for $0. In arbitration papers filed in

November, NMHS claimed more than $40 million as the result of breach.

United Healthcare maintained it had paid claims correctly. In its review of 2016 claims, United Healthcare staff said they found only 2.6 percent were underpaid, according to affidavits filed in Lee County court in connection with a civil lawsuit filed in December

by NMMC. It said it had found $111,000 of overpayments to NMMC during the review.

NMHS went public with the dispute and its intention to terminate the provider contract in September 2016. On the original time line, NMMC-Tupelo would have been out of network for United customers at the end of December, followed by the community hospitals at the end of May and NMMC-affiliated clinics. Just before the December deadline, both sides agreed to a temporary agreement at the urging of Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, that maintained the status quo through May 30.

Chaney welcomed Friday’s news of an agreement.

“The Mississippi Department of Insurance acted as a facilitator, encouraging a settlement between NMHS and UHC,” he said in a written response to Daily Journal

questions. “As Commissioner, I am pleased the disagreement has been resolved.”

Unfinished business The Mississippi Insurance Department is still conducting a target market examination of United Healthcare, which is expected to be completed in June, Chaney said. Depending on the outcome of the report, the commissioner can order payment adjustments as well as levy fines based on the facts and the law.

The civil lawsuit filed by NMMC-Tupelo remains still active, according to the Lee County Circuit Court public record. The last notation in the file is a notice of May 18 hearing before Circuit Court Judge Jim Pounds. No orders had been entered in the public record as a result of that hearing as of Friday afternoon.

Hospital officials declined to discuss the status of the lawsuit, citing the agreement with United Healthcare.

United Healthcare is facing a federal lawsuit alleging it overcharged the Medicare Advantage program. United Healthcare denies wrongdoing. The federal lawsuit has no bearing on the dispute with NMHS, a United Healthcare spokesman said.

4 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017 GROCERY

Farmers Alliance takes to road in battle against food deserts

» Farmers see steady market for their produce in food-distressed communities

By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com

Sometimes two problems can come together to create a solution.

In Mississippi, small farmers struggle to keep their land and make enough money to get by. And across the state, many rural communities and even some urban neighborhoods lack a means of buying fresh food.

The farmers have the food and the people who live in the state’s “food deserts” want the food.

Hence, the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production was born in 2012 in Holmes County and has since expanded to all corners of the state, says Keith Benson, a Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production Facebook page Holmes farmer and Alliance founder.

Hope Enterprise has been working to recreate in Mississippi the success it had in helping to eliminate food deserts in New Orleans after Katrina.

“Think about it. These small and midsize farms are already in rural, under-served Farmers looking for new markets re- ate but failed to get a vote in the House Mississippi’s small farmers, Benson says, communities. We solve both problems “can’t compete in the wholesale market ceived a big boost from the Mississippi’s Ways & Means Committee. by making money for farmers and getting with these big farmers. But they can have Department of Agriculture and Commerce To allay fears of hurting business for healthy food to the people who need it.” success in building these relationships with at the start of the decade, when it arranged mom-and-pop grocery markers, Blount The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculturfor the tens of thousands of Mississippians wrote the legislation to specify that eligicommunity-supported agriculture.” al Production, which is transitioning to the They can set up small stands or deliver a enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition bility for incentives would be limited to sunew name Alliance for Sustainable Farms, certain amount of produce to a community Assistance Program, or SNAP, to use their permarkets that come into an area deemed hosts “field days” around the state at which location every week, says Benson, who adds Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card under-served through census data collectlocal small and mid-size farmers receive the Alliance is delivering fresh produce to for purchases at farmers markets and road- ed by the North American Industry Clastraining and support from Alliance leaders a growing number of schools in the Delta. side fruit and vegetable stands. sification System. and ag extension professionals from MisWith that, 20 percent of the state’s popAt the start, most of the Alliance’s fundJackson-based non-profit community sissippi State and Alcorn universities. ing came from the small farmers. Later, the ulation – which is the percentage of Mis- development finance entity Hope En“Our first one was in April 2012,” says Mississippi Department of Agriculture and sissippians on food stamps – had greatly terprise Corp. hoped to see passage of Benson, whose organization recently held Commerce provided a specialty crop grant increased access to fresh food. the measure. Hope said at the time it saw its 57th field day, this one in Greenwood.

The importance of that is seen in sta- great promise in using tax credits to build to cover 40 percent of the costs. That grant “We are going to keep working this expired two years ago, leaving the organi- tistics from the University of Mississippi grocery stores in communities starved for thing,” Benson says. “The last field day we zation with no funding other than what Center for Bioethics and Humanities that fresh food. had more than 500 participants.” show over 70 percent of food-stamp eligimembers provided.

Hope Enterprise has been working to The Alliance took to the road in 2015 to However, says Benson, “funders are ble low-income Mississippians must trav- recreate in Mississippi the success it had bring the field days to farm communities starting to realize the importance of the el 30 miles to reach a supermarket, where in helping to eliminate food deserts in across the state, Benson says. work we are doing. I figure that within the the absence of other food sellers typically New Orleans after Katrina. Through a U.S Each field day is held at a local farm. next month or so, it is going to look a lot drives up the prices of food significantly. Treasury Department “Healthy Food Ini“We’re doing four field days in May,” he Equally as startling is a finding by the Cen- tiative,” Hope is looking to use tax credits different than what we have been doing.” adds. “We’re a very, very small organization While so far the training has focused on ter for Bioethics and Humanities that the and other means to arrange financing for but with the support of Mississippi State, farmers, in the months ahead, the Alliance Delta has one grocery market for every 190 grocery stores in food deserts, including Alcorn and others, we try to bring the exwill begin training educators, food co-op square miles. most recently the newly opened Cash & perts in to help these farmers with knowlFarmers taking part in the ag depart- Carry Fresh Food Market on Terry Road specialists and other professionals who edge and skill development.” support farmers. “Nobody else is doing the ment program can process payments made in South Jackson.

The field days cover more than 50 topics kind of training we are doing,” Benson says. with EBT cards with a free wireless “point It’s helped to open 11 stores so far, most a year. Typically, eight or nine are covered Assessing work he and other Alliance of sale” device. That put an end to the pa- of which are in New Orleans, lending $10.5 at each event members have done in the last few years, per coupons that merchants would have to million through subsidiary Hope Federal Farmers receive training in production, Benson says: “It looks like it’s making a dif- redeem to gain payments.

Credit Union and leveraging $58 million marketing and selling. “We give them ideas Meanwhile, a lack of action by state leg- in tax credits and other federal funds, says ference. Folks are getting more access to on where to sell and the best markets to sell islators to address food deserts has led oth- Ed Sivak, Hope Enterprise’s executive vice sustainably grown food.” to,” Benson says.

Without such efforts, Mississippi can er organizations to step in. president for policy and communications.

“Every month is a different topic based House members in 2015 rejected a bill expect to turn back rising rates of obesity, “In addition to increasing access to on what the farmers are doing at their opdiabetes and other diseases related to diet, that would have given grocers tax credits healthy food, they have been an important erations,” he notes. says Dr. David Buys, an MSU extension and other incentives for opening stores in provider of jobs,” says Sivak, putting the Farmers are encouraged to bring their agent who specializes in food science, nu- a vast swath of Mississippi underserved by new jobs number at around 350, includproduce to nearby small towns. “The best food retailers. The bill sponsored by Jack- ing 25 to 30 jobs at the new Cash & Carry trition and health promotion. way to sell and market their produce to “People can only choose from the choic- son Democrat state Sen. David Blount Fresh Food Market in Jackson. consumers or to those who sell directly to won nearly unanimous support in the Senes available to them,” Buys says. consumers.”

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MBJPERSPECTIVE June 2, 2017 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

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» THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Must ensure all students reach potential

Website: www.msbusiness.com June 2, 2017 Volume 39, Number 22

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Entire contents copyrighted © 2017 by Journal Inc. All rights reserved.

» INSIDE MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi back on bottom in senior health

M

ississippi is getting older.

No, this is not about our Bicentennial, but our people.

Since 1980 Mississippi’s total population increased 18.5 percent but the population of residents aged 65 and older jumped 43.3 percent. This pushed the median age up from 27.6 years in 1980 to 36.5 years in 2015. Over that time, the percentage of population aged 65 and older moved from 11.5 percent to 14 percent.

Guess what, health rankings rate Mississippi the worst place to be old.

The United Health Foundation just released its latest America’s Health Rankings – Senior Report. This is the fifth annual report. In the first two reports, Mississippi ranked 50th. We got off the bottom for two years. Now, we’re back again, dead last in senior health.

The foundation says it publishes the senior health report to encourage “continued conversations among policymakers, public health officials and community leaders” and to drive “action to promote better health for our nation’s seniors.”

The report subtitle was “A call to action for individuals and their communities.” We’ll have to see if Mississippi is

Bill Crawford

paying attention.

The report does treat Mississippi kindly. It doesn’t spotlight our bottom ranking. Rather, it says we’re one of the three states “with the biggest opportunities for improvement.” Nice twist. Kentucky (No. 49) and Oklahoma (No. 48) join us in these opportunities.

The rankings are based on 34 measures of senior health distributed among five categories. The categories and our ranking in each were: Behaviors (45th); Community & Environment (50th); Policy (41st); Clinical Care (47th); Outcomes (45th).

Interesting that our policies outrank our provisions for seniors.

The report included several lowlights and a few highlights for Mississippi: Lowlights: In the past three years, food insecurity increased from 20.5 percent to 24.3 percent of adults aged 60plus; in the past two years, volunteerism decreased from 25.3 percent to 20.3 percent of adults aged 65-plus; since 2013, obesity increased from 27.9 percent to 30.8 percent of adults aged 65-plus.

Highlights: In the past three years, preventable hospitalizations decreased See CRAWFORD, Page 7

unique program – the only one of its kind offered in Mississippi – aimed at assisting those with intellectual disabilities will now be able to help even more students.

The United States Department of Education recently designated Mississippi State University’s ACCESS program a comprehensive transition program, meaning students who qualify for that program are now eligible to receive federal financial aid.

The designation is a significant one for the program to reach since only 25 percent of similar programs throughout the country meet that criteria.

The program provides a complete college experience, with a curriculum that encompasses independent living skills, enhancing self-advocacy and adaptive skills, as reported by the Daily Journal’s education reporter Emma Crawford Kent.

Eligible students now can receive Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and participate in WorkStudy programs.

While those assistance programs are likely ones that some students and parents might not consider to be significant, they offer a great opportunity for students in the ACCESS program, which has a higher tuition rate than tuition for traditional students at MSU. The annual cost of tuition, excluding housing and dining, for ACCESS in 2016-17 was $17,500, compared to the $7,780 annual cost of tuition and fees for a traditional, in-state student at MSU. Previously, financial aid was only available to ACCESS students through a few private scholarships.

ACCESS is one of approximately 50 programs in the country and the only one in Mississippi to hold the comprehensive transition program designation.

“Financial aid can make ACCESS available to students who otherwise could not afford the program, opening it to a more diverse student population,” said Julie Capella, MSU director of student support services. “It’s wonderful to increase the financial accessibility of this successful program.”

All ACCESS students have an individualized advising and curriculum structure designed to meet the specific goals of each student and help them reach their maximum potential. Students are integrated into an inclusive environment for a true college experience, in addition to completing internships that allow them to gain valuable work experiences and career skills.

As part of the program, ACCESS students have substantial freedom on campus as they navigate between meals, academic activities and extracurricular activities independently. The independence helps ACCESS students develop self-confidence, explore their interests, manage their time and become fully engaged in campus life.

The recent designation is a significant step for the program to help even more students in Mississippi. We hope this accomplishment is used as positive momentum to accomplish even more for these students. Support from the state level could be considered with the goal of allowing even more eligible students to attend.

Any efforts to ensure our higher education institutions are helping each and every student reach their full potential should be considered of utmost importance.

— Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

PERSPECTIVE » RICKY NOBILE

June 2, 2017 I Mississippi Business Journal

CRAWFORD

I

7

Continued from Page 6

from 85.8 to 67.8 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees; in the past two years, poverty decreased from 14.3 percent to 12.5 percent of adults aged 65plus; since 2013, the percentage of adults aged 65-plus with no disability increased from 54.0 percent to 57.4 percent.

We ranked in the bottom 10 on 17 of the 34 measures and in the top 10 on only two.

The bottom 10 measures were: physical inactivity, obesity, dental care, poverty, volunteerism, community support, food insecurity, number of geriatricians, health screenings, hip fractures, hospital deaths, hospital readmissions, preventable hospitalizations, percent able-bodied, self-reported high health status, premature deaths, and teeth extractions.

The top 10 measures were: excessive drinking, with only estimated 3.9 percent of seniors indulging at that level; and pain management, with 50.6 percent of seniors with arthritis who reported that related pain does not limit their usual activities.

Oh, the top five states for senior health were Minnesota, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, and New Hampshire. The top ranked state in the cluster around Mississippi was Alabama at 43rd.

The state and national turmoil surrounding healthcare funding suggests our ranking is unlikely to improve any time soon.

Stay healthy my fellow seniors.

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

»UNDER THE CAPITOL DOME

Rep’s ‘lynch’ remark part of broad cultural battle

M

ississippi state Rep. Karl Oliver drew bipartisan condemnation with a recent Facebook post saying Louisiana leaders should be “LYNCHED” — in all caps — for removing Confederate monuments.

But, social media being what it is, the white Republican from Winona was also praised by people who said he stood courageously against political correctness.

Oliver’s post was made May 20, after New Orleans pulled down three Confederate monuments and one monument to white supremacy. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a speech May 19 that the monuments represented “the cult of the Lost Cause,” which sought to “rewrite history, to hide the truth, which is that the Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity.”

“To literally put the Confederacy on a pedestal in our prominent places in honor is an inaccuracy recitation of our full past, it is an affront to our present and it is a bad prescription for our future,” said Landrieu, the white Democratic mayor of a culturally diverse, majority-black city.

It’s worth noting that Oliver’s legislative district in the Mississippi Delta includes the tiny community of Money, where black teenager Emmett Till was kidnapped and lynched in 1955 In his May 20 Facebook post, Oliver wrote: “The destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific. If the, and I use this term extremely loosely, ‘leadership’ of Louisiana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED!” The freshman lawmaker removed his post after it had been online more than a day and a half, and he issued a public apology after a stern phone call from Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who also revoked Oliver’s vice chair-

manship of the Forestry Committee.

“In an effort to express my passion for preserving all historical monuments, I acknowledge the word ‘lynched’ was wrong,” Oliver said. “I am very sorry. It is in no way, ever, an appropriate term. I deeply regret that I chose this word, and I do not condone the actions I referenced, nor do I believe them in my heart.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi called for an investigation of Oliver. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel of the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, called Oliver’s post “shocking in its ignorance and abhorrent in its violence.”

The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus and the Mississippi NAACP said Oliver should resign. Democratic Sen. Sollie Norwood of Jackson, who is a caucus member, questioned Oliver’s apology.

“I think it’s irresponsible for him to apologize for something that he meant,” Norwood said. “There is no place in public office for anyone who embraces that ideology and expresses such deeply demented thoughts.”

Rep. Angela Cockerham of Magnolia, who is AfricanAmerican and one of only two Democratic committee chairmen in the Republican-majority House, said she was “deeply troubled” by Oliver’s post. She added: “As one who works

across racial and party lines, it is my prayer that the healing process will continue in our state and that my House and Emily W. Pettus Senate colleagues and I will work to build one Mississippi.”

The fight about Confederate symbols is far from over.

Mississippi is still divided over its state flag, the last in the nation with the Confederate battle emblem.

It’s worth noting that Oliver’s legislative district in the Mississippi Delta includes the tiny community of Money, where black teenager Emmett Till was kidnapped and lynched in 1955.

Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey last week signed a bill to protect longstanding monuments, including those honoring the Confederacy. It’s a safe bet that a similar bill could be filed in Mississippi next year — but if Oliver is the main sponsor, the bill could struggle to survive.

Emily Wagster Pettus covers Capitol matters for the Mississippi Associated Press in Jackson.

April 2017

8 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017

DeSoto 3.2

Mississippi 4.3 U.S. 4.1

Tunica 4.6

MISSISSIPPI’S APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

Tate 4.0

Mar ‘17 1,287,100 59,700 4.6 1,227,400

Apr ‘16 1,268,100 65,400 5.2 1,202,700

‘16 Avg. 1,280,400 74,700 5.8 1,205,800

Coahoma 6.1

Yalobusha 4.3

Apr ‘17 159,817,000 6,555,000 4.1 153,262,000

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Unemployment Insurance Data •• Initial UI Claims Continued Claims BeneďŹ ts Paid Weeks Paid First Payments Final Payments Average Weekly BeneďŹ t

Mar ‘17 159,912,000 7,284,000 4.6 152,628,000

Apr 2017 5,042 40,546 $5,172,775 25,346 1,606 598 $204.09

Apr ‘16 158,488,000 7,413,000 4.7 151,075,000

Mar 2017 5,806 45,440 $5,994,517 29,312 1,662 761 $204.51

‘16 Avg. 159,187,000 7,751,000 4.9 151,436,000

Apr 2016 6,352 46,007 $6,395,661 31,362 1,885 814 $203.93

Calhoun 3.7

Leflore 6.4

Carroll 5.0

Montgomery 4.1

Holmes 7.8

Moving Avg.** 159,597,000 7,569,000 4.7 152,028,000

Yazoo 5.1

Issaquena 11.1

Lowndes 4.3

Oktibbeha 3.9

Choctaw 3.7

Noxubee 5.8

Winston 5.0

Attala 5.3

Sharkey 6.2

Monroe 4.2

Clay 5.4

Webster 4.2

Washington 6.3

Leake 4.9

Neshoba 4.2

Scott 3.4

Newton 4.5

Kemper 7.0

Madison 3.3 Warren 4.8 Rankin 3.0

Hinds 4.0

Claiborne 8.6

Copiah 4.7

Jefferson 11.0 Adams 6.6

Wilkinson 7.9

Franklin 5.4

Amite 5.7

Lincoln 4.3

Pike 5.0

Covington Jones 4.1 4.4

Marion 4.9

Unemployment Rates

— Mississippi Department of Employment Security4.9 - 7.3 7.4 - 11.1

4.9 - 7.3 7.4 - 11.1

Lamar 3.2

Pearl River 4.6

Hancock 4.7

Clarke 5.2

Wayne 5.2

Lawrence Jeff Davis 5.3 5.6

Walthall 6.2

Lauderdale 4.7

Jasper 5.4

Smith 3.9

Simpson 4.0

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

3.0 - 3.5 3.0 - 3.5 Labor force amounts are produced in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

3.6 - 4.8 3.6 - 4.8 Note: Unless indicated state and county data presented are not seasonally adjusted.

Forrest 4.0

Perry 4.9

Stone 5.3

Harrison 4.1

Greene 5.6

George 5.2

Jackson 4.9

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

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Tishomingo 4.0

Itawamba 3.5

Chickasaw 4.3

Grenada 4.0

Sunflower 6.9

Lee 3.3

Pontotoc 3.3

Bolivar 5.2

Moving Avg.** 1,285,900 71,200 5.5 1,214,700

Lafayette 3.4

Quitman 7.0

Humphreys 7.3

UNITED STATES Labor Force Data Civilian Labor Force Unemployed Unemployment Rate Employed

Alcorn 3.7

Tippah 3.7

Union 3.0

Tallahatchie 4.1

Apr ‘17 1,289,300 54,900 4.3 1,234,400

Benton 4.3

Prentiss 3.9

Panola 6.0

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

Marshall 4.2

June 2, 2017 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

MBJ FOCUS: BANKING & FINANCE

Teaching in search of success » MBA foundation promotes education, scholarships

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com

A

bout five years ago the Mississippi Bankers Association decided it would be beneficial to establish a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to fund consumer education and scholarships in the state. To date, due to the generosity of bankers in the state, the MBA Education Foundation has raised nearly $280,000, said Mac Deaver, president of the MBA. “At the recent Mississippi Bankers Association convention, we had a silent auction that raised $14,000,” Deaver said. “It was a lot of fun, and for a good cause. We really appreciate the donations to the auction and the people who purchased the items. We feel like we are just getting started at this. We are getting to the point we are raising more funds and able to do more things.”

A number of other organizations, some private and some public, are also working on consumer education. Deaver said they are looking at the possibility of partnering with other foundations that do financial education to coordinate and enhance programs.

“There is a lot of good work going on and we are all in this together,” he said.

The mission of the MBA Education Foundation is to promote banker and consumer education in Mississippi. The ultimate goal is to promote the success of Mississippi banks and

their customers through education and, in the process, present a positive, accurate image of the Mississippi banking industry One of the most highly visible programs has been the Banker in Every Classroom that teams up local bankers with teachers Deaver to teach financial education for grades K-12.

“We kick it off every fall, and in the past five years have reached about 70,000 students in Mississippi,” Deaver said. “We are reaching 10,000 students, mainly in that one Banker in Every Classroom week. Each year the numbers have increased. We have hundreds of bankers and teachers involved. They apply to the MBA office, let them know they are interested, and we send materials. They don’t have a required curriculum. But we do have curriculum on topics such as savings, credit and budgeting. We have age appropriate materials.”

For kindergarten students, it is as basic as explaining the difference between coins and paper money. Deaver recalls one presentation where they used a puppet. In the higher grades, they talk about establishing credit, using credit, the importance of saving and how to budget.

“We want local teachers and bankers to decide what they want to present to their students in their communities,” Deaver said. “It is very broad. We have also found that, as we intended,

relationships between teachers and local bankers is created or maintained.”

Sometimes it is pretty obvious that the students aren’t learning these lessons at home.

Perhaps budgeting, for example, isn’t something that their parents were ever taught.

“The family is the key to so many things,” Deaver said. “But we are finding on personal finance matters, a lot of grown folks don’t have some basic information.”

Credit card debt is certainly a topic that is often discussed, especially for older students.

Credit cards can be a big temptation, especially for college students who might only be working part-time while paying high costs for tuition and books. High interest rates can make the bills mount quickly.

The MBA Young Bankers Association, which has been around since 1950, participates in the Banker in Every Classroom in a big way, Deaver said.

Another big piece of what the MBA Education Foundation does is scholarship. The Swayze awards are named after Orrin Swayze, a banker in Jackson who started the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University. A $1,500 scholarship goes to a senior studying banking and finance at five public universities in Mississippi.

One is named a Swayze scholar and is awarded an additional $5,000 and the Swayze medallion.

See MBA, Page 10

10 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017

Banking & Finance

New Belhaven CFO ready for challenge

By CALLIE DANIELS BRYANT mbj@msbusiness.com

“The best thing has to be the fact I absolutely love what I do!�

W

hen David Tarrant was a student at The University of Toledo, he wondered if he could major in engineering, biology or even forestry. “But after I took my ďŹ rst ďŹ nance class I was hooked,â€? said Tarrant, the new vice president of business affairs and the chief ďŹ nancial officer of Belhaven University.

He assumed the position June 1. “I have been in the area of ďŹ nance in one way or another throughout my entire career,â€? Tarrant said. “I enjoy understanding how organizations ‘tick’ ďŹ nancially. I ďŹ nd it fascinating looking into how expenses are invested in different ways that produce product or service revenue and related margins.â€?

With a bachelor of business administration in corporate ďŹ nancial management and a master of business administration from Crown College, Tarrant has over 25 years of experience.

Belhaven President Dr. Roger Parrott said in a news release that he is “overjoyed to invite� Tarrant to become a part of the university’s leadership, considering him an answer to the university’s prayers.

Parrott said, “He brings extensive Christian higher education experience, an innovative ďŹ nancial management track record, plus a winsome leading and mentoring spirit.â€?

Tarrant will be responsible for accounting, ďŹ nance, student ďŹ nancial aid, human resources, payroll, information technology and the campus bookstore as well. “The best thing has to be the fact I

David Tarrant Vice president of business affairs, CFO Belhaven University

Courtesy of Belhaven University

absolutely love what I do!â€? Tarrant said, “When you love what you do, it is tough to ďŹ nd a ‘worst,’ but when organizations are strapped for resources and difficult decisions have to be made on staffing levels and layoffs, that is the worst. I feel that with robust planning and forecasting, organizations can avoid much of this as they look out into the future.â€?

Tarrant believes that Belhaven will fare well in a time where public universities are

navigating budget cuts. “This is a difficult time for higher education as an industry,� he said. “Public universities are trying to make adjustments to their budgets to cope with less funding from states. Private universities are struggling to balance an environment of rising costs and lower enrollment. In many ways, faith-based universities have the advantage with their smaller, more nimble size, and their dedicated employ-

ees who are not just working a job, it’s a calling and a ministry that they put their hearts into.� “I love working with men and women who care deeply about what they do and work hard to see students succeed,� Tarrant said, “I can’t think of a more fun place to be, and a better time to be working for a private faith-based university.�

He identiďŹ es with the work ethic developed around a calling. He has served Christian higher education for over a decade as the vice president for ďŹ nance and operations, CFO at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho and at Crown College in Minnesota. He even traveled abroad on behalf of his calling.

While working as marking manager for Vickers Incorporated in 1995, he and his wife, Maureen, and their then 2-year-old son, Ian, spent a year in Russia on behalf of CoMission Project. They taught “Christian Ethics and Morality: A Foundation for Societyâ€? curriculum in the Russian public school system, hospitals and orphanages in Volgograd. “It was very intimidating at ďŹ rst, going to such a foreign country,â€? Tarrant said. “My travels up until this point were only to Canada to visit my in-laws. It did not take long to become comfortable living in Russia, because the people are so friendly.

Our best memories were working in the schools, orphanages and hospitals where we were able to share our faith. Facebook and email help us stay in touch with many of the friends we made during our time in Russia.�

Tarrant is ready to begin the next chapter of his calling, both ďŹ nancial and spiritual — this time in Mississippi.

MBA

Continued from Page 9

Do you have a true Cm-m1b-Ń´ r-u|m;uġ ou f†v| -mo|_;u 0-mhÄľ v - |u†; Cm-m1b-Ń´ r-u|m;uġ $u†v|l-uh hmo‰v |_; blrou|-m1; o= rŃ´-mmbm] =ou |_; =†|†u; =ou ‹o† -m7 ‹o†u =-lbѴ‹ĺ †u ;Šr;ub;m1;7 -m7 ‰;Ń´Ń´ĹŠ1u;7;mা-Ń´;7 ‰;-Ń´|_ l-m-];l;m| |;-l bv _;u; |o _;Ń´r ‹o† 1omC7;m|Ѵ‹ rŃ´-m =ou |olouuo‰ĺ -Ń´Ń´ ou ˆbvb| †v |o7-‹ĺ People you trust. Advice that works.

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There is a $2,000 leadership scholarship awarded a college junior studying banking and ďŹ nance at a Mississippi university.

And there is a $2,000 merit scholarship given to child of a Mississippi banker, who doesn’t have to be enrolled in banking and ďŹ nance. And there is the Donald L. Moak Achievement Award for $1,000 given to the top student at the Mississippi School of Banking, which is continuing education program for bankers.

Scholarship money has been raised from generosity of bankers, Deaver said. “We have awarded $75,000 in scholarship in the past ďŹ ve years,â€? he said.

The chairman of the foundation is the vice chairman of the MBA. That position is currently held by Jerry Host, president/ CEO of Trustmark Bank, and will transition to Mary Childs, president and chief executive officer of The Peoples Bank in Ripley, in July.

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Banking & Finance

12 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017

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Banking & Finance

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14 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q June 2, 2017 SALES MOVES

How to make sales happen? Try harmonizing

I

s there a one-word answer to making more sales happen? Yes. Probing?

Listening?

Presenting?

Talking?

Assessing?

Pain?

Objections?

Closing?

Manipulating?

The key to selling is not probing, listening, presenting, talking, assessing, pain, objections, and especially not manipulating.

The key that unlocks sales is harmonizing.

But you’d never know that from most salespeople’s actions.

Selling is about understanding the other person and their needs. Their fears. Their desires. And their urgency to buy. Prospects and customers have different motives to buy, and it’s the salesperson’s job to uncover them — and harmonize with them.

Rule of sales: No two sales or sales presentations are alike.

They must be adapted to uncover the motives and objectives, understand the opportunities and barriers, meet the needs

and desires, harmonize with the person and the personality, and satisfy or fit within the financial parameters of the buyer.

All my sales life I’ve been exposed to — “no, no,” frustrated by, “systems of selling.”

And all my sales life I’ve fought them as being hokey, outdated, bogus, unrealistic, manipulative processes that salespeople learn, but never really feel comfortable using.

Not that systems are “totally wrong” — more that they don’t always “fit” the situation. And that the salesperson focuses on the execution of the system to make the sale, rather than focusing on and harmonizing with the prospect to make the sale.

No one system will work all the time — BUT specific elements of any system may be applicable. I’m NOT saying don’t learn systems — all sales knowledge is valuable.

I am saying be yourself in the sale, not the system.

Rule of sales: Prospects don’t always want to buy the way you have been taught to sell.

Here are some “more” clues: The rules of “The more, the more”: • The more you believe in your company, your product, and yourself, the more you

GOOD NEWS IS WORTH REPEATING! Digital Reprint

will sell.

• The more value you provide to others, the more people will come to know, respect you, and buy from you.

• The more you follow up and follow through, the more sales you will make.

• The more you study sales, the more you will know how to react to any sales situation.

• The more you harmonize with the customers situation, and offer answers they can apply — answers they perceive as valuable, the MORE SALES you will make.

Keep this in mind at all times. You are a SALESperson, and the prospect or customer is expecting you to ask for the sale.

Don’t disappoint them. But don’t fail to win the sale by earning it.

As a sales master, your job is to take the characteristics and needs of the prospect and blend them with your skills and understanding to determine the reasons the prospect is buying. Their motive.

This will motivate and inspire the prospect to act. Note that the root word of motivate is motive.

Harmony is understanding, not manipulating. It’s sensing the tone of the situation, and comfort level of the prospect — and gives the prospect enough confidence to buy. Harmony converts salesperson selling to prospect buying.

Even though I don’t believe in or subscribe to a “system of selling,” I am still searching for “the best way” to make the sale. And what I have discovered along the way are elements, mostly personal (nonmanipulative), that when mastered will create an atmosphere where people

(your customers and prospects) will be compelled to buy.

Here are three of them in an acronym that ties the introduction to the point — AHA! The three elements to master Gitomer are Attitude, Humor, and Action. These elements, when mastered, are the surest (and shortest) sales formula to consistent success. And they have nothing to do with systems, manipulation, or sales pressure.

These words, elements, and characteristics create harmony.

Every salesperson I have ever come in contact with wants to build better customer relationships — and the best way to do that is never manipulate them. Manipulation makes people defensive, reluctant, and distrustful.

Harmonize baby.

Mastering these elements will make prospects attracted to you, like you, trust you, believe you, have confidence in you — and then — buy from you.

Editor’s note: Jeffrey Gitomer is on sabbatical. This column originally appeared in the May 23, 2016, Business Journal.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of 12 books. His real-world ideas and content also are available as online courses at gitomerlearningacademy.com. For information about training and seminars, visit gitomer. com or gitomercertifiedadvisors.com, or email Jeffrey at salesman@gitomer.com.

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position and building a solid financial position for the future.

Gatto commented, “I am humbled by the opportunity to continue to build upon Fred’s legacy and fulfill his vision for Callon Petroleum. I am honored to have been chosen by the Board to continue my strong partnership with Callon’s chief operating officer, Gary Newberry as together we lead our experienced management team in the execution of our growth initiatives that we believe will create differentiated value for our shareholders.

We are all committed to ensuring a smooth transition and to honoring Fred’s memory through a continued commitment to our core values. We will always be profoundly grateful for his friendship and leadership, and he will be deeply missed by our organization as well

as the oil and gas industry. During this time, all of our thoughts are with Fred’s family and we will do everything we can to support them.”

Prior to joining Callon, Gatto held various positions in the financial advisory and energy investment banking groups of Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. and MarchWire Capital LLC, which he founded. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor of science degree and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA. Flury has served on the board since 2004 and currently serves on the company’s audit, compensation and strategic planning and reserves committees. Prior to his retirement, Flury spent over 30 years with Amoco Corp., and later, BP p.l.c., most recently as chief executive for gas and power and renewables.

He is also a director and the non-executive chairman of Chicago Bridge and Iron Co., N.V.

June 2, 2017

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THE SPIN CYCLE

Google expands ad tracking to measure online success N ext time you see an ad on Google, the company might be able to tell if you went out and bought it in a brick-andmortar store.

A new Google feature can tell when someone who clicked on an ad in search results made a credit or debit card purchase at a corresponding physical store. The tool will give advertisers a better idea of how successful their online ad campaigns are.

How does Google know if you bought something at Subway or Aldo? It works with the credit and debit card companies to match up in-store purchases with your online identity. The company has partnerships with companies that account for 70 percent of credit and debit card purchases in the U.S. The credit card companies provide Google with encrypted information about purchases, which Google software then compares to Google profiles of people who viewed relevant ads. Google cannot actually see any of the encrypted data, so it does not have access to identifiable payment information, like the person’s name or what they bought.

The matches are tallied up in aggregate to protect privacy. That means Google can tell a restaurant their ads resulted in 1,000 people going there to eat and how much they spent, but not share any personal information about individual diners.

For all its futuristic investments like self-driving cars, Internet-beaming balloons and thermostats, Google is still an advertising company. It relies on ad sales for the majority of its revenue. Last quarter, ads made up $21.4 billion of Alphabet’s $24.8 billion in sales. Making the connection between online ads and in-person purchases could be huge for the company, which is competing against companies like Facebook (FB, Tech30) for the same ad buyers.

Google is also adding another real-world tool to get more customers into physical stores. It will show information for local stores on YouTube ads, such as hours and driving directions to the nearest store or chain location. In order to know what

stores you’re close to, YouTube will rely on information from your location history.

The company has been using this feature on Search and Maps since 2014.

Google announced the tools at its annual advertising and marketing conference in San Francisco recently. The YouTube feature is well timed. Earlier this year, some advertisers pulled out of YouTube ads after they were shown alongside extremist videos.

If the idea of Google tracking real world purchases, even in aggregate, unsettles you, there are ways to opt out. You can log out of your Google Account before using search, or turn off your search history so that it’s not saved. You can also use cash to buy your fast food..

For the local ad information tool, you can turn off your location history.

Pinterest Gains Traction With Ad Buyers Pinterest has long been seen as a laggard behind the giant platforms, but it’s slowly gaining traction with one key constituency: ad buyers.

After a slow start in advertising, Pinterest has released a slew of new features over the past year – and a newly aggressive agency strategy. Its quick product rollout, coupled with its emphasis on search and scale, has piqued the interest of agency executives.

The moves come as Pinterest is reportedly plotting to go public this year — and hit $500 million in revenue. That would put it within striking distance of the far-younger Snap, which is forecast to pull in $770 million in revenue, and a far distance from the likes of Google and Facebook.

The knock on Pinterest was that it lacked the scale and return of Google and Facebook, and the shiny newness of Snapchat.

But Pinterest has impressed marketers with several analytics, targeting and ad options.

Marketers can place a Pinterest conversion tag across their websites, which enables them to track existing users onto Pinterest and better target their ads. Pinterest Lens is a new visual search tool that detects objects in the real world and suggests a list of related items. While brands don’t have

the option of surfacing their own products through this feature yet, marketers believe it is only a matter of time before Pinterest starts monetizing lenses this way.

According to experts, Pinterest has also been focusing on building deeper relationships with agency partners over the past couple of months, especially in terms of creative collaboration. While Pinterest Lens is not an ad product yet, the Pinterest team has been working with the agency to “hack” the platform for clients.

The newfound attentiveness stands in contrast to the old rap on Pinterest that it was stuck between Google and Facebook and lacked sufficiently sophisticated tools.

Back in November, several ad buying executives told Digiday they were decidedly cool on the platform. One common complaint last fall: Pinterest’s archaic application programming interface.

That no longer seems to be a concern, as the interface has become a lot more simplified and transparent.

While Pinterest may be making strides, it should keep an eye out for competition, particularly when it comes to Amazon. Amazon already owns the bottom of the funnel – the people who are on their site or leveraging search have already expressed intent to purchase.

Golden Mic | Gregg Allman & Band Branded Southern Rock Rock musician Gregg Allman – who died too young at age 69 – and his famous Allman Brothers Band branded the classic Southern rock genre, set the stage for the jam bands movement and influenced generations of players.

Allman’s work and life is entwined with his brother Duane, with whom he founded the Allman Brothers Band in 1969. Two years later, Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident, but the band soldiered on, and reached new peaks with the 1973 album “Brothers and Sisters,” which featured signature songs “Ramblin’ Man” and the instrumental “Jessica.”

Still, the band found their greatest success

as a live act, performing for massive crowds in the 1970s and – like the Grateful Dead – influencing a future wave of concert-focused jam bands.

Throughout their five-decade run – which Todd Smith included a few brief hiatuses – Allman was a constant presence, and his Hammond organ and soulful lead vocals defined their sound as much as his late brother’s limber guitar.

Allman’s sound was further showcased through his solo work, which included six albums and the 1987 hit “I’m No Angel.” His last release, 2011’s “Low Country Blues,” entered the Billboard 200 at No. 5 -- the highest chart position of his career.

Earlier this year, Allman announced he was finishing work on his next album “Southern Blood.”

He made many friends and inspired countless followers over the years, and several of them paid respects via social media.

Charlie Daniels said Allman “had a feeling for the blues very few ever have,” adding it was “hard to believe that magnificent voice is stilled forever.”

The Bonnaroo festival – which sprouted out of the jam band scene Allman helped foster – was quick to respond, as well.

“Gregg Allman, thank you for everything.

You’re our blue sky, our sunny day, and The Farm will miss you.”

Although Allman’s mic has been silenced, his bodacious sound will continue to inspire generations as long as there is Southern and rock! Allman takes a very solid Golden Mic.

Todd Smith is president and chief communications officer of Deane, Smith & Partners, a full-service branding, PR, marketing and advertising firm with offices in Jackson. The firm — based in Nashville, Tenn.

— is also affiliated with Mad Genius. Contact him at todd@deanesmithpartners.com, and follow him @ spinsurgeon.

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