MBJ_May04_2018

INSIDE — Phil Hardwick on economic development — Page 7 ON LAW

www.msbusiness.com

May 4, 2018 • Vol. 40 No. 18 • 24 pages

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT LAW

U.S. Attorney charges Ridgeland man in $100 million Ponzi scheme

LIBOR Update

By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com

— Page 8

MBJ FOCUS

Going Green {Section begins P13}

» Hardest part of recycling program is getting started » Mississippi Grown Cut Flower Association to educate businesses » Green paint easier to define than find in a store » MDA has alternative fuel vehicle loan funds available

{The List P17} » Environmental Consulting Firms

Toyota to invest $170 million, add 400 jobs at Mississippi plant

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com Toyota announced last week it will invest $170 million in its Blue Springs plant and create 400 jobs to build the 12th generation Corolla.

The investment in the new Toyota New Global Architecture enables the assembly plant to stay competitive globally.

“We will be able to respond quicker and be more flexible in order to meet market demands down the road,” Toyota Mississippi President Sean Suggs, said in a news release. “I’m very

proud of our team members and the partnerships we have developed across the state.”

Implementation of TNGA, along with an overall increase in production, will create 400 jobs during the next 12 months at the Blue Springs plant, which currently employs about 2,000. TNGA is a new approach to the way Toyota designs, engineers and produces its vehicles.

This investment is part Toyota’s plan to invest $10 billion in its U.S. facilities over the next five years.

In a plea federal prosecutors indicated would later be changed to an admission of guilt, a 58-year-old Ridgeland man pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon in what could be Mississippi’s largest Ponzi scheme ever.

The U.S. Attorneys office in Jackson alleges Arthur Lamar Adams used fraudulently deeded timberland to bilk well over $100 million from hundreds of investors in Mississippi and elsewhere starting in 2011.

U.S. Magistrate Linda R. Anderson released Adams on a $25,000 unsecured bond but ordered him confined to his home and under GPS monitoring.

In an email after Tuesday’s hearing, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office said Anderson continued the hearing “for entry of guilty plea.” A date for the guilty plea hearing has not yet been scheduled, spokeswoman Shelia Wilbanks said.

A federal criminal information charges Adams with with two counts of wire fraud involving a scheme to defraud investors, and one count of bank fraud. He faces up to 50 years in prison and fines of $1.25 million, Wilbanks said.

The Associated Press reports that Adams’ attorney John Colette of Jackson says his client likely will plead guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen Adams’ assets, though a press release issued Tuesday did not specify the amount of assets frozen.

“We acted quickly in this case to protect the victims of the alleged Ponzi scheme by obtain-

See TOYOTA, Page 8

http://msbusiness.com/events/50-leading-business-women/

See PONZI, Page 2

2 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Director: Gulfport port work nearing completion, jobs ‘trend’ positive

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com Completion of the restoration and expansion of the Port of Gulfport, begun during the administration of then-Gov. Haley Barbour is about six months away, and jobs creation is “trending” toward meeting the terms of nearly $570 million from the federal government.

That is the assessment of Jonathan Daniels, executive director of the port.

Daniels said in an interview Tuesday that rebuilding and expansion of the port is “really beginning to wind down.”

As of April 13, $459 million of the federal money had been disbursed, according to Daniels. New jobs, however, stand at 425, Daniels said, acknowledging that number has not moved in at least a year. Of that number, 326 are at the hotel side of the Island View Casino Hotel. In the past, Daniels said most of those jobs qualify for the low-to-middle category.

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The Port of Gulfport is about six months from completing construction to meet the terms of the transfer of $566 The $570 million was shifted from a larg- million from the federal government.

er pool of money that the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) allocated for rebuilding of housing for low- to mid-level individuals along the Mississippi coast after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In exchange for the HUD money, the Mississippi Development Authority agreed that the port would to create 1,300 jobs, 51 percent of which are to be targeted for low to middle income individuals.

Many jobs are in the pipeline, but not yet counted. Not yet counted are up to 100 jobs associated with McDermott International, whose commitment as a tenant was announced nearly four years ago.

McDermott has been has been working on small contracts, according to Daniels.

“MDA and HUD are going through their review process to make sure all of the jobs are eligible to be counted and will notify us upon the completion of their process,” he said in an email.

McDermott, which makes submersible

pipe for oil and gas exploration, was the first major jobs announcement of the Port of Gulfport Restoration Project.

Daniels said that calculations on “additional full-time jobs associated with shipyard operations” under the control of the International Longshoreman’s Association also have not been made.

Hours logged by longshoremen rose to 290,000 hours in 2017, up from 190,000 hours the previous year, he said.

The increase of 100,000 hours would amount to about 50 to 60 full-time-equivalent jobs, though those have not been reported to the MDA and HUD to be certified because the formula has not been finalized, Daniels said.

The port recently announced it has a letter of intent with Yilport Holding, a Turkish firm, to pursue due diligence and come to terms on a lease.

Daniels would not venture a guess as to the jobs creation with Yilport, though he said that the firm’s diverse international portfolio is very attractive and the company’s business model fits with the port.

“Yilport is promising to invest hundreds of millions of dollars at the Port of Gulfport and is looking for a long-term agreement,” Daniels said in a recent news release.

Record numbers of rail cars, 12,000, and cargo, 2.5 million tons, were handled last

PONZI Continued from, Page 1

ing immediate injunctive relief and an asset freeze,” said Richard Best, director of the SEC’s Atlanta Regional office.

Prosecutors say Adams set up a SEC-registered company, Madison Timber Properties, to solicit money from investors. Adams told investors they’d get returns of 12 percent to 13 percent for financing contracts to buy timber rights to be sold to lumber mills at a higher price, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.

“However, neither Adams nor Madison Timber Properties had such timber rights or contracts with lumber mills, except in only a few instances,” U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst said in the press statement.

Specifically, Hurst said, Adams devised a scheme to defraud investors by soliciting millions of dollars of funds under false pretenses, failing to use the investors’ funds as promised, and converting investors’ funds to Adams’s own benefit without the knowledge of the investors.

Adams obtained “well in excess” of S100 million from more than 250 investors in at least 14 different states, Hurst alleged.

year, he said.

“There’s still a ways to go,” Daniels said, “but we will not only meet but also to exceed what’s in our requirements.”

“We are pleased with the trend.”

The port has three years after “all ‘punchlist’ items are met and the facility is handed over to us” in late 2018 to fulfill the jobs requirement, which would include about 660 low- to middle income jobs.

The reinvigoration of the port is reflected in its finances.

The port’s “net position” increased $54.6 million in fiscal 2017 over the previous year, ending at $617.3 million, according to an audited report. The “position” is an accounting of assets and liabilities.

Operating revenues for 2017 were $21.9 million, up 35.8 percent over 2016.

Maritime revenues increased 79.3 percent, or 6 percent, primarily because of the return of Chiquita and reimbursement from the Chemours project.

The port restoration project has had its critics from the outset. The proposal to shift funding from housing to the port prompted a lawsuit by the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP and others.

The issue was resolved in November 2010 when HUD and then-Gov. Haley Barbour reached an agreement to use $132 million for low and moderate income housing.

Adams perpetuated the Ponzi scheme by making payments due some investors from money solicited from other investors, federal authorities charge.

Hurst said that except for a few instances, Adams’ Madison Timber Properties never had timber rights nor contracts with lumber mills.

Adams fraudulent contracts with investors most often came in the form of promissory notes on behalf of Madison Timber Properties to be paid at 12-13 percent interest rates over 12 to 13 months, authorities said.

Adams created false documents to mislead investors into believing that their investments were secured by sufficient collateral from which they could recover all or part of their investment in the event that Madison Timber Properties defaulted on the loans, Hurst alleged.

Prosecutors declined to say whether any accomplices to the scheme will be charged.

Authorities also declined to say how they learned of the scheme, though speculation is that a bank alerted them after noticing a suspicious wire transfers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney’s office is urging investors in Madison Timber Properties to gather and retain any documents that they have.

May 4, 2018

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BANKING

Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank are now Hancock Whitney Bank

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com

When Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank merged in 2011, they kept their respective names due to each being so large and well known in their respective markets for nearly 100 years. But now the banks are merging in name, as well. The banks will be renamed Hancock Whitney Bank on May 25. The bank announced a new Hancock Whitney logo and brand today that executives said builds on the 100-year banking relationship between the two banks.

“Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank came together as one organization in 2011, but the story really began 100 years earlier,” said President and CEO John M. Hairston, who heads the largest bank in Mississippi with assets of about $27 billion. “Our new brand celebrates the history and enduring relationship between our two banks. It also affirms our passionate commitment to helping people achieve their financial goals and dreams. More than 4,000 associates a carry on that mission every day.”

The names are being changed on May 25—100 years after the first transaction between Hancock Bank and Whitney Bank, which occurred May 25, 1918.

Chief Operating Office Shane Loper said the name and logo change honor the legacy of Hancock and Whitney Banks.

“That is exactly why you have Hancock and Whitney represented in the name of the bank because you have two 100-year plus legacies that are being valued,” Loper said. “Those are the names of banks that have built lots of businesses and helped people achieve hopes and dreams over the past 100 years. We have been marching in this direction since the banks merged in 2011. This is just the next logical step. It is going to be a lot simpler for customers.

We think the new logo is timeless honoring the history of both companies but portrays a contemporary approach that we want to have as we go forward.”

Loper said their five core values are honor and integrity, strength and stability, commitment to service, teamwork, and personal responsibility to keep the bank strong

and depositors safe. Loper said the new brand incorporates those core values as the foundation of everything they do to create opportunities for people and the communities they serve.

Chief Marketing Officer Dan Marks said the name and logo change were a natural evolution.

“We did a lot of research with clients and the new logo and brand were received very favorably,” Marks said. “They felt it was just a natural step, building on heritage, building on the history and building on timeless values. The logo change simplifies things across our whole operation. The name ‘Hancock Whitney’ unifies two century-old brands with tremendous respect and equity. The primary badge-like logo symbolizes our longstanding commitment to communities and clients. The center emblem incorporates a stylized ‘HW’ of five shapes representing our five core values. The top-right arrow points to an optimistic spirit and the potential of our strong future together with clients, which is inherent in our mission.”

Marks said perhaps most significant is the tagline tied to their brand: “Your Dream. Our Mission.”

“Every day, our associates deliver five-star service to help people achieve their financial goals and dreams,” Marks said. “Earning our clients’ confidence by honoring our founding promise is why we can stay strong and grow together with the people, businesses, and communities we serve.”

Officials said signs with the new logo will start going up today at Hancock Whitney headquarters, regional offices, 200-plus financial centers, and more than 260 ATMs. In the next 60 days, clients will see brand updates to online and mobile banking, debit and credit cards, and checks. They can still use their same accounts and card numbers under the same terms and bank with their same local bankers.

Hancock traditionally had its largest number of branches and customers in Mississippi, while Whitney Bank was headquartered in Louisiana. Currently the combined bank’s predominant footprint is the Gulf South from Tampa, Fl., to Houston, Texas. They also have a healthcare banking office based in Nashville that serves the entire company.

Marks said the name change reinforces their footprint across the entire operation.

“Business owners will benefit if they have offices in multiple locations,” he said.

bringing

wellness home

4 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018 ENVIRONMENT

Entergy gift of $150,000 to move Fannye Cook Natural Area closer to opening

learn about, experience and enjoy the natural world in the heart of Mississippi’s largest metropolitan area.

“Through conservation education proMove over Central Park. The 2,700-acre grams, this site will also help us demonstrate Fannye Cook Natural Area along the Pearl the importance of protecting water and air River is Mississippi largest urban natural arquality, providing wildlife habitat and manea--three times the size of New York City’s Central Park. A recent $150,000 grant from aging our natural resources in sustainable Entergy Mississippi will help move the nat- ways based on sound science,” Walker said.

Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi ural area closer to opening. president and CEO, said in addition to the Wildlife Mississippi, a nonprofit conserimproving the environment and promoting vation organization that owns and manages the Fannye Cook Natural Area, is working education, having a developed outdoor recto develop public access to the mostly-for- reation site like this also makes metro Jackested site for conservation education and son more livable and attractive.

From Google Maps “Surveys show that quality of life is a top outdoor recreation. Some of the activities The 2,700-acre natural area stretches from near Airport Road in Flowood to the Ross Barnett Reservoir’s spillway. planned include walking, biking, wildlife factor for companies searching for new loMore than 800,000 people live within 60 miles of the site. viewing, paddling, fishing and hunting op- cations,” Fisackerly said. “Communities that portunities for kids and wounded veterans. build and maintain sustainable green spaces Mississippi, said the park is a wetland that Jackson and The District at Eastover,” George Walker III, Wildlife Mississippi’s are more likely to attract young labor.”

Entergy is also erecting an eagle nesting helps with backwater flooding of the Pearl Moore said. “It definitely makes the city president, said Entergy’s generous support River, which is a big problem in the Jackson even more attractive. A developed water moves Wildlife Mississippi closer to the goal structure to commemorate its gift. source is an instant attraction. When you Jason May, a field biologist for Wildlife area. of providing a natural area where people can “The whole project area itself is a wetland add areas to have a picnic or kayak, it inmitigation bank that was developed by the creases the propensity for both national and Mississippi Department of Transportation international visitors.”

(MDOT),” May said. “Anytime MDOT Reports from the Outdoor Industry Asdevelops a highway that impacts wetlands, sociation show outdoor recreation among it is compensated by putting aside land in a the nation’s largest economic sectors, reprewetlands mitigation bank.” senting the essence of thousands of AmerMay said they are excited about being able ican communities, and providing quality of to provide public access to such a large pop- life for millions of American workers. ulation area.

“Investments in outdoor recreation on “It is such a great place for a public nat- public lands and waters result in healthiural area because nearly three quarters of a er communities, healthier economies and million people live in the region,” May said. healthier people,” Moore said.

Article or list will be reformatted with Mississippi Business Journal “A lot may be people who don’t have a way The Fannye Cook Natural Area stretches to experience the outdoors without being a from near Airport Road in Flowood to the masthead on the top of the page and be provided in PDF format. private landowner. This will be a place for Ross Barnett Reservoir’s spillway. people to come out to exercise if they like, Wildlife Mississippi dedicated the area recreate, view wildlife, and there will be in 2016, naming it for the late Fannye Cook, Plaque - 9”x12” some fishing events. It is really to just get a Mississippi conservation pioneer and the or 8”x10” - $199 people outdoors enjoying recreation, which first director of the Mississippi Museum of will improve the quality of life of the area. Natural Science. MDOT, the site’s original Articles are reformatted to fit on either one or two pages with There will be educational signage and infor- owner, transferred it to Wildlife Mississippi mation about wildlife and history. There are for long-term management.

Mississippi Business Journal masthead on the top of the page. going to be multiple aspects to the property Wildlife Mississippi is celebrating its 20th Article size is 8.5” x 11”. area.” year of conserving Mississippi’s lands, waFramed articles take approximately one month to complete.

It is hoped the natural area will be ready ters and wildlife. The organization has proFrame size - 14” x 16.5” - $199 for opening in about two and a half years. tected, restored or enhanced approximately “We want facilities like restrooms in 500,000 acres in the state. Its mission is to Introductory Offer $199 place before we open it up to the public,” conserve Mississippi’s lands, waters and natR Digital Reprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$375 May said. ural heritage to sustain a clean environment R Framed Article 14” x 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$199 Yolanda Moore, public relations manager and a healthy economy.

R Framed Article 23” x 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250 for Jackson, said the natural area will cerThrough Entergy’s Environmental IniR Plaque 8” x 10” or 9” x 12” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$199 tainly be a boost to tourism in the Jackson tiatives Fund, shareholders provide about area. $1 million annually to support environmen“The natural habitat and what it can of- tal improvement projects in communities Call: 601-364-1044 Fax: (601) 364-1007 fer to outdoor enthusiasts is very promising served by Entergy. Since the fund was esFax or mail: Mississippi Business Journal Attn: Marcia Thompson-Kelly along with the other recent additions to our tablished in 2001, more than $37 million 200 North Congress St, Ste 400, Jackson 39201 great city like the two new museums, the has been committed to projects through the Email: marcia.kelly@msbusiness.com or submit a request online at http://msbusiness.com/mbj-article-request/ Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Mu- fund. seum of Mississippi History, The Westin

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com

GOOD NEWS

IS WORTH REPEATING!

Digital Reprint

Framed Article

WAYS TO ORDER »

May 4, 2018

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Mississippi Business Journal

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Costco without gas pumps remains a possibility

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com A week after the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down rezoning that would have accommodated a Costco Wholesale store planned for Ridgeland, the status of the project remains in the dark.

Speculation is widespread that the ruling simply would not allow the store on Highland Colony Parkway to have gasoline pumps, but that the 100,000-square-foot store could move forward.

That interpretation is apparently based, at least in part, on the court’s finding of fact that Alan Hart, director of Community Development for the city ,stated in an email in 2014 to a Costco representative – well before the project surfaced because of public outcries – that “the sale of all goods except for the fuel center complied with the City’s current zoning regulations.”

He then wrote, “We also believe we can appropriately amend the language of the zoning ordinance to accommodate the accessory detached fuel facility.”

Sheldon Alston, attorney for nine homeowners who sued the city, said in an interview after the ruling that “what they build there [would have to be] consistent with the original zoning. Can that be a Costco? I’d have to see the plan.”

“I think the Supreme Court ruled correctly on all points we have been making from the beginning,” Alston said.

“Our argument from the beginning wasn’t that it wasn’t

about Costco. It was about allowing gas stations, drivethrough restaurants and other things to accommodate the Costco.”

The Supreme Court ruled that the city acted arbitrarily and capriciously to amend the ordinance in favor of Costco.

The amended ordinance would allow such changes “without showing a substantial change in neighborhood character [and so] the amendments constituted an illegal rezoning,” the order reads.

“In addition, because the amendments were entirely designed to suit Costco, the amendments constituted illegal

spot-zoning as well.”

Meantime, Mayor Gene McGee said on Wednesday that he had not talked with the Issaquah, Wash.-based chain since the ruling about its intentions for the site, which has been cleared and graded.

Costco has a policy of not commenting on plans, and did not reveal its thoughts on the matter to the Mississippi Business Journal last week.

The Northside Sun on April 20 quoted Chief Executive Craig Jelinek as saying that “at the moment, we have not changed our plans.”

Calls by the Mississippi Business Journal to developer Andrew Mattiace of Jackson were not returned.

Not all Costcos have gas stations.

The court reversed a ruling by Judge John Emfinger in Madison County Circuit Court. It ruled that the city of Ridgeland hadn’t proved that the rezoning was justified and had illegally tailored its decision to aid Mattiace, who planned for a so-called third phase of Renaissance at Colony Park, an open-air shopping mall.

A three-justice panel on Feb. 5 fired questions at the city’s attorneys during oral arguments, foreshadowing the ruling The court voted 7-0, with two abstentions, in favor of homeowners, who filed suit against the city in 2016.

The homeowners in nearby affluent subdivisions say they’re worried about increased traffic because of the wholesale store and possible devaluation of their property.

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MBJPERSPECTIVE May 4 2018 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

OTHER VIEWS

#THE OUTSIDE WORLD

All Mississippians deserve day in court

Website: www.msbusiness.com May 4, 2018 Volume 40, Number 17

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White space the solution for rural broadband?

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W

hite space surrounding rural folks across Mississippi may be the solution to closing our digital divide.

Huh? Well, “white space refers to the unused broadcasting frequencies in the wireless spectrum,” according to techrepublic.com.

Huh? Okay, it’s basically unused TV channels. Turns out TV channel frequencies below 700 Mhz function sort of like 4G so they can be used, with the right technology, to deliver broadband internet.

Gov. Phil Bryant has joined nine other governors in requesting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reserve “at least three white space channels in every U.S. market” to enable better access to broadband internet for rural areas. This means they don’t want the FCC to auction off these frequencies but instead keep access to them open and free.

“Approximately 34 million of our nation’s citizens lack access to quality broadband services, especially in underserved rural areas,” said the governors’ letter. “Whether it’s students trying to research a topic at home or entrepreneurs launching a business, the digital divide should not limit any citizen’s ability to learn, innovate, or connect to the numerous advantages

Bill Crawford

enabled by robust internet access.”

Turns out Microsoft developed technology that at any U.S. location can sort through the FCC’s state-bystate database of used TV frequencies, bind three of them together, and provide access to high capacity broadband.

The good thing about white space TV channels compared to cellular frequencies is their far reach, e.g., Mississippi ETV can cover the whole state with just eight towers.

Microsoft has reportedly opened up its patents to allow any broadband providers to use the technology.

Meanwhile, TV broadcasters say they will need those channels, especially to implement new ATSC 3.0 advanced transmission standard, according to Multichannel News.

However, a growing national initiative is promoting the benefits of TV white space access to broadband for rural areas. It’s called Connect Americans Now (CAN). Mississippi’s Delta Council has joined up.

“Staying competitive in the modern farm economy takes more than good weather and a strong back,” said Darrington Seward, a farmer from Louise and a member of the Delta Council. “A broadband connection opens up a new world of technologies, like remote soil sensors and targeted irrigation, helping to increase yields, lower costs and conSee CRAWFORD, Page 7

he notion of innocent until proven guilty seems to be tougher to achieve in Mississippi, according to a report issued by a public interest law firm.

A recently released survey of Mississippi jails conducted by the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law shows that 2,500 defendants – more than onethird of all of those jailed before trial – have been in jail 90 or more consecutive days. More than 600 have been in jail longer than a year.

And while long pretrial detentions are not unheard of in other parts of the country, the high levels of poverty and often scarce resources in Mississippi make them prevalent throughout the state.

The most recent census conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2013, showed an average pretrial jail stay in Mississippi of 40 days, the sixth-longest in the country. The census Most defendants in also revealed that Mississippi had the secondMississippi can’t highest number of local afford their own jail inmates per capita, behind Louisiana, as relawyers or the high ported by the AP. bails judges conAfter reviewing the tinue to slap on data collected from sheriff’s offices across the them, despite state, MacArthur officials decades-old fedfelt like there were a variety of reasons a lengthy eral court rulings pretrial incarceration is that they consider common in Mississippi. what a defendant Among those reasons the AP reported are: can pay.

Most defendants in Mississippi can’t afford their own lawyers or the high bails judges continue to slap on them, despite decades-old federal court rulings that they consider what a defendant can pay.

Public defenders in Mississippi are overworked and underpaid. Attorneys may spend five minutes with a defendant while a judge sets bail, but defendants may not see lawyers again until after they’ve been indicted. A recent report slamming indigent defense called this period the “black hole” of representation. Judicial leaders plan to ask lawmakers for more funding to increase the amount of help available to poor defendants.

In many rural Mississippi counties, grand juries and courts meet only twice a year. In 2012, a woman in Choctaw County was jailed for more than three months without a preliminary hearing because the court was out of session.

Those things should be alarming to us all, even if you feel outside the circle of law enforcement and judicial circles. The presumption of innocence is one of the cornerstones of our country’s criminal justice system, and when that’s not upheld we are failing collectively as a country and state.

By no means are we advocating for weakened sentences or anything along those lines. Residents that commit crimes or chose to be involved in a life of criminal activity must understand that those decisions will result in consequences. However, making sure that the proper policies and procedures are followed, and in a timely manner, is critical to ensuring those arrested have their day in court.

We hope this report spurs discussion among local and state leaders from various backgrounds on some clear improvements that need to be made for Mississippians.

— Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

PERSPECTIVE

May 4, 2018 I Mississippi Business Journal

» RICKY NOBILE

CRAWFORD

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serve resources. And just like any other small business, the opportunity to shop online for affordable equipment and access customers all over the world can be a game changer. I’m excited see Connect Americans Now pressing ahead on solutions that will expand broadband access throughout rural Mississippi and help close the digital divide once and for all.”

Sen. Roger Wicker, who joined Seward at a town hall meeting in Jackson put on by CAN, commented, “I am encouraged by this new partnership to help close the digital divide. Connecting more Mississippians to highspeed internet is essential to our state’s economic future.”

Last year Wicker introduced legislation to speed up access to broadband for rural residents.

Public Service Commission Chairman Brandon Presley likes the idea for telemedicine and rural clinics.

Others see it as a boon for rural small businesses.

That’s something economic developers for four, rural east Mississippi counties were yearning for recently.

Maybe this is the solution they, and we, need.

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

»FROM THE GROUND UP

Touting economic development is as American as motherhood, apple pie

E

conomic and community development have seemingly passed motherhood and apple pie as the “American” thing. When was the last time you heard a candidate for public office proclaim his or objection to economic development? But exactly what is economic development? Or community development for that matter?

The term “economic development” was hardly used before World War II, although the concept has been around for centuries. Even though everyone wants it, and even though everyone seems to know what it means, the term “economic development” is still in search of a standard definition. Let us begin with a survey of several contemporary definitions.

A 1984 article in Economic Development Today: A Report to the Profession, by American Economic Development Council stated that economic development was defined as “a . . .process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services.

A trade publication focusing on site selection said that it is“. . . a process that leads the creation of jobs and viable communities. The process is initiated when a specific enterprise development opportunity seeks a location that can satisfy a set of critical selection criteria. The Economic Developers Association of Alberta, Canada defined it as “. . . the growth process of developing and maintaining suitable economic, social and political environments, in which balance may be realized, increasing the wealth of the community.” The Georgia Economic Developers Association said that it is “. . . a sustainable process of creating economic opportunity for all citizens, stimulating business investment, and diversifying the public revenue.” An academic journal in England de-

fined it as “. . . an increase in real income per head.” Then there is the Lane County, Oregon manual which says that economic development is ““. . . a program, a group of policies, and/or activity that seeks to improve the economic wellbeing and quality of life for a community. Ideally, it will create and retain jobs and provide a stable tax base.” In short, economic development is a process.

For purposes of this discussion, and because it is the definition offered in the basic course for Mississippi economic developers, the following definition will be used: Economic development is the process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services.

In the past, economic development primarily meant recruiting new industry to the community. As the activity has become more professional and diversified, it now includes efforts to assist existing businesses in their expansion efforts and, if necessary, finding ways to keep businesses from leaving the community. Some economic developers today are of the opinion that there is too much emphasis placed on recruiting activities, especially in times of a slower economy.

Economic development is often considered to be a marketing activity. A substantial amount of time and effort is spent on marketing the community to prospective employers. Many economic developers will say that their primary function is “selling the community.”

Community development, on the other hand, is an internal community activity that is, in a sense, preparation for economic development. While economic development is primarily concerned with jobs, community development is concerned with a myriad of development activities such as schools, transportation, government and infrastructure.

Phil Hardwick

Some would consider economic development primarily an external effort while community development is mostly an internal activity. In any sense, they each complement each other.

In communities with well-established, successful economic and community development programs there will be organizational capacity development, community development, business development, and workforce development.

Organizational capacity development refers to the ability of groups and organizations to work together to meet the economic development needs of the community. Capacity development is about partnering to develop strategies, raise funds, and work in a more efficient manner than if the organizations did things by themselves. Community development is about putting the pieces together to improve the community. Investments might include, but not be limited to, infrastructure, downtown areas, gateways, business parks, speculative buildings and/or public/private partnership opportunities. Business development involves programs that encourage business growth and investment such as business attraction, retention and expansion, tourism, and start-up and emerging businesses. Workforce development is concerned with partnerships between businesses, education and government that build the skills of the local workforce.

In conclusion, in the continuing political campaign world we live in, we can expect to always hear candidates tout their support of economic development, which of course is as American as motherhood and apple pie. » Phil Hardwick is a regular Mississippi Business Journal columnist and owner of Hardwick & Associates, LLC, which provides strategic planning facilitation and leadership training services. His email is phil@philhardwick. com and he’s on the web at www.philhardwick.com.

8 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018 COMMERCIAL FINANCE 701

A LIBOR Update: Here comes SOFR!

F

ollowing the sounding of LIBOR’s death knell last summer, a flurry of governmental and industry activity culminated in the selection of SOFR as a replacement index rate for commercial loans. Accordingly, a sequel of our August 2017 column “The Passing of LIBOR” is in order.

London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) Recall on July 27, 2017, the Brits prospectively announced a sunset date for maintenance of LIBOR: December 31, 2021. Dating back to 1986, the benchmark eventually became the industry standard for variable rate loans and interest rate swaps. By the end of 2016, a staggering $3.4 trillion of “business loans” employed LIBOR. But then the London-derived index darling fell on hard times due to a manipulation scandal too mathematically-slanted for a Grisham thriller.

ARRC & SOFR In the U.S., the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) convened the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) to help select a LIBOR replacement. In June 2017, ARRC “identified the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) … as the rate that, in its consensus view, represents best practice for use in certain new U.S. dollar derivatives and other financial contracts.” On March 5, 2018, ARRC released a 40-page second report (“ARRC Report 2”) reaffirming SOFR and advising FRBNY would begin daily publication of the rate on April 3, 2018. Published quotations for SOFR rates back to April 2 are found at https://apps.newyorkfed.org/markets/autorates/sofr.

What is SOFR? A reasonable person might be content just knowing that SOFR stands for “secured overnight financing rate.” FRBNY describes the rate as “a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by [U.S.] Treasury securities … calculated as a volume-weighted median of transaction-level tri-party repo data.” More

Molly Jeffcoat Moody & Ben Williams

dress the “method for adjusting for the difference between LIBOR and the fallback rate.”

If SOFR becomes a standard commercial loan rate in the market, then ISDA will swap it. But if ISDA selects a replacement rate other than SOFR for its derivative contracts, then SOFR’s acceptance may be endangered.

importantly, SOFR appears to be the choice of the U.S. government and financial industry to replace LIBOR. But when and how is that going to happen?

EXISTING LIBOR-BASED LOANS Of the estimated $3.4 trillion of LIBOR-based business loans outstanding as of December 31, 2016, the March 2018 ARRC report predicts $2.846 trillion will mature by December 31, 2021, the projected LIBOR sunset date. By the end of 2025, the estimated residuary is predicted to shrink to $90 billion. Yet, in 2017 and even now in 2018, banks have continued to use LIBOR. Hence those numbers are stale. Still, the fact remains that a significant volume of LIBOR-based loans will be paid off or refinanced prior to December 31, 2021.

Commercial loans are routinely amended. Once the market adopts a replacement rate, loan documents can be amended to substitute the stated rate or merely provide for a replacement rate should LIBOR fail.

NEW COMMERCIAL LOANS As new commercial loans are closed, the parties are incorporating a variety of new loan documentation provisions to address

the anticipated cessation of LIBOR reporting. Since last summer, we have seen provisions ranging from aspirational to categorical. Some provisions call for seeking quotes to calculate an “IBOR” (sans London), while other clauses merely substitute another industry standard such as Prime, without a precise adjustment for the spread between LIBOR and Prime.

Time will tell whether banks move to SOFR as a chosen rate for new loans or even a replacement rate until such time as LIBOR is no longer quoted.

INTEREST RATE SWAPS As noted in the ARRC Report 2, a compelling reason to use LIBOR with commercial loans is the “ease of hedging LIBOR.” Indeed, some 95% of the LIBOR-related transactions are derivative contracts. Yet, in the same breath, ARRC noted that current International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) contract provisions dealing with the discontinuation of LIBOR were not “robust enough to prevent potentially serious market disruptions” for the approximately $115 trillion in interest rate swap contracts outstanding (not including other derivatives) at the end of 2016. But merely adopting SOFR as a replacement rate fails to ad-

Conclusion & Summary As we noted in August, the fluid situation bears scrutiny by corporations, developers and lenders. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, financial markets revere certainty.

Still, given the remaining shelf life of LIBOR and the uncertainty in the market as to the use of SOFR, it may be premature to rush to a change.

Four comforting points commend rumination rather than speed. First, LIBOR may be reported long after the sunset date in 2021. Second, a replacement rate has been identified, is being reported, and the market will decide over time whether it will gain traction and ultimately find acceptance among the financial community. Third, the vast majority of existing loans will be paid off or refinanced prior to December 31, 2021. Fourth, lenders and borrowers have ample time to amend loan documents and incorporate a mutually agreeable definitive provision on a replacement rate.

We commend the advice from a line found in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”

Ben Williams and Molly Jeffcoat Moody are attorneys engaged in an active commercial law practice at Watkins & Eager PLLC. Ben and Molly are both recognized by Chambers USA and Best Lawyers in America. Ben was selected as Best Lawyer’s 2017 Project Finance Lawyer of the Year in Jackson, Mississippi. Additional information is available at www. watkinseager.com.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Wise Carter hosts “Focus on Jackson” event series Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A. is hosting a series of events titled, “Focus on Jackson”. The series focuses on supporting Jackson, education on topics of relevant interest, and community outreach. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke at the first event about his vision for the City

of Jackson. More than 100 people attended the event on Feb. 15 at The Capital Club in downtown Jackson. The most recent event was held on April 24 at The Old Capitol Inn and featured Ben Allen, President of Downtown Jackson Partners. Wise Carter attorney, Po Lutken, was recently elected to

the advisory board of Downtown Jackson Partners.

Wise Carter plans to continue the series in late summer. To learn more about the series, please visit www.wisecarter.com or contact Angie Artman Walker at (601) 718-8846 — MBJ Staff

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke about his vision for the City of Jackson.

May 4, 2018

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ON MISSISSIPPI

Ag tariffs: We should be careful what we ask for

M

ilitary wars are dangerous, expensive, and as we have seen in the decades old conflict in Afghanistan- can be quite lengthy, but in the end America will win.

However, when the conflict concerns international trade, the same cannot be said, because in trade wars the outcome cannot be confidently predicted.

As a unified nation, the force of our military, more powerful than any nation since the dawn of history, protects us. But in a trade war, our economy, while the world’s largest, is vulnerable to Mike Espy attack from precision targeting by our global adversaries. At war we stand as one. However, in trade, we can get picked apart.

On April 3rd, the White House announced a plan to impose tariffs of 25% against 1,300 products that we import from China, which is on top of the previously announced tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that were announced in March. Some say that these actions were intended to protect a single industry located in the important electoral states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Whatever the Administration’s motivation, or however laudable its justification, it has opened the door to retaliation and China has selectively chosen retaliatory targets- one of which is Mississippi agriculture.

Thus, as we watched this dramatic skirmish unfold, we saw China just one day later, on April 4th; announce higher tariffs covering some 106 American product categories. Tit for tat, escalating ever higher into more dangerous zones.

As The Economist reports: “the list China published on April 4th is even bolder. It makes no effort to comply with the World Trade Organization rules, and aims at pressure points in America’s democracy, including industries with powerful lobbies, such as aircraft and agriculture.”

The list of agricultural products proposed for higher duties include: yellow soybeans, black soybeans, corn, cotton, sorghum, durum wheat, beef, pork, and frozen orange juice and whiskies. China has selectively listed for target some $50 billion of US products annually, principal among which are Mississippi soybeans.

Agriculture is Mississippi’s number one industry, and soybeans represent Mississippi’s number three agricultural crop. In 2017, 3,274 Mississippi farms produced 115,010,000 bushels of soybeans contributing to our state’s economy a whopping $1.11 billion dollars. Mississippi’s 824 cotton farmers produced 1,400,000 bales representing a market value of $562 million

dollars. And in pork, 306 Mississippi farm families produced 570,000 hogs and pigs at a market value of $117 million dollars.

Unable to stop the trains from crashing, Mississippi farmers watch in dread as these two global behemoths get into position, knowing that if a 25% tariff is imposed against soybeans alone, Mississippi’s farmers and rural communities will be devastated. We have seen soybean futures already take a hit- dropping nearly 40 cents a bushel the morning after China’s announcement. Futures reports indicate that on the projected 2018 of 4.3 billion bushels, U.S farmers lost $1.72 billion in value for their crop.

Escalated trade tensions pain me deeply because as United States Secretary of Agriculture in 1993 and 1994, I traveled across the globe huddling around large round tables, where my team and I negotiated the multilateral trade treaties of NAFTA and GATT-which firmly established the rules regarding tariffs and other trade measures.

On behalf of our nation, we negotiated fair rules of trade so that unfettered free trade in agricultural commodities could ensue.

But now, things have changed.

The Administration is quoted as saying that if China harms our American farmers that it will “take care of the farmers”. OK. But there is really only one way that this can be done- and if so, this approach would be considered as being contrary to conservative governing principles.

If China retaliates against American agriculture by imposing a 25% tariff, these profitable American and Mississippi soybeans will not be sold into China- our largest soybean market by far at 12.4 billion dollars. Instead, China will likely buy soybeans from Brazil, and our American soybeans, as futures markets predict, will drop in price, and the incomes of Mississippi farmers will suffer their beans remain unsold on the global market.

In its arsenal of alternatives, the Administration could authorize the purchase of soybeans through mass purchase by the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The CCC is literally a USDA multi-billion dollar bank where capital is annually replenished by the US Treasury Department, pursuant to authority of the Congress. Congress automatically replaces whatever the CCC spends in one year in the next year. As former Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture I served as Chairman of the CCC. I know what leveraging power lies in this governmental authority- to raise farm prices by purchasing market-clearing amounts of agricultural commodities.

But I ask. Why would we force American taxpayers to buy surplus commodities when we already have a market? Isn’t deficit spending supposed to be contrary to conservatism? And here specifically, through these CCC purchases, don’t we offer ironic benefit- again to China, our trade adversary?

Imagine what would likely happen in this trade war: 1. China imposes a 25% tariff on Mississippi soybeans; 2. Brazilian soybeans that now cost less on the world market are more widely sold in China; 3.

Mississippi soybeans that are harvested now sit unsold in grain bins and elevatorsand as prices fall due to grain surpluses’, farmer’s incomes will continue to fall; 4.

Rushing to lift farm incomes the federal government rushes in with the CCC checkbook, and purchases market-clearing amounts of Mississippi soybeans, but these CCC purchases are paid for by the sale of U.S. Treasury notes which China purchases; and therefore 5. China, which already holds a trillion dollars of U.S. debt, literally 19% of our 6.2 trillion debt, is now able to use the interest we are obligated to pay on this debt to buy more soybeans from Brazil, helping China and Brazil to continue to

undercut our soybean markets.

Does this make any reasonable sense?

As your next United States Senator, I will use my knowledge and substantial experience in Congress and as USDA Secretary to hammer out solutions with our trading partners, which sells our agricultural products, protects our budgets, and helps to control our deficit spending.

I will not gamble away the livelihoods of Mississippi and American farmers. Because now even if the tariffs never go into play, the damage has already been done. As further harm, China also now has cause to question our reliability as a supplier.

I will work with Democrats, Republicans and the White House to move us away from the cliff of retaliatory tariffs that harms the fortunes of Mississippi farmers.

I believe in the important principles of free trade and believe that when trade is fair, American farmers will win. On a level playing field, we will always win.

Much like our military, American agriculture is the most powerful economic engine in the world. We have the equipment, the technology, and the knowledge to produce world-class farms. Our yields are second to none, but to be profitable good yields need customers around the world, including China. We should not jeopardize those markets by engaging in a dubious trade war.

We have no time to play tit for tat games.

We have too much work to do.

Mike Espy is the former Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, and a former U.S. Representative from the 2nd District of Mississippi.

He currently works as a private sector attorney, counselor, and agricultural advisor, having his own law and consulting firms: Mike Espy, PLLC, and AE Agritrade, Inc. He is also running for the U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi vacated by Republican Thad Cochran.

10 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018 LAW AND BUSINESS

Internet sales tax gets its day in court

» Supreme Court hears arguments in major case challenging Quill

L

ike kids queuing for the next iPhone or Star Wars episode, state and local tax experts from across the country last week camped out overnight to witness U.S. Supreme Court arguments in the internet sales tax case, South Dakota v. Wayfair. The online seller, along with Overstock.com and Newegg, challenged a new South Dakota law that requires remote taxpayers to collect the state’s sales tax if they sell more than $100,000 of goods per year into the state or, regardless of dollar amount, have more than 200 John Fletcher transactions with state residents. Mississippi recently adopted a regulation imposing a similar requirement but with a $250,000 sales threshold and no particular number of transactions. States across the country have adopted a wide range of similar laws and regulations, all containing different tests and thresholds.

Virtually all of these laws openly defy the Court’s 1992 Quill Corp. v. North Dakota decision that affirmed a nonresident taxpayer must have a physical presence in a state before a jurisdiction may require it to collect sales or use tax. Quill upheld an earlier 1967 ruling to the same effect, National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Dept. of Revenue of Illinois. The Mississippi Supreme Court, by the way, recognized its own use tax physical presence requirement as early as 1948 in Reichman-Crosby Co. v. Stone.

Although physical presence has been the law for at least half a century, these new statutes and rules are part of the state-led “Kill Quill” movement, a phrase coined by a recent Alabama Commissioner of Revenue, designed specifically to overturn that case.

The Court wrestled over whether it should abandon or uphold its longstanding physical presence requirement and, if oral arguments were any indication, this complex case could go either way. Regardless of the outcome, Tuesday’s proceedings raised a number of issues that may not have been addressed in our own local debate over internet sales taxes and the impact a Quill reversal might have on Mississippi’s small business economy.

Remember – all of these sales already are fully taxable. Essentially, South Dakota is seeking to overturn Quill in order to

“deputize an out-of-state retailer as its collection agent for a use tax” that is already owed by taxpayers over whom the state already has plenary jurisdiction – its own residents. (This characterization is directly from the Court’s National Bellas Hess ruling.) Justice Sotomayor cut to the chase on this point by interrupting South Dakota’s attorney, barely two sentences into his presentation, to ask why the state did not just collect the tax from its residents. “I’m sorry. Isn’t the problem not Quill but the fact that you don’t have a mechanism to collect from consumers? . . . So find a way to collect from them.” Unfortunately, additional questions came so fast the attorney never had the opportunity to answer that threshold inquiry.

Quill repeal may be a double-edged sword. A common theme throughout much of the recent commentary is that overturning Quill is necessary to “level the playing field” between small, locally owned merchants and the larger online companies that often do not collect local sales tax.

The existence and extent of those tax-related economic advantages is a fair topic for debate, and some justices expressed skepticism that sales taxes were the actual source of that broader economic disadvantage, but if Quill falls many of the local merchants clamoring for its repeal should expect that they may very well wind up playing a role in levelling the playing field in other states.

Wayfair’s attorney noted that 70 percent of all small businesses currently have a website, and that figure is expected to grow to 91 percent by the end of this year. In other words, most main street merchants

have begun doing business online to one degree or another and increasingly are using the internet to compete in interstate and even global markets they previously could not access.

Don’t let some arbitrary $100,000 or $250,000 trigger lure anyone into thinking this is only a big business problem.

South Dakota and the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General both stated that they believe a singletransaction into a state would satisfy the constitutional requirements to subject a company to a state’s collection and filing requirements, a rather surprising position that resonated with several justices. If that low standard should prevail, seemingly nothing would prohibit the states from changing their laws to capture virtually all remote sellers, regardless of volume.

Justice Alito stated succinctly the reality of that possibility: “But do you have any doubt that states that are tottering on the edge of insolvency … have a strong incentive to grab everything they possibly can?”

Mississippi businesses that have not enjoyed the pleasure of a California, Illinois, or New York tax audit simply don’t know what they are missing, especially given that sales and income tax exposure go hand in hand in many of these more aggressive states. Clearly, absent some clear constitutional standard the sword that repeals Quill may end up cutting both ways.

Uncertain costs and benefits. Justice Ginsburg noted that this entire dispute turns on the balance between administrative tax collection efficiency and increased compliance costs. “[T]he state has the burden of going after consumers, I mean, just in the real world, it’s much more efficient,

much more likely, to yield funds if you go after the seller than if you go after the individual consumer.” No evidentiary trial was ever held in this case, and no factual record existed to quantify with any certainty the actual lost revenues or compliance costs involved.

Many of the states based their figures on a study performed by two University of Tennessee professors. A GAO study, however, concluded the Vols’ revenue estimates may have been overstated by multiples of three or four, and many of the justices expressed reservations about overturning precedent without clearly understanding the true amounts at stake.

Similarly, the Court questioned the “wildly disparate estimates” of the compliance costs to taxpayers if Quillwere to be overturned, and whether technology can adequately allay these and other related compliance issues. Justice Breyer recognized that there are more than 10,000 state and local jurisdictions imposing sales taxes, and that there is widespread lack of uniformity among those jurisdictions as to rates, tax bases, exemptions, and administrative requirements. Wayfair’s attorney put this figure closer to 12,000 and noted that uniformity has been an elusive goal as most of the larger states (New York, Illinois, Texas, Florida, California, etc.) refused to join the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, a multistate compact aimed at promoting multistate sales tax uniformity.

A technological “silver bullet?” South Dakota suggested all this could be managed by modern software and technology,

See FLETCHER, Page 11

FLETCHER Continued from, Page 10

and that available programs start at “$12 per month for 30 transactions.” The justices at times appeared skeptical, especially considering that’s actual sales transactions, not tax returns, so the compliance fees could add up quickly especially for low-value high-volume businesses. Breyer also expressed concern over the accuracy of these programs, highlighting that taxpayers facing these disparate rules might “get it wrong, and either the state assesses a $500 penalty for every mistake, which is billions or, you know, a lot, and — or the class action lawyers sue you for having paid too much.” In a small business context, those penalties and lawsuits can be crippling.

Wayfair’s attorney countered that software was “no silver bullet” because it is prohibitively expensive (perhaps $250,000 just for initial installation), prone to inaccuracies, does not address broader record keeping concerns, and does nothing to alleviate the exponentially greater audit costs and burdens that would result from those new collection and filing obligations.

In the end, however, it was clear there was widespread disagreement over actual compliance costs as well as the limits of current technology.

Monopolistic concerns. Also absent from most of the local discussion about internet sales taxes is possible negative impact a Quill repeal could have on Mississippi’s local merchants. Wayfair’s attorney contended that the larger battle is not between small in-state retailers and out-ofstate direct marketers but with the large companies, the “omni merchants” who, in his view, are multi-channel merchants increasingly dominating the internet. Repealing Quill, he argued, will increase the “cost of admission” to online commerce with the inevitable effect that “those small and medium-sized companies are going to be deterred and there will be even greater concentration by the largest retailers.”

Justice Breyer shared that concern and used the term “oligopoly” when questioning the Deputy Solicitor General on whether compliance costs might serve as a barrier to small businesses entering the online market. Justice Kagan similarly noted “the irony in saying the problem with Quill is that it benefitted all these [large] companies, so now we’re going to overturn Quill so that we can benefit the exact same companies.” How this issue might play out for Mississippi’s “main street” businesses is a valid issue that needs to be explored more fully.

Would a Quill repeal also ensnare professional services? Another important issue not addressed in our local debate is the impact a Quill repeal could have on local service providers with clients outside Mississippi. The online market for remote professional services has not developed as fast as that for selling goods, but it is an area experiencing rapid growth. Even though Mississippi does not ordinarily tax engineering, architecture, legal, accounting

and other similar services, many states do.

Following a Quill repeal, it is entirely possible many Mississippi-based service providers could be required to collect sales tax in their customers’ states. Even if no employee of the firm ever entered those states and all the services were provided remotely, those services might become taxable based solely on the client’s location.

Many states already apply these “economic nexus” and “market sourcing” concepts in the income tax context, and sales tax could soon follow if Quill falls. The Court did not address this issue on Tuesday, but it was discussed in briefs filed in the case and is something Mississippians must consider

May 4, 2018

going forward.

So what’s next? It is always risky to predict how the Supreme Court will rule on such an important case based on oral arguments, but there seems to be widespread recognition among national practitioners that several justices could be inclined to leave Quill intact and once again direct the states toward Congress to resolve these issues that many of them, ultimately, view as legislative in nature. Several justices also were concerned with issues of retroactivity following a repeal and that overturning Quill would likely spawn vast uncertainty and extensive litigation – with many of Mississippi’s small businesses caught right

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in the middle.

No matter how the Court rules in Wayfair, the consequences and public debate over this case will play out for years to come.

John Fletcher is a tax partner at Jones Walker LLP in Jackson, whose practice focuses primarily on state and local tax issues in Mississippi, Louisiana and other states. Having worked as a state tax attorney at General Electric Company and two national accounting firms, he is a former adjunct tax professor at the State University of New York at Albany and is a frequent speaker and instructor on a wide range of state and local tax issues of national interest.

March 2018

12 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

DeSoto 3.3

Mississippi 4.3 U.S. 4.1

Tunica 5.0

MISSISSIPPI’S MARCH UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES

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

Tate 4.3

Feb ‘18 1,270,800 56,600 4.5 1,214,200

Mar ‘17 1,282,300 65,000 5.1 1,217,300

‘17 Avg. 1,280,000 64,900 5.1 1,215,100

Coahoma 7.0

Sunflower 7.6

Leflore 6.5

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

Feb ‘18 161,494,000 7,091,000 4.4 154,403,000

Mar 2018 4,269 34,609 $5,040,028 24,481 1,387 489 $205.88

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

Feb 2018 3,928 38,326 $5,432,737 26,273 1,931 556 $206.78

‘17 Avg. 160,320,000 6,982,000 4.4 153,337,000

Yalobusha 4.6

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

Carroll 5.1

Holmes 8.7

Yazoo 5.1

Issaquena 10.8

Rankin 3.0

Hinds 4.2

Claiborne 8.3

REAL ESTATE AUCTION VCR I, LLC Case No: 12-02009-EE

Tues., May 22 @ 12 Noon

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Clay 5.4

Webster 4.5

Lowndes 4.5

Oktibbeha 3.9

Choctaw 4.7

Winston 5.2

Leake 4.5

Neshoba 4.3

Scott 3.3

Newton 4.5

Copiah 4.6

Adams 5.9

Lincoln 4.0

Franklin 5.1

Wilkinson 7.8

Pike 5.0

Amite 4.7

million general obligation bond issue that helped launch the plant, according to the Mississippi Development Authority.

Also, Toyota received a rebate of a percentage of payroll for up to 10 years from the state.

The latest project will bring Toyota’s investment in the Blue Springs facility to more than $1 billion since 2007.

The company has made $4.27 billion of investments in the U.S. since 2017. Toyota’s total investment in the U.S. over the past 60 years is $25 billion.

The $170 million investment in the Mississippi assembly plant will include a complete replacement of the current production lines, allowing the facility to produce advanced vehicles more efficiently and better adapt to changing market needs.

“For more than a decade, Toyota has been a valued corporate partner to Blue Springs and the state of Mississippi,” said Gov. Phil Bryant.“Toyota’s commitment to building a sense of community is illustrated by the company’s continued investment in its operations and philanthropic efforts throughout the region.

“This latest expansion and addition of hundreds of new jobs reinforces Toyota’s dedication to excellence in Blue Springs for generations to come.”

Toyota will work with ResourceMFG to hire 400 to meet the growing demand for the world’s best-selling vehicle of all time, the Corolla, the release stated.

Toyota will continue “growing its own” by providing enhanced work-force development training at its new visitor and training center. It is scheduled to open in November 2019.

4.8 - 7.8 7.9 - 12.6

Jasper 5.4

Smith 3.7

Simpson 4.0

Jefferson 12.6

7.9 - 12.6

U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT

Monroe 4.3

Noxubee 5.9

Kemper 6.9

Madison 3.4 Warren 4.9

— Mississippi Department of Employment Security4.8 - 7.8

A sizeable chunk of that $10 billion has been committed to a joint-venture plant between Mazda and Toyota in Huntsville, Ala. Mississippi was one of several states in the running for the joint-venture plant, which in March the companies announced will create 4,000 jobs for manufacturing Corollas and a new Mazda SUV, and possibly later an electric vehicle.

The state of Alabama awarded the companies $370 million in incentives.

Mississippi is not offering help beyond the $323.9

Tishomingo 4.2

Itawamba 3.7

Chickasaw 4.2

Attala 5.6

Covington Jones 4.1 4.5

Walthall 5.7

Marion 4.9

Lamar 3.2

Pearl River 4.2

Hancock 4.3

Lauderdale 4.5

Clarke 5.3

Wayne 4.6

Lawrence Jeff Davis 4.7 5.8

Unemployment Rates

Continued from, Page 1

Montgomery 4.8

Sharkey 7.3

** 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 - 3.4 3.0 - 3.4 Labor force amounts are produced in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

3.5 - 4.7 3.5 - 4.7 Note: Unless indicated state and county data presented are not seasonally adjusted.

TOYOTA

Calhoun 3.7

Washington 6.6

Moving Avg.** 160,737,000 6,785,000 4.2 153,952,000

Lee 3.3

Pontotoc 3.4

Grenada 3.8

Humphreys 8.4

Mar ‘18 161,548,000 6,671,000 4.1 154,877,000

Lafayette 3.4

Quitman 7.6

Bolivar 5.5

Moving Avg.** 1,277,100 61,600 4.8 1,215,500

Alcorn 3.7

Tippah 3.9

Union 3.1

Tallahatchie 5.1

Mar ‘18 1,272,500 54,600 4.3 1,217,900

Benton 4.9

Prentiss 4.0

Panola 5.8

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

Marshall 4.3

Forrest 4.0

Perry 4.7

Stone 4.9

Harrison 4.1

Greene 5.0

George 5.2

Jackson 5.1

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

MANUFACTURING

POULTRY PROCESSOR ANNOUNCES 300 JOBS IN WEST POINT

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com Peco Foods, the nation’s eighth-largest poultry producer, is opening operations in West Point. The company is investing $40 million in the project and will create 300 jobs in the Golden Triangle over the next four years.

Peco Foods is acquiring the 185,000-square-foot warehouse formerly occupied by AmeriCold and strategically located on 37 acres near interstate and major rail corridors. The West Point location will provide freezer, cooler and storage space, enabling the company to serve its large and diverse customer base.

The Mississippi Development Authority is providing a $2.5 million grant for wastewater and infrastructure improvements. Mississippi Works funds of $500,000 are also being made available for work-force training.

The city of West Point is providing a water and sewer rate reduction to the company.

Peco Foods supplies a broad range of products and services to national restaurant chains, regional food service distributors and retail grocers as well as international accounts.

Headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Peco Foods has more than 6,000 total employees, including Mississippi, where it has a processing plant in Canton.

May 4, 2018 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

AN MBJ FOCUS: GOING GREEN

Hardest part of recycling program is getting started

By JULIA MILLER mbj@msbusiness.com Each day, Americans create 4 pounds of trash, and landfills fill up a little more. To help counter that, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is working with local governments to encourage recycling.

“Across the state, our 60 percent of our residents have access to recycling services,” Jennifer Milner, MDEQ’s recycling coordinator, said.

“Nationally, that number is about 96 percent.

Mississippi has some potential for growth there.”

MDEQ has two different grants to offers local governments looking to start or expand their recycling service: Solid Waste Assistance Grant and the Regional Recycling Cooperative Grant.

“We’re continuing to work to promote recycling,” she said. “As long as we have those funds in the budget, we will award these grants.”

SWAG helps cities and counties fund clean-ups for illegal dump sites, hazardous waste events or starting and enhancing programs. It offers both competitive and non-competitive divisions. For the competitive grant, cities, counties and regional authority groups can apply. The non-com-

petitive is restricted to counties only. It’s allotted based on millage rates, and counties just have to apply to receive as long as the project is related to solid waste.

For the cooperative grant, it is created to encourage cities and counties to work together to collect and transfer materials to be recycled.

Milner explained cooperatives help to move those materials more efficiently, which helps in a rural state like Mississippi.

Generally, recycling seems off putting because of the steep upfront costs, but these grants help mitigate that.

“It seems to be cheaper to throw this thing away,” she said. “It’s not only good for the environment; it’s good for the economy. These materials have value.”

Manufacturers use recycling materials to lower their costs. This in turn is passed along at a lower price or increase employees. The amount of energy saved from recycling one aluminum can power a TV for three hours.

Across the state, many cities and counties are working to improve their recycling programs.

One of the longest-running programs in the state is Ridgeland’s, which has been running in some

form since 1992.

Ridgeland’s recycling coordinator Mike McCollum said having a program running for more than 20 years helps because a recycling culture already exists, but they are always working to help improve their recycling rates.

One way is through Recyclebank, which is a program in its sixth year that incentivizes recycling for residents. Each recycling bin is geotagged, and on days the bin is scanned that household receives points based upon the average weight of the whole city. When residents participate, they average about $160 a year in rewards, which counters out the $5.75 a month fee they pay for recycle.

“The hardest part of a recycling program is getting started,” McCollum said. “[In Ridgeland] it’s a cultural thing, and it’s been developed over time.”

For programs just starting off, McCollum said it’s best to begin small, such as with a drop off location. He also said Ridgeland’s environmental policy set by the mayor and board has helped create a vision and could help a new program.

“That’s a good starting point to see what direction you’re going,” he said.

14 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

Going Green

Mississippi Grown Cut Flower Association to educate businesses

By CALLIE DANIELS BRYANT mbj@msbusiness.com

When one pictures Mississippi fragrant magnolias come to mind as well as seemingly endless fields of cotton. Now picture those fields but with bright flowers from floral shops all over the South: peonies, Asiatic lilies, dahlias and even sunflowers for cutting to sell to florists. Thus was born the state’s inaugural Mississippi Grown Cut Flower Association, an organization that educates locals to grow profitable cut flowers that can be sold to venues.

The president of Mississippi Urban Forest Council, Donna Yowell, has had this vision ever since she owned a flower shop in Jackson – the first “bucket shop” that sold loose stems of cut flowers for 15 years.

“We purchased from wholesalers that bought most flowers from other countries and we ordered from a cut flower farm in South America. Every time I opened a box of flowers I was reminded that we can

grow 90 percent of what I was ordering from Bogota,” said Yowell.

Those imported flowers took over two weeks to arrive at stores too, and Yowell realized that locally grown and cut flowers would not only be speedier and fresher but also support Mississippi’s economy as the state can import its locally grown flowers to other states with shorter growing seasons.

“The varieties we can grow in Mississippi is huge,” Yowell said. “It ranges anywhere from annual, perennial, bulbs, corms, shrubs, foliages and tree branches.

A florist quality cut flower is only different from other flowers in that it should hold up in a vase five to 10 days and with sturdy stems to be used in bouquets as well as other florist products.”

There are over 165 varieties of Asiatic lilies, gladiolus, sunflower, liatris and dahlias that could be grown in Mississippi “and that does not include all the possibilities – those are just the easiest to grow,” said Yowell.

In the northern part of Mississippi

“A florist quality cut flower is only different from other flowers in that it should hold up in a vase five to 10 days and with sturdy stems to be used in bouquets as well as other florist products.”

Donna Yowell Mississippi Urban Forest Council president

the residents could grow colder climate varieties such as peony, poppies and other flowers that would be difficult in central or southern parts of the state. Those on Mississippi’s coast could grow some tropical flowers that would not otherwise survive the winter in central or north Mississippi.

“Majority of flowers recommended can be grown throughout the state. One the ones with particular needs as to hot and cold weather make the difference as to the best growing locations,” Yowell said.

Yowell saw firsthand success of this vision when she planted and maintained the state’s first public cut flower garden for the governor’s mansion for nearly a decade in the 1990’s.

“The purpose of that garden was to provide cut flowers for decoration and events in the mansion. It turned out to be a very successful market,” she said.

This vision never left Yowell, who is a Master Gardener since 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from Mississippi State University. She has helped develop numerous projects for Mississippi like Edible Forest, Storm Preparedness and Mitigation for Mississippi Communities and Bloom Town Mississippi which she then expanded Mississippi Grown Cut Flower Association from.

The Bloom Town Mississippi program trained city leaders on how they could add blooming trees, shrubs and flowers to city and town landscapes to enhance communities for economic success, tourism and quality of life. Yowell successfully trained over 169 cities so she felt it was time to offer that education to everyone in Mississippi especially since there were sustainable economic opportunities in growing cut flowers to sell to venues.

“This is a project I have always wanted to do but never had the time raising a family as a single business mom,” she said.

“But now is the time, locally grown markets are everywhere and are very popular.

And we have a better handle on our asset in farming in Mississippi and the diversity of crops we can grow over and above conventional commodity crops.”

Yowell did sample marketing over the past two years to see if businesses would support locally gown and cut flowers. She found that nearly every venue from flower shops to hotels and offices as well as event planners and restaurants are willing to buy locally grown flowers if the supply is there.

Yowell believes Mississippi can meet that demand.

She went to Nellie Neal, known as GardenMama to Mississippian’s radios, whom she has shared projects with in the past.

“Since the focus of this project is training and education I thought two minds are always better than one,” she said, “so I invited Nellie to join this effort as well as Horticultural Therapy program. Growing cut flowers is very specific. Details (do) count as well as knowing what to grow, where to grow and when as well as conditioning and a lot of smaller details are important for success and happy customers.”

Nellie Neal, who operates the website GardenMama.com where people can learn horticulture, added that she and Yowell are “serious about changing the way we grow and market cut flowers in Mississippi.”

She and Yowell both see that there is money to be and kept in Mississippi, for produce farmers to add to their crops as well as new flower farms to emerge, but also for backyard growers to supplement their income.

“Cut flowers are a very profitable crop compared to food,” Yowell said. “We are trying to grow that industry in Mississippi for citizens, farmers, homeowners and others who want to grow cut flowers for selling. We have 12 months of the year that we can produce blooms, woody stems, foliage and other material that is valuable in the cut flower industry. What’s important is that we can produce these without greenhouses.”

Yowell and Neal began the project in November of 2017 with a few small but comprehensive workshops on producing and marketing cut flowers.

“Donna Yowell and I are both horticulturists with different specialties that allow us to teach everything from flower

See FLOWER, Page 18

Going Green

Green paint easier to define

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com It may be easier to define green paints than it is to purchase them. While there are green paints on the market, it can be difficult walking into a paint store and getting good information about which products are the most green, said Dr. James Rawlins, associate professor of polymer science at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

“What most people do is they go and ask for green paint at a store,” Rawlins said. “But often the sales people aren’t as knowledgeable as the consumer about that particular product and most often that product is not readily available on the shelf in a store. Often people use a sniff test to decide if it is a green paint.

They think if they don’t smell anything, it’s a green paint. That is not always an indicator. It is common that if three weeks after painting, you still smell something, it probably isn’t as green as you wanted, but that could be misleading.”

He suggests looking for two things with green paint. Are the raw materials renewable or produced from made from some sort of renewable resources and are the products low in VOCs (volatile organic compound emissions)?

Rawlins said he is disappointed when he sees new green paints at environmental or technical conferences, but then can’t find them at the store easily.

“People want to buy it and go on the same day, and that isn’t easy,” he said. “If you are looking for something environmentally friendly, you have to plan this in advance unless you live somewhere like Seattle where people are demanding that it stays on the shelves. But just about any paint will be greener than ten or 20 years ago from all major manufactures and many specialty producers.”

Today in general most paints are safer and more environmentally friendly than in the past as they have fewer VOCs. Rawlins said you want something to smell good when you apply it, but paint shouldn’t be fragrant. Neither should it be offensive.

“It is important to know there is a definitive benefit when you find a good performing green paint,” Rawlins said.

“But you have to hunt for them even at the counter of a specialty coating store where sales people are supposed to know and understand technology. The sales person often doesn’t know which ones are environmentally friendly and green.

Most sales people want to sell you what they sold you last year and the year before.

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May 4, 2018

Q

Mississippi Business Journal

Q

15

than find in a store more than 100 years, and are made from vegetable oil, not petroleum oil, hence the confusion. Rawlins said oil-based paints are natural green products and yet often are delivered in petroleum solvents, hence the strong smell of solvents for weeks after application.

“So, they are very green from that perspective, but they are very often delivered in VOCs that are from petroleum sources,” Rawlins said. “That doesn’t make sense to a consumer, but from a technical

Usually consumers have to educate themselves to find out which paint is green, has good performance and is environmentally friendly. Most people don’t have the time to do the research. They show up at store and ask for paint that is environmentally friendly, and are often guided to the major product that specialty store sells.”

Water based paints have become popular because they are easy to clean up.

You just wash the brush off in water and don’t have to use a solvent to remove paint spills or stains on the hands. But alkyd or oil-based paints have been used for

See PAINT, Page 18

Litter rates along rural roads in Mississippi are

30% HIGHER than other states.

Most litter seen by the public is on

62%

Mississippi

interstates and litter is rural highways deliberate.

disposable items make up most litter Such as

take-out •snack • beverage

containers

Accidental litter from and

open bed vehicles trash can spills is of the

38% problem

Learn more at GoMDOT.com/donttrashms

Going Green

16 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

MDA has alternative fuel vehicle loan funds available

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com Currently the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has about $225,000 available in the Mississippi Alternative Fuel School Bus and Municipal Motor Vehicle Revolving Loan Program dedicated to help fund the purchase of new alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and/or the infrastructure necessary to run these vehicles.

The Mississippi Alternative Fuel School Bus and Municipal Motor Vehicle Revolving (AFV) Loan Program provides public school districts and municipalities with loans to cover 100 percent of the incremental cost of purchasing AFVs and related systems or of converting existing vehicles to accept alternative fuels. Technologies currently eligible under this program are propane gas, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Sumesh Arora, director of the Energy and Natural Resources Division for MDA, said the program also provides funding to retrofit or convert existing conventional

vehicles to use alternative fuels. For the purchase of new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) AFVs, loan funds can be used to cover the difference between the cost of the AFV and the cost of a comparable conventional Arora model after all other applicable manufacturer and cash equivalent incentives are applied.

“For the purchase of alternative fuel system equipment and facilities, AFV funds can be used to cover the cost of the new fuel system after all other applicable rebates and cash equivalent incentives are applied, plus construction and installation,” Arora said. “For the retrofit of existing fleet vehicles to use alternative fuels, AFV funds can be used to purchase the new fuel system and cover the cost of installation and labor after all other applicable rebates and cash equivalent incentives are applied. Vehicle retrofits are limited to EPA-compliant vehicle systems, and AFV loan funds are not

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available for non-fuel system upgrades such as transmissions and exhaust systems.”

Arora said before considering the use of alternative fuel vehicles, simple cost calculations should be performed to evaluate the financial feasibility of the conversion. Key parameters to consider are the current annual diesel consumption, annual fuel costs, annual fuel cost savings on an equivalent basis, the incremental cost of the new or retrofitted vehicles, new training and repair costs and the simple payback period. A more in-depth analysis should be considered if the preliminary simple calculations show a cost benefit over the life-cycle of the vehicles.

The loan term for vehicle purchases and retrofits is seven years, and the loan term for refueling infrastructure purchases is 15 years. AFV loans are issued at zero percent interest. However, guidelines for loan amount and loan terms are currently being revised According to Rhea Courtney Bozic, an environmental scientist and clean and alternative fuel consultant since 2003,

advantages of CNG include it does not contaminate or dilute the crank case oil, increasing the oil’s life, it has lower tailpipe emission than diesel, it disperses easily in air because it is lighter than air and there is no chance of spills. Also, 98 percent of natural gas is domestic and it has less price volatility than CNG or diesel.

Disadvantages for CNG is that it occupies more space than diesel or LPG. But Bozic said that can be mitigated in factory-built CNG vehicles by integrating the tanks into the vehicle body design. Fueling infrastructure can be expensive and the vehicle cost differential is higher than for LPG. Bozic said the advantages of propane include being non-toxic and non-corrosive, having lower tailpipe emissions than diesel, requiring less space than CNG for storage and the fueling infrastructure is less expensive than for CNG. Cons listed include lower energy density than gasoline or diesel and hence the equivalent fuel consumption is more.

“LPG provides less upper cylinder valve lubrication,” Bozic said. “If a LPG-fueled engine is not suitable modified, it will lead to valve wear. It does not disperse easily and is readily inflammable.

To learn more or to apply for an AFV loan, contact Gayle Sims with MDA’s Energy and Natural Resources Division at 601.359.3449 or gsims@mississippi.org.

Going Green

May 4, 2018

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Mississippi Business Journal

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Going Green

18 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

FLOWER Continued from, Page 14

choice and cultivation to business plans, branding, and creating products for diverse markets. Between us and the other speakers we invite to the workshops, we offer a mountain of education and experience suited to novice growers and veteran flower farmers,” Neal said.

Mississippians showed so much interest in those workshops that they decided to expand to a 10-week training series. Since establishing a Facebook page, “Flower Growers of Mississippi” the association grew to over 1,200 members in less than a year. Over 175 people participated in all or a part of the training series with now seven graduates who trained the entire series Yowell and Neal had to offer.

Neal said, “Beyond those important statistics, however, I can say that everywhere I go, people are asking me about the Flower Growers of Mississippi and want to know when the workshops will be coming to their area of the state.”

One of their students, Dianne Horne, signed up for their workshops with her husband, Randy Horne, last year.

“The first class was on November 29, 2017,” Horne said. “We went to the class to get an overview of what the program was all about. We liked it so much we committed to it that day. We live in Olive Branch so that meant driving three hours each way to attend the classes. We were so excited about the classes that we didn’t consider that a problem.”

The Hornes are both Master Gardeners who inherited the love of gardening from their mothers. They thoroughly enjoyed “an intense study of all things to do with cut flowers from planting seeds to cutting and conditioning the end project” in addition to the business end of selling and marketing. The classes included three hours of study along with new speakers that made each class exciting for them.

“Yowell and Neal were wonderful!

Their knowledge of cut flowers is amazing. We also took a field trip to one of the local nurseries. They worked very hard to teach us and they were always there to answer our questions and help us,” Horne said.

Horne added that they will be growing Asiatic lilies, dahlias, gladiolus, zinnias and sunflowers in an experiment to see what

Courtesy of xxxx

grows best for them. This undertaking has been rewarding to them since they are both retired, in addition to planting milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies to help boost their decreasing migration numbers.

Yowell added that they have had people from Louisiana and Alabama attend their workshops.. She said that this July they will conduct another 10-week series in central Mississippi plus a farmers’ market exhibition for all growers to showcase their products at the Jackson Market.

They also have two-day seminars coming up in New Albany and Diamondhead / Ocean Springs. That summer they will also host a farmers market exhibit for all growers this July.

“We are offering these two-days’ training seminars to any city or community groups that is willing to host these events.

So, if any community has over 25 people

PAINT Continued from, Page 15

basis it is easy to see why we do that.”

Now it is difficult to even buy oil-based paints because they are harder to clean up. But they do have their place.

When you do wood coatings, oil-based paints are often recommended because they last longer. Rawlins said oil-based paint manages water better typically and water-based paints manage UV or sunlight better.

USM’s Polymer Science department does research on

interested in growing cut flowers for profit or fun or both, please contact us,” Yowell said.

Yowell and Neal were also invited to speak at Oxford Landscape Camp held at the Inn at Ole Miss on May 25 to 27.

“I did the Oxford Landscape Camp last year and presented a show of what flowers we can grow in Mississippi and demonstrated samples from the local grocery store on what could have been grown in Oxford instead of South America. Rosie Vassallo said they liked it so much they invited me back to share more growing detail on some of the varieties as well as doing a design from locally grown products,” said Yowell.

Director of the Retirement Attraction Program for the Oxford-Lafayette County, Rosie Vassallo, had invited them to speak at the workshop. Last year was the inaugural Oxford Landscape Camp

green paints. Commercial products can have hundred ingredients in them, so the process of selecting paints gets complicated quickly.

“We are on the polymer side so we study one aspect of the material,” Rawlins said. “Our goal is to deliver understanding or knowledge that allows people to design new materials and provide pathways for performance, green and good for the environment. The coatings industry is very artful. In order to put science to it, you have to strip out some of the variables. Paint production companies have engineered themselves into a corner, in a sense. We

in which the University of Mississippi’s landscaper Jeff McManus was the featured speaker where he shared tips, tricks, and secrets on how the University of Mississippi has been recognized by numerous publications as the most beautiful campus in the country. A line-up of professional horticulturists were added, including Yowell.

“Donna Yowell was invited to share her expertise on cut flower gardening. I knew she was responsible for starting the first cut flower garden at the Governor’s Mansion and thought that would be of interest to our campers. She was highly complimented last year, and has been asked to speak again this year at our second annual Landscaping Camp,” said Vassallo.

She added that Yowell’s expertise goes beyond curb appeal in making flower gardens turn a profit.

Yowell and Neal are excited to welcome new and experienced gardeners to their workshops.

Neal said, “We are stronger together – join us to learn what you don’t know and share your experience. Together we will make Mississippi a driving force in the Vase to Table movement of fresh, locally-sourced cut flowers.”

Yowell added they will talk about horticultural therapy as a modality using gardening activities to address physical and mental issues ranging from stress, team building, kids at risk, addictions, formerly incarcerated, veterans, PTSD, physical challenges, aging and other issues.

“Horticultural therapy has been used since 1800s to address physical and mental issues in a formal setting and is common in other parts of the United States but just recently have we introduced it to all Mississippians as a therapeutic modality that is effective and low cost.”

Mississippi Grown Cut Flower Association holds tremendous promise for the state: an energized local economy, a profitable venture for citizens as well as therapeutic for those who need an outlet. For those who would like to learn more can email dyowell@aol.com or join its Facebook group: Flower Growers of Mississippi.

To learn more about the Mississippi Urban Forest Council which offers educational programs and environmental initiatives for Mississippi, visit msurbanforest.com.

are a bit of crossroads. We need to understand how we get performance to understand how to make materials that would be new and perform in a more environmentally friendly manner or have similar or equivalent performance without some unintended consequences.”

Consumer Reports has done reports on the best performing and environmentally friendly paints. And help in selecting green paints is available online at the website for EPA. Google green paints EPA. EPA recommends looking for products meeting paints and coatings standards and ecolabels recommended by EPA.

Newsmakers

May 4, 2018

Q

Mississippi Business Journal

Funderburk selected for Keesler Program

Gov. Bryant announces American College of Haley Hayes, Pharm.D. Cardiology honors physician appointments to college board earns certificate

Dr. Casey Maugh Funderburk, Vice Provost for The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus, has been selected to the 81st Training Wing Honorary Commander Program at Keesler Air Force Base (AFB).

The Honorary Commander Program offers an opportunity Funderburk for civic and community leaders to gain insight and experience about the U.S. Air Force and Keesler AFB operations and programs.

Program objectives include fostering a supportive relationship between Keesler AFB personnel and the key members of the local community, increasing military involvement in civic endeavors, and strengthening relationships between the community and Keesler AFB. As Honorary Commander, Maugh Funderburk’s responsibilities include interacting with unit personnel to learn more about the U.S. Air Force and the mission of Air, Education and Training Command and Keesler AFB. She also serves as an ambassador for Keesler AFB in the community.

Maugh Funderburk was inducted into the program in a January 2018 ceremony held at Keesler AFB. She will serve as Honorary Commander for two years.

Thad Waites, MD, FACC, cardiologist at Hattiesburg Clinic and on the medical staff at Forrest General Hospital, has been awarded the American College of Cardiology’s 2018 Master of the ACC Award. The ACC chooses only three people worldwide for their highest honor.

Waites A native of Waynesboro, Waites has practiced medicine for nearly 50 years.

Waites has held many positions throughout his career including the ACC’s Board of Governors and a member of the ACC’s Board of Trustees, and he is chair for the ACC’s Health Affairs Committee and vice-chair for the Mississippi State Board of Health. He has been a cardiologist at Forrest General Hospital since 1987.

As a medical student, Waites spent one summer in the mission field in Indonesia. He also served the United States in the military as a flight surgeon in both the Marine Corps and the Navy. In the Navy, he volunteered to become part of a federal program in the Beaufort, S.C., area providing care to patients who had limited access to medical care on the islands.

Merit Health Medical Group welcomes cardiologists

Cathy L. Northington has been named Chief Operating Officer of the Mississippi Economic Council, the State Chamber of Commerce. She previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer.

Northington began at MEC more than a decade ago as a Northington part-time employee and has continued to work her way up, managing a variety of key projects and programs.

Since 2007, she has directed Leadership Mississippi, the nation’s second-oldest leadership program. She has also managed MEC’s three major meetings: The MEC Annual Meeting, Hobnob Mississippi and MEC Capital Day, each with over 1,500 business and community leaders and elected officials attending.

The Jackson native studied marketing at Mississippi College and enjoys giving back to the community through her volunteer work as a member of the Junior League of Jackson and American Heart Association’s Circle of Red. A mother of three, Northington is also a member of the Madison Ridgeland Rotary Club and a board member of R.E.A.L. Christian Foundation.

Northington has been chosen as the Our Mississippi Magazine 2018 Business Women of the Year. She was named the 2017 Young Gifted and Empowered Leader of the Year, was a 2012 recipient of the Mississippi Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 award, and was a member of the Mississippi Business Journal’s 50 Leading Business Women in Mississippi for 2014.

Merit Health Medical Group welcomes cardiologists Richard Rayford, MD, Ph,D, F.A.C.C and Malcolm P. Taylor, MD, F.A.C.C., have joined the staff at Merit Health Medical Group.

Rayford and Taylor are board certified in internal medicine and cardiology. They specialize in the Rayford treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure and other diseases of the heart.

Rayford received his bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Grambling State University in Grambling, La., and his Ph. D. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Taylor Ohio.

Rayford completed both his internship and internal medicine residency at The University of Tennessee Medical Center in Memphis. He completed his cardiology fellowship at The University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock.

Taylor attended Tougaloo College, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in physics.

He received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Taylor completed his residency in internal medicine at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., and his fellowship in cardiology from Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Northington named MEC chief operating officer

Gov. Phil Bryant recently made four appointments to the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

Dr. Steven Cunningham, Jeanne Luckey, Bruce Martin and Powell “Gee” Ogletree, Jr., will begin nine-year terms on May 8. Rotating off the Board are Cunningham trustees Alan W. Perry, Christy Pickering, Dr. Doug W. Rouse and Board President C.D. Smith.

Cunningham, who will represent the Second Supreme Court District, practices radiology in Hattiesburg, where he is president of Comprehensive Radiology Services. Cunningham received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Jackson State Luckey University and his medical degree from University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Cunningham is a deacon at West Point Baptist Church and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He is on the board for the Forrest General Hospital Foundation and on The First Bank’s Community Advisory Board.

Martin Luckey, who will also represent the Second Supreme Court District, resides in Ocean Springs, where she is the owner of JCL LLC, a real estate holding company, and Magnolia State Development Group. Luckey has served on the Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Debutante Society for 12 years, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Ogletree Gulf Coast Salvation Army and the Coastal America Insurance Company Board of Directors. She and her husband, Alwyn, have two daughters, Laurel and Taylor. Luckey graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in special education and received her masters in special education from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Martin, who will represent the First Supreme Court District, was appointed to the Mississippi Community College Board by former Gov. Haley Barbour in 2006.

He received his bachelor’s degree in finance and insurance from Mississippi State University. Martin serves as the president of insurance firm Meyer & Rosenbaum, Inc., in Meridian. He is also on the Mississippi Manufacturing Association’s W. C. Advisory Board and is a board member of the MSU Insurance Department.

Ogletree joined the law firm of Adams and Reese in 1997. From the Jackson office, he coordinates the firm’s real estate work throughout Mississippi. Ogletree is the founding partner and leader of the firm-wide Forestry Team. He received a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Q

19

Haley Hayes, Pharm.D., regional director of Pharmacy Operations for Forrest Health, has earned the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists Antimicrobial Stewardship Certificate. She joins pharmacy professionals who are dedicated to higher standards of practice in the appropriate use of antibiotics.

SIDP’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Certificate Program is a practice-based certificate program focused on the role pharmacists play in the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents.

George joins Mike Rozier Construction Co., Inc. Jeffrey George recently joined Mike Rozier Construction Co., Inc. in Hattiesburg as the Director of Marketing & Business Development.

George is responsible for developing and implementing the company’s comprehensive marketing strategy, building George and retaining relationships, and growing the company’s presence in Mississippi.

A native of Covington, La., George attended The University of Southern Mississippi, graduating with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Marketing.

While a student, he served two terms as the Student Government Association President and one term as the President of the Mississippi Student Body Presidents’ Council. Following graduation, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Economic Development at The University of Southern Mississippi, while serving as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship.

While in graduate school, George was elected to serve the citizens of Hattiesburg by representing Ward 1 as a member of the City Council. He is involved in the Area Development Partnership, Pine Belt Young Professionals, and the Highlands Neighborhood Association. He also is an adviser for the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity at Southern Miss and as a member of the Interfraternity Council Alumni Advisory Committee.

He is an avid supporter of Southern Miss Athletics and is a member of the Southern Miss Alumni Association, the Eagle Club, and the Dugout Club.

Two Natchez Trace rangers receive awards The National Park Service Traffic Safety Coalition awarded Natchez Trace Parkway Rangers Timothy McElwain and Keith Schumann traffic safety awards for their efforts in traffic enforcement. McElwain received the Traffic Safety Excellence Award and Schumann, who recently transferred to the Parkway from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, received the Award for Highway Safety Champion.

Newsmakers

20 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

Forrest General nurses now MCBLF board appoints Scott Sam Scott, CPA, and Vice Certified Lactation Counselors President of Finance for St. DomTwo nurses with Forrest General’s Women and Children’s Services, Samantha Marshall, Brabham Marshall RN, and Brittany Brabham, RN, have become Certified Lactation Counselors.

CLCs are dedicated to the promotion, protection, and support of breastfeeding and human lactation in their work to prevent and solve breastfeeding problems.

Thompson joins Hattiesburg Clinic Eye Associates

Joshua M. Thompson, CNP, recently joined Hattiesburg Clinic Eye Associates.

A native of Hattiesburg, Thompson has been working in the health care field since 2013.

At Eye Associates, he works with Christopher L. Cooley, MD, in providing ophthalmologic care to Thompson patients.

He received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., and a Master of Science in Nursing from The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

Thompson is board certified as a family nurse practitioner by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. He is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses.

IP recognizes Employees for December, January IP Casino Resort Spa in Biloxi recently recognized outstanding team members for December, January and the fourth quarter of 2017.

December’s honorees were Terrence Hardwick (Security), Charles Vonderbruegge (Security), Robert “Bobby” LaHatte (Table Games), Brandi Ingram (Purchasing), Virgil Thompson (Slots), and Mike Hryhorchuk (Facilities).

Fourth quarter honorees were part-time team members Wendy Myers (Marketing), Mucio Puga Resillas (Environmental Services) and Mary “LuLu” Wise (Senses Spa & Salon). Team Leaders of the fourth quarter honorees included Ngoc “Pearl” Ngo (Housekeeping), Phillip Schenck (Table Games) and Ray Voeltz (Food and Beverage).

January’s honorees included team members Hieu Luc (Table Games), Carrie Dearman (Slots), James Cartwright (Security), Debra Hight (Food and Beverage), Richard Cowart (Facilities) and Sabrina “Bre” Hodge (Entertainment).

inic Hospital has been appointed by the Madison County Business League & Foundation (MCBL&F) Board of Directors to fulfill the unexpired term of Director Donna Sims who has relocated to Starkville, MS. He has served Scott as a MCBL&F Advisory Board Member since 2016.

Sam has been the CFO at Medical Management Services/MEA Medical Clinics since 1994 and in that capacity, has been responsible for all financial accounting, reporting procedures and internal controls.

Prior to his tenure with MEA, Sam was a senior staff accountant with DeMiller, Denny, Word and Co., and Tann, Brown and Russ accounting firms. In the St. Dominic Vice President position, he will oversee the departments of Accounting, Patient Financial Services, Health Information Management, Patient Access Services, and is responsible for financial reporting and internal controls.

Sam has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1992 and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Mississippi Society of Public Accountants. He received his Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of Mississippi. Sam is active in his community and has resided in Madison County for over 25 years.

Trustmark promotes Mandy Granger to branch officer Mandy Granger has been promoted to Branch Officer at Trustmark’s Byram office, where she serves as Assistant Branch Manager.

Granger has 18 years of banking experience, 13 of which have been with Trustmark.

She is active in her commuGranger nity, where she has served as Trustmark’s team leader for Relay for Life benefitting the American Cancer Society and has held various leadership positions at Hickory Ridge Baptist Church.

Graves joins Baker Donelson Bernard J. Graves Jr. joins Baker Donelson’s Intellectual Property Group in the Firm’s Nashville office.

Mr. Graves is a chemical and material sciences patent attorney, with a particular emphasis on identification and protection of intellectual property rights in the manufacturing sector.

Bernie advises clients on methodologies for protecting proprietary technology through all aspects of representation before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in addition to identification and systematic protection of business and technical trade secret information. He also advices corporate clients on best practices for the implementation of procedures and policies to protect intellectual property.

Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Mr. Graves was vice president and deputy general counsel of Eastman Chemical Company, where he served as chief intellectual property counsel for more than 16 years.

Y’all Business’ up for Secretaries of State Award

Rosenblatt awarded Michelle Mendez Serviam Award

Y’all Business, Mississippi’s website for free economic development information is one of four finalists in the National Association of Secretaries of State 2018 IDEAS Award contest.

NASS recently named Mississippi among its topfour finalist states for development of Y’all Business, www.yallbusiness.sos.ms.gov.

Other finalists include initiatives in California, Colorado, and Indiana. The first-place IDEAS Award winner will be announced and recognized at the NASS Summer Conference in July 2018 in Philadelphia.

Launched in 2015, www.yallbusiness.sos.ms.gov combines demographic and economic data with business and consumer data from ESRI, a GIS software company. The website analyzes all of Mississippi’s 82 counties, and metropolitan and micropolitan areas.

Y’all Business relaunched in 2017, adding new data and a mobile interface, among other features.

Stephen W. Rosenblatt has won the 2018 Michelle Mendez Serviam Award from the Center for American and International Law (CAIL). The award was recently presented at the 5th Circuit Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference in New Orleans.

The Michelle Mendez Serviam Rosenblatt Award was created in 2015 to recognize Michelle Mendez, whose extraordinary work in support of the 5th Circuit Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference was but one of the many selfless contributions she made in her lifetime for the benefit of fellow bankruptcy professionals.

It is presented by the CAIL in conjunction with the bi-annual 5th Circuit Bankruptcy Bench-Bar Conference. It recognizes bankruptcy professionals who have demonstrated a persistently exceptional contribution to others in the bankruptcy profession and community.

These contributions may be in the form of professional leadership, pro-bono work, bar activities, community contributions and other criteria that demonstrate extraordinary service to others.

“Steve’s dedication to client service is apparent with this prestigious award. He has a longstanding commitment to both the bankruptcy profession and his community,” said Donald Clark, Jr., chairman, Butler Snow.

The CAIL is a nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the quality of justice through the education of lawyers and law enforcement officials throughout the world.

Tens of thousands of lawyers and law enforcement officers from all 50 states and more than 130 countries have participated in CAIL programs. Founded in 1947, the center has earned a reputation for excellence in education. Much of the CAIL’s work is accomplished through its educational institutes.

ACEC of Mississippi names new executive director The American Council of Engineering Companies of Mississippi has announced Craig Carter as its new Executive Director.

During his 33-year career in marketing and public relations, Carter has specialized in building relationships, designing marketing strategies and navigating politics in Mississippi.

Carter Prior to joining ACES-MS, Carter served as Assistant to Commissioner Dick Hall, Chair of the Mississippi Transportation Commission. He owned Carter Consulting, a full-service, integrated marketing agency, and was the Marketing Director at Burns Cooley Dennis, Inc. Carter worked on the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and has worked on various political campaigns. He served eight years on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as Deputy Director of Radio Services at the Republican National Committee, Field Coordinator at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Doorkeeper at the Office of the U.S. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

Carter is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications. He is a resident of Gluckstadt and has two children, Chloe, 14, and Wiley, 12. He and his family are members of Pinelake Church in Gluckstadt. He enjoys watching his children participate in sports, attending Mississippi State University sporting events and being the playby-play announcer for Germantown High School’s live football broadcasts.

Shoaf joins staff at Greenwood LeFlore Hospital Guy Shoaf, MD, a urologist, has joined the Greenwood Leflore Hospital team at North Central MS Urology Clinic.

Shoaf, originally from Ohio, was previously at Oxford Urology Clinic since 2009. He is also physician at Air National Guard in Jackson.

Shoaf has been a member of the United States Air Force for over 30 years.

Shoaf

Harris named broker for Tommy Morgan Realtors Jessica Harris has been named broker for the largest Northeast Mississippi-based real estate company, Tommy Morgan Realtors.

Harris, a Booneville native, worked in the firm during her high school and college years as an administrative assistant.

Harris She became full time in 2005, directing marketing, coordinating sales and as office manager. She earned her real estate license in 2008 and has held her broker’s license since 2010.

She attended Booneville High School, Northeast Mississippi Community College and the University of Mississippi. Harris is married to Jeremy Harris, and they have two children.

Newsmakers USM Graduate Nursing Programs garner recognition The University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Nursing has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its 2019 ranking of Best Graduate Schools.

USM is ranked among the nation’s top 150 colleges/ universities for its Master’s in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs.

Each year, U.S. News evaluates graduate programs across six major disciplines: business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing.

The USM College of Nursing’s Master’s program is rated No. 136 in the rankings, while the Doctor of Nursing Practice program is ranked No. 117. No other Mississippi college or university received a ranking.

The USM College of Nursing offers graduate programs at both the Hattiesburg campus and Gulf Park campus in Long Beach. Last year the MSN and DNP programs produced 84 graduates. Enrollment in both programs, as of the Fall 2017 semester, was 226.

AAA announces Mississippi’s elite hotels, restaurants AAA has announced the seven hotels and five restaurants in Mississippi that earned its Four Diamond Rating during the past 12 months. The AAA Four Diamond Rating is attained by just 3.9 percent of the more than 58,000 hotels and restaurants inspected by AAA. Mississippi hotels receiving the AAA Four Diamond Award are: BILOXI: Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi; IP Casino Resort Spa, and Palace Casino Resort Hotel.

GREENWOOD: The Alluvian Hotel.

JACKSON: Fairview Inn. NATCHEZ: Monmouth Historic Inn. Mississippi restaurants receiving the AAA Four Diamond Award are: BILOXI: BR Prime, Jia, thirty-two, Tien.

HATTIESBURG: Purple Parrot Café.

Humana Names Berger as regional president Humana Inc. recently appointed Matt Berger as Regional President for its Louisiana and Mississippi Medicare markets.

Berger assumes responsibility for continued development and expansion of Humana’s Medicare business in the Gulf States, and for staff leadership in those markets.

Berger has served in regional Berger finance roles for Humana, including the past four years as its Medicare Central Division chief financial officer based in Louisiana.

Prior to joining Humana in 2012, Berger was director of corporate development for three years with home care company, Amedisys. Berger has also worked in corporate finance, treasury and investment positions for companies in Houston, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

A New Orleans native, Berger received his bachelor of science degree in business administration from Louisiana State University; received his master’s in business administration from Tulane University School of Business; and earned his law degree from Loyola Law School in New Orleans.

Berger is based in Louisiana.

Waggoner Engineering add 4 to Team Waggoner Engineering, Inc., an economic development, program management and engineering firm, recently added four new employees to its team: Audrey Lewis, James Price, Rachel Westerfield and Ayad Taofik.

Lewis works as a project en- Lewis gineer for Waggoner’s Hernando Office. Lewis graduated from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. She is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Price also joins Waggoner as a project engineer after working as principal engineer at another firm. He received a degree from Price the University of South Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Price currently serves as Secretary for the Mississippi Gulf Coast branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Westerfield joins Waggoner as senior project engineer, where she manages client accounts.

Westerfield Westerfield has 14 years of experience working at MDOT with a focus on planning, design and analysis of highway drainage systems. Westerfield graduated cum laude from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering.

She is Secretary Treasurer Elect for the Mississippi Engineering Society.

Taofik Taofik joins to Waggoner as senior project manager. He previously was a business developer for Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc. Taofik received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University before earning a Master of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce.

Methodist Rehab names McBeath security director Syrone McBeath has joined the staff of Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson as the Director of Security.

He previously spent more than 16 years with the University of Mississippi Medical Center Police Department, most recently as a lieutenant.

McBeath A native of Moss Point, Syrone earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Mississippi College in 1994.

He also minored in coaching and played for the MC football team that won a NCAA Division II National Championship in 1989.

May 4, 2018

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Texas Tech honors Clinton’s Hoffman

FILE

Christopher Hoffman of Clinton has been recognized by Texas Tech University’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the 2018 Distinguished Alumni & Outstanding Young Alumni Awards, which honor graduates who’ve made significant contributions to society, and whose accomplishments and careers have brought distinction to the college and to the professions associated with agriculture and natural resources.

Hoffman received a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Texas Tech (1998), and is a licensed landscape architect for the state of Mississippi (1990). He is a Certified Landscape Architect with the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards. In 1994, Hoffman established Christopher B. Hoffman Landscape Architect, a Clinton-based firm that provides site and master planning, grading and drainage, and construction detailing services with a focus on mixed used developments, commercial, health care, industrial, subdivision and educational projects. He has been part of 14 award-winning projects. Separately, he was appointed to a five-year term on the Mississippi Landscape Architectural Advisory Committee of the Mississippi State Board of Architecture in 2014. He is an active member of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, serving as president (1993–1994) and chapter advocacy chair for the past eight years. In 2015, Hoffman was named president-elect of the Board of Directors for the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, and served as the organization’s president (2017).

Team claims 2nd Grand Merit Health Central names Champion in Hogs for the Cause Polk ACNO The Mississippi Bacon Association took 2nd place overall out of 85 teams in the New Orleans-based Hogs for the Cause, a fundraiser and barbecue competition, and raised over $15,000 for families battling pediatric brain cancer.

The event featured a two-day, 85-team barbecue competition, with teams raising $1.45 million that will go to support families battling pediatric brain cancer.

With Andy Cook and Grant Hutchinson of The Pig and Pint in Jackson serving as pitmasters, the team placed in the top 10 in 7 categories: 9th place “Tabasco ‘Best Sandwich,’” 8th place “Whole Hog,” 7th “Pork Butt/Shoulder,” 5th place “Ribs,” 5th place “Porkpourri,” 2nd place “Nueskes ‘Best Bacon,’” and 2nd place Grand Champion. The team is comprised of chefs, owners, and representatives from The Pig and Pint, The Manship (Jackson), Estelle (Jackson), Restaurant Tyler (Starkville), Cathead Distillery (Jackson), Alpha Tent Company (Jackson), and more. Home Place Pastures in Como supplied the pork. The MBA was also named Most Improved for the second year in a row. In 2013 it won 3rd place in “Whole Hog,” and last year they won first place in “Pork Butt/Shoulder,” and 2nd place in “Sauce.”

This year’s sponsors include Ergon, A+ Signs and Creative, Capital City Beverage and Southern Beverage. Funds raised for Hogs for the Cause goes directly to the families of children with brain cancer.

Brad Polk, RN, MSN, was recently named assistant chief nurse officer at Merit Health Central.

Polk has 13 years of nursing experience, with over eight years at Merit Health Central. Prior to his new role, he worked as assistant nurse manager/nursing supervisor and director of inten- Polk sive care/cardiovascular recovery.

Before joining Merit Health Central, Polk worked at sister facility Merit Health Wesley in Hattiesburg and Preferred Nurse Staffing in Jackson, both as a critical care charge nurse. He also served as a flight nurse/ paramedic with AAA Ambulance Service in Hattiesburg as a member of their critical care transport team.

Polk holds his masters of science degree in nursing from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minn.

Additionally, he holds his bachelor of science degree in nursing and biology from William Carey University in Hattiesburg and his associates degree in paramedicine from Jones County Junior College in Ellisville.

Polk and his wife Kara live in Magee with their three children.

22 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 4, 2018

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MISSISSIPPI

Creativity is the Great Equalizer for Mississippi

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he mainstream media continually reminds us Mississippians how little we have, how bleak the outlook is, how we are last in every positive socio-economic metric, and how we are first in every negative socio-economic metric. And while there is empirical data to support some of these claims, I chose (and it is a choice) to take a contrarian view of my Mississippi.

On a canvas pre-painted with paradox and hypocrisy, I see Mississippi not as the caboose of the train of progress, but as a state rich with opportunity and hope.

Sure, we have a tainted past wrought with systematic and institutionalized disenfranchisement. However, the Mississippi I see comprises people willing to not only acknowledge this social and economic imbalance, but to work towards creating avenues of equity and inclusionary business practices.

I see Mississippians reaffirming their commitment to community through increased local investment and hiring practices. I see Mississippians, despite misguided policy and regulatory barriers, passionately creating goods and services with relatively fewer resources than competitors in other states. I see Mississippians moving away from a zero-sum game approach to economic progress to that of one focused on collective augmentation.

When less becomes a normalized state, it is creativity that becomes the great equalizer. It is our individual and collective cre-

ativity as Mississippians that will flip the narrative of these polarizing headlines. For creativity is blind to race, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, gender, and age.

Creativity abounds in Mississippi. From our rich musical, literary, and culinary heritages, we have birthed unparalleled creativity much like the Mississippi River birthed the alluvial plain that became the Delta.

Now, a new generation of entrepreneurs, makers, coders, programmers, brewers, distillers, chefs, journalists, and many others are building on the creative foundation laid by the iconic artists and artisans that call Mississippi home.

In every corner of the state, you will find people like Leslie and Mark Henderson, two Mississippi pioneers in the craft beverage industry. You will find people like Pontus Anderson, the founder of Myra Mirrors, a hardware and software company fundamentally altering how we interact with mirrors. You will find people like Richard Patrick and Austin Evans, lifelong friends, fans of the blues, and founders of Cathead Distillery, the first distillery in Mississippi since prohibition and now a burgeoning national brand. You will find people like Bill Rayburn and Dennis Tosh, the founders of a Mississippi-based technology startup that created 45 new millionaires in Mississippi with the stroke of an idea and a pen.

These are just a handful of the examples

of the creativity and sense of entrepreneurship that permeates much of the modern day Mississippi economy. It is this undercurrent of progress and a recalibrated economic compass that will lead Mississippi up from the bottom. As a state, we need to refocus our efforts to support business growth from within – for it is the creative class and entrepreneurial minded that will lead Mississippi’s economic growth – and not rely on the recruitment of large-scale manufacturing.

We have a unique opportunity in front of us and need to capitalize on the entrepreneurial and creative spirit in Mississippi; but, fundamentally, we need policymakers to understand what role they can and should play in this process. While other Southeastern states are allocating greater financial resources towards entrepreneurial ecosystem development, we are doubling down on dated economic development strategies – strategies that over the longterm cost more than the benefit we receive.

I am deeply honored to have been asked by the Mississippi Business Journal to be a contributing columnist and discuss entrepreneurship both within Mississippi and beyond. As someone that has worked with and advised hundreds of entrepreneurs and startups throughout the Southeastern United States, my hope for this column is that it serves as a thought-provoking and compelling conversation. My objective, ultimately, is to not only empower creative

entrepreneurs in Mississippi through storytelling, but also engage in an honest assessment of where entrepreneurship in Mississippi rates against other states in the region from an economic development Matthew McLaughlin perspective.

As a lifelong Mississippian, and in my roles as trusted advisor to my clients, executive director of a trade association, business owner, husband, and father to two little girls, it is my privilege and responsibility to advise, lead, inspire, and advocate on behalf of creative entrepreneurs in Mississippi. I hope you too will take a contrarian view of your Mississippi the next time you read a disparaging headline about our state, a state rich with an unparalleled sense of creativity.

Matthew P. McLaughlin is an attorney with McLaughlin, PC in Jackson, Mississippi, and serves as the executive director of the Mississippi Brewers Guild.

Matthew’s passion is working with creative and entrepreneurial-minded people and organizations, having worked with and advised hundreds of entrepreneurs, startups, and social innovators throughout the Southeastern United States. He may be contacted at matthew@mclaughlinpc.com or 601-487-4550, or you may visit www.mclaughlinpc.com for more information.

May 4, 2018

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THE SPIN CYCLE

Earned (PR) vs. Paid (Advertising) Media

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early two-thirds (64 percent) of public relations professionals surveyed for this year’s Global Communications Report predict that in five years the average consumer will not be able to distinguish between news stories written by journalists and promotional content purchased by an organization. And almost as many (59 percent) believe the average person will not care if they can tell the difference between the two – which is an alarming trend for The Spin Cycle.

The third annual study, released today by the USC’s Center for Public Relations at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in partnership with The Holmes Report, is a comprehensive survey of more than 1,000 public relations leaders and students worldwide.

“As traditional advertising revenue declines, media outlets are creating new sources of revenue through branded promotional content, which has blurred the historically clear-cut line between news and advertising,” said Fred Cook, director of the Center for Public Relations. “This shift demands a higher level of transparency from business and greater level of media literacy from consumers.”

While consumers are unconcerned about the blurring line between paid and earned content, practitioners are worried: 42 percent believe the trend toward “branded content” is a potential ethical issue.

An even greater number (52 percent) are concerned about the related, fast-growing practice of paying celebrities, YouTubers or Instagrammers to create content that promotes various products and brands.

As a result, PR executives predict a decline of resources devoted to earned media over the next five years, as owned and paid media budgets continue to grow.

“The PR industry will have to adapt to a world in which the lines between paid, earned, owned and shared media are not only blurring, but largely irrelevant in the minds of consumers,” said Paul Holmes, founder of The Holmes Report and a partner in the research. “But at the same time, credibility and trust will be more important than ever. That means PR people need to apply even more rigorous standards of integrity and honesty to their work, whatever media they are using.”

The report also highlighted some of the other ethical challenges facing the industry. The vast majority (92 percent) of professionals cited “fake news” as the most challenging ethical threat, followed by the purposeful distortion of the truth (91 percent). Defense of malicious behavior (88 percent) and lack of corporate transparency (81 percent) are also high on the list of potential ethical issues confronting communicators.

“Today, communications professionals

regularly find themselves in the middle of complex ethical situations, which impact the image of their organizations and their profession,” said Cook. “As we witness every day, even the slightest hint of unethical behavior can result in permanent damage to the reputation of a company or an individual.”

Despite these troubling issues, 46 percent believe businesses in their countries have become more ethical over the past five years and 62 percent predict that business will behave even more ethically over the next five years. The same development applies to their own industry: 61 percent say PR will operate more ethically in the future.

Even though 55 percent of public relations executives cite working for controversial clients as a potential ethical issue, 82 percent believe that all individuals, organizations and governments have the right to PR counsel. However, 95 percent of those same communicators state they personally would not represent or work for certain organizations, individuals or governments due to ethical concerns.

Tobacco (79 percent) and firearms (74 percent) top the list of industries they believe represent potential ethical issues.

Representing political candidates is not far behind at 60 percent.

TV news employment surpasses newspaper employment Total local TV news employment has surpassed newspaper employment for the first time in more than 20 years, according to the latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Survey.

Historically, this survey has compared TV employment with newspaper employment as compiled by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE). However, as of 2016, ASNE no longer calculates total newspaper employment. This year’s calculation was provided by newspaper consultant and Newsonomics founder Ken Doctor, who puts total newspaper employment at 24,000 to 25,000, compared to local TV news employment of 27,100 according to survey.

Total local TV news employment dropped 1.8 percent over the last year, from 27,600 employees to 27,100. Part of the loss comes from continuing consolidation in local TV news – a net loss of two local newsrooms this past year. There’s also been a small decrease in both the average newsroom size (down 0.1 from a year ago) and the median size (down 2 people from a year ago), in part due to a skew in reporting this year toward smaller market stations.

However, local TV news remains close to its peak employment of 27,900 in 2001, and the average local TV newsroom’s 40.4 full-time staff (or a median of 33) is just be-

low the all-time high of 40.9 (median 35) in 2015.

Total TV news staffing shows a mixed picture this year. Average full-time staff slid by 0.1, and median staffing fell by 2.

But this year’s survey involves a slight under-reporting by top 25 market stations and a slight over-reporting of stations in markets 101 and smaller.

Staffing levels at ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox – the “big four” – affiliates rose by 0.2 on average and 0.5 in median numbers.

Staffing at stations in the top 100 markets all increased.

Matriarch Mic | Barbara Bush put the Lady in First Lady!

Former First Lady Barbara Bush was the matriarch to her family and our nation – and a lifelong champion of family literacy that changed the generations!

She was the indomitable force of one of America’s grand political families. And she brought self-deprecating humor, swagger and moxie to the world – and made it a better place.

Bush died at 92 after announcing she would no longer continue medical treatment following a series of hospitalizations in the last few years.

Her life impacted all she came in contact with, and she will forever be remembered as the rock that held up a presidential family, a beacon of hope, a symbol of stern pragmatism, authenticity and grace.

The New York native and longtime Texas resident first served as America’s second lady during her husband’s tenure as vice president under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989. Upon President Bush’s election in 1989, she became the first lady until her husband left office in 1993.

She was America’s First Mother, First Grandmother – and she certainly put the “lady” in First Lady!

Bush embraced her role when her husband was vice president, ultimately focusing on literacy as her special cause. She

would later start the nonprofit the Barbara Todd Smith Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which advocates for helping parents and their children learn the basic educational skills of reading and writing.

In addition, the former first lady wrote multiple children’s books and published a memoir – Barbara Bush: A Memoir and Reflections: Life After the White House – in 2003. She also authored Millie’s Book, written from the perspective of the first dog.

Known for her wit and fortitude, Bush spent her final years with her beloved husband in their homes in Houston and Kennebunkport, Maine.

The memorial service for this grand lady was awe-inspiring. Her granddaughter, Dorothy Bush Koch, perhaps put it best by quoting an adapted excerpt from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the same lines recited by Robert F. Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, in a tribute to his slain brother, former president John F. Kennedy. The passage reads: And when she shall die Take her and cut her out in little stars, And she will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.

There’s a brighter glow to Heaven now, where no doubt Bush is reading to the angels and tossing a ball to Millie.

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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