MBJ_May10_2019

INSIDE — Mississippi big cities miss startup list; Tupelo No. 40 for small towns — Page 7

40

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

YEARS

1979

www.msbusiness.com

2019

May 10, 2019 • Vo. 41 No. 19 • 16 pages

ECONOMY

Mobile: not so sleepy time down South — Page 3

MBJ FOCUS

SECURITY {Section begins P9}

» Digital camera security systems cheaper with more functions than ever before

{The List P10-11} » Electronic Security Firms

Commercial Finance 701 {P6}

» Swapping a floating rate for a fixed rate

State’s GDP hit 10-year high in 2018 PAGE 6

http://msbusiness.com/events/health-care-heroes/

2 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019 COMMERCIAL FINANCE 701

Swapping a floating rate for a fixed rate I

n the commercial loan world, pricing is frequently tied to a floating (variable) rate index, which places the risk of a rising interest rate squarely on the borrower.

Depending on the term and size of the loan, the underlying financial strength of a borrower, risk aversion, and soothsaying predictions about the direction of interest rates, a borrower might want to “swap” the floating rate for a fixed interest rate.

A SWAP is a derivative product by which two parties (the borrower and swap provider) enter into an ancillary contract that complements, but does not modify, the loan terms. In most instances, the swap provider will be the bank that makes the loan.

For illustration purposes, we’ll consider a hypothetical $5 million loan backdated to January 1, 2018, secured by real estate, with quarterly payments of accrued interest, fixed $60,000 quarterly principal payments, a five-year maturity, and a floating rate equal to 3-month LIBOR plus a spread of 300 basis points.

The standard floating rate structure There are various alternative floating formulas, with 1-month and 3-month LIBOR serving as common indices. The LIBOR index (and overall variable rate) re-sets each month or quarter, as applicable, often as of 11 a.m. London, England, 2 business days prior to the rate’s effective date. Interest is calculated based on a year of 360 days.

For our loan, on January 1, 2018, the 3-month LIBOR rate would have been set using the 3-month LIBOR rate as of December 28, 2017 (which was 1.6947%), resulting in an initial all-in variable rate of 4.6947%.

Consider a SWAP on the variable rate loan described above. The rate will be set at the time the SWAP is closed, but for illustration purposes, we’ll assume a swapped, fixed rate of 5.75%.

The optics and mechanics are confusing. The promissory note will still reflect a floating rate, and the borrower will continue to pay interest based on a floating interest rate. Simultaneously, however, there is an offsetting transaction in which the borrower and swap provider exchange funds to net a 5.75% fixed rate loan to the borrower.

Looking at rates through April 1, 2019, the swapped fixed rate exceeds the variable rate for all of the payments, except the April 1, 2019 payment.

Pricing SWAP pricing is premised on market expectations of changing future interest

rates as determined by brainy financiers versed in calculus. These people think in terms of slopes, curves, and standard deviations, and have little familiarity with college fraternity swaps.

Any quoted pricing is merely indicative and can change by the second until “confirmed.” Often, a SWAP on a typical commercial loan is not locked until the loan closes, although a borrower can purchase a “forward swap.” A SWAP can also be executed later in the life of the loan.

into the loan for the full term of the SWAP. Instinctively, a person might think that if the fixed rate by the swap was 5.75% and the going rate was 6.25%, then the swap would be “in the money.” Not so quick. The value of the SWAP is not a function of a rate at a single point in time but involves a discounted present value calculation of the future cash flows using the interest rate curve for the remaining life of the SWAP. Do not assume that your SWAP has value merely because interest rates rise.

Early Termination In our example, the term of the SWAP matches the five-year term of the loan. But what happens if the borrower decides to sell the underlying real estate or refinance the loan at, say, Year 3? There are two possibilities. If the loan is being refinanced, the SWAP could be “novated” to the next loan. More likely, the borrower will simply break the SWAP. Depending on the then-market rates, the SWAP might be “in the money” (resulting in a payment to borrower for the then-value of the swap) or “under water” (resulting in the borrower having to pay a breakage fee). Following the Great Recession, many a borrower was saddled with an underwater swap and a high breakage fee that locked the borrower

The SWAP documents Your bank will either (i) not allow swaps, (ii) have a preferred third-party swap provider, or (iii) be a swap provider. We will assume the lending bank is also the swap provider, but since the swap transaction will likely be handled by a different department of the bank, we will call the bank group handling the SWAP the “swap provider.”

The swap provider will educate the borrower, provide disclosures, and confirm for itself that the borrower is sufficiently sophisticated to use a SWAP. The swap provider will also review financial certifications, confirm eligibility through the borrower’s and guarantors’ representations, and provide optional structures and

Ben Williams & Molly Jeffcoat Moody

pricing. The parties then enter into the SWAP documents, which will likely include (a) an ISDA Master Agreement, and (b) a Schedule detailing the transaction.

The ISDA Master Agreement is a voluminous, complex, largely non-negotiable contract that governs the relationship.

The terms of the swap are contained in the Schedule and a “Confirmation” which follows a recorded call to lock the rate and consummate the transaction.

If a SWAP is desired at loan closing, then the SWAP process should begin at the loan term sheet or commitment letter stage. Reaching the point where the parties can “confirm” a SWAP takes time and additional documentation.

The marriage of the SWAP and loan The SWAP is usually secured by the same collateral that secures the underlying loan on a pari passu basis. The mortgage secures the SWAP and the loan, the loan guarantors frequently also guarantee the SWAP, and everything is cross-defaulted.

The SWAP and the loan are now married.

Eligible contract participants Federal law governs derivatives and bars non-qualified parties from entering into SWAPs. To qualify as an Eligible Contract Participant (ECP), an entity or person must meet certain financial tests. As a gross oversimplification, a borrowing entity (or the persons backing the entity) must have $10MM in assets or a net worth of more than $1MM. In addition to the borrower, any guarantor of the SWAP must also be an ECP. There is so much we haven’t touched on.

Mark to market. Collars. Inverted curves.

Imbedded swaps. The anticipated demise of LIBOR. Syndications, club loans and participations. Non-vanilla swaps.

An interest rate swap is a valuable tool for borrowers to reduce the risk of interest rate increases during the life of a floating rate loan. Still, to misquote Churchill, “[due] diligence is the mother of good luck.

Molly Jeffcoat Moody and Ben Williams are attorneys at Watkins & Eager PLLC and are both recognized by Chambers USA and Best Lawyers in America. Molly was chosen as a Top 10 Finalist in the Mississippi Business Journal’s 2019 Top 50 Under 40 business leaders. Additional information is available at www.watkinseager.com.

May 10, 2019

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Mobile: not so sleepy time down South

W

e are driving through southeast Mississippi, heading toward Mobile.

Richton is a sleepy little town that was shaken to its core in 1964 when the federal government tested the first of two nuclear weapons in the nearby underground salt dome.

Less than 40 years later, the salt dome was to be the site of the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve.

That didn’t happen.

But big government is present. A fighter jet swoops and loops overhead as we enter Alabama at Wilmer.

The only smell of petroleum (except for maybe a whiff of jet fuel) is faint auto exhaust, and there is no trace of strontium 90, only wonderful barbecued pork woodsmoke wafting through the spread branches of live-oak trees.

A large official-looking sign greets us to “Sweet Home Alabama,” from the Lynyrd Skynyrd’s response to Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” Of the Southland, the band responds: Well I heard Mister Young sing about her/Well I heard ole Neil put her down/Well, I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don’t need him around anyhow.

The smart money is that this is still not politically correct territory.

A sign catches my eye: “Stuckey’s Express 50 miles,” where you can still get Pecan Log Rolls that used to be sold in the blueroofed Stuckey’s across the South.

I have my eye peeled for a gamecock farm, in plain sight on the highway just like it was in 1975 on my first trip to Mobile: Fierce roosters tethered to little A-frame houses spread out across a hillside so the cocks won’t kill each other before the illegal fights are held in backwoods arenas that draw a whiskey-drinking crowd to the bloodbaths on Saturday nights.

I look for a pickup winking at us as sunlight bounces off its windshield as we pass through this place, just as I wrote more than four decades ago when I sent a long unsolicited piece to The New Yorker.

I got a nice hand-written rejection letter in elegant cursive, an endangered species, from a genteel Southern lady, Mary Painter, who was longtime assistant to then-editor William Shawn.

The editors passed my piece around, she said, but, alas, it was too much like Calvin Trillin’s U.S. Journal series written in honor of the country’s bicentennial. Nice letdown.

I talked to her on the phone (in addition to the note I received, a double scoop of a treat that I couldn’t fully appreciate at the

JACK WEATHERLY/MBJ

Above: The spires of downtown Mobile signal a new era. ; Right: David Wills shucks an oyster at Wintzell’s.

time) in that elegant Deep South accent that is fast disappearing. I learn from researching this article that she was a native of Columbus, Miss.

This time, I spy Satchel Paige Drive in the western edge of Mobile, named for the legendary black pitcher who made a name for himself in the Negro Leagues because he was denied the right to pitch in the Major Leagues because of his skin color until he was athletically ancient.

There is always art where you least expect it on southern back roads. Like the large white chicken squashing an old El Camino pickup abandoned on the side of the road, its advertising days long gone.

We come into Mobile on Government Street, whose live oaks reach out and over passing cars while gleaming white mansions overlook the fray.

It’s termite time down South.

The flying insects can get anywhere where there’s an opening, or, of course, make their own entrances.

We stopped in a downtown bar and grill for a mid-afternoon snack and were greeted by the critters who were attempting to make our tabletop a landing strip.

An alt-weekly, Lagniappe, had a legal ad for those who want to take action against termite companies.

When a front-desk clerk at the historic Malaga Inn, where we stayed the first night, asks if we like oysters, we nod vigorously.

He suggests Wintzell’s Oyster House, and I say, oh yeah, the place where the ceiling is festooned with business cards attached to the ceiling with toothpicks.

Well, not quite these days. The place I visited is now several times bigger and the

calling cards have been replaced by cornpone sayings.

You can own a Wintzell’s, if you like.

They’re franchised.

My wife ordered a dozen on the half shell – the meat as big as large unshelled walnuts.

I went for the 16 prepared four ways: Monterey, Bienville, Rockefeller and Chargrilled.

My wife took pity on me and traded a limited number of her wonderful au naturel specimens for my “value-added” choices.

David Wills, a shucker for three months, says what we are eating are “wild Texas oysters,” not from Mobile.

That’s because Mobile Bay’s oyster population has been decimated by overharvesting for a century and, more recently, dredging the shipping channel, according to Laginappe.

Oyster farms offer select oysters for a pretty penny.

Murder Point sells 2.5-inch oysters for $1 each or 3.5-inchers for $15 a dozen.

Just as the oysters you eat in Mobile may not be local, the Murder Point product actually is harvested on Dauphin Island at the Point of Pines, according to Jordon Zirlott, whose family bought the farm in 2014.

The name Murder Point derives from a slaying in a dispute over a lease for the oyster beds back in the late ‘20s. The Zirlotts, who bought the eponymic site and traded it later for a more-accessible location, decided to trademark the name and add the slogan “Oysters Worth Killing For.” Hanging baskets allow the mollusks to absorb nutrients and minimize grit and other undesirable things that sink to the

bottom where oysters naturally grow.

Oysters are made Jack Weatherly for swallowing. They go down easy. So easy, a slender young woman dressed in a black business suit recently downed 223 in 48 minutes at Wintzell’s to set a world record.

Now, she did not keep all of them down (she came equipped with a bucket), but the idea is that if they’re swallowed it counts, says Wintzell’s assistant manager Philip Whatley.

It was all for a good cause. The feat raised $4,000 for the Distinguished Young Women.

Mobile has added skyscrapers with spires that make them look like the Chrysler Building in New York.

The RSA Battle House Plaza Hotel is 35 stories tall and 774 feet with spire, the tallest in Alabama and the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel is 28 stories, 374 feet with spire.

The spire of the Renaissance was added in 2008, 25 years after the building was constructed, to match the Battle House’s top, and, according to one possible urban legend, to reflect the fact that the RSA (The Retirement Systems of Alabama), has invested in the Chrysler Building.

A call to the RSA was not returned in time for publication of this article.

The spires are testament that the city – established in 1702, slightly older than New Orleans, is naturally capitalizing on its history and charm -- is modern.

The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce states that capital investment in the city of about 200,000 in the past decade was nearly $8.5 billion, and about 16,000 jobs were added to the economy, which, is based on its location on the Mobile Bay and the Mobile River, which lend themselves to shipping, the seafood industry and shipbuilding.

Yet there is a gracious and palpable appreciation from Mobile residents to those who come to the city to take in its charms, which are many.

Maybe it’s in part because it plays second fiddle to Birmingham and sometimes is referred to as “the Little Easy,” little sister to New Orleans.

But it also comes natural down in these parts.

» Contact Mississippi Business Journal staff writer Jack Weatherly at jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com or (601) 364-1016.

A member of the Mississippi Press Association www.mspress.org

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MBJ PERSPECTIVE May 10, 2019 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 4

» THE OUTSIDE WORLD

» OTHER VIEWS

Website: www.msbusiness.com May 10, 2019 Volume 41, Number 19

Teacher pay snafu must be fixed promptly

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» INSIDE MISSISSIPPI

State population trends make health care issue big

R

eckon conservatives will listen when two conservative, pro-capitalism columnists say healthcare is a big issue in Mississippi?

Both Wyatt Emmerich and Sid Salter have conservative views and come from the owner side of newspapers where capitalism prevails.

Both recently wrote powerful columns about the need to address health care issues in Mississippi.

Emmerich wrote about Medicaid expansion and pointed to a Millsaps College poll that showed “‘making healthcare more accessible and affordable’ is the third most important issue to Mississippi voters, after fixing the roads and teacher pay raises.”

Salter wrote about his own healthcare challenges in a column entitled “Paying for public health care remains federal, state governments’ most vexing challenge.” He noted that “Aging Baby Boomers like me are going to significantly swell the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured over the next 20 years.”

Both the swelling and the vexing are with us already.

As noted last week, 63 of Mississippi’s 82 counties lost population from 2010 through 2018, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data. Significantly, there is one population demographic that

increased in every one of our 82 counties – people age 65 and older, the group Salter is closing in on.

This older Bill Crawford population segment grew statewide by 21 percent while total population grew less than 1 percent. Wow! Also significant was the change in the age 18 to 64 population demographic. Statewide this age group declined 1 percent. It declined in all 63 counties that lost population plus another eight counties. That the decrease wasn’t greater can be attributed to growth of this segment in a handful of large population counties – DeSoto, Lamar, Madison, Harrison, Hancock and Rankin, all of which had good total population growth In raw numbers the older segment grew nearly 80,000 while the younger segment fell about 26,000.

Why do these trends matter?

Well, shrinkage of the 18 to 64 demographic, the major job-holding and taxpayer age group, will result in fewer people working and paying taxes in most Mississippi counties.

See CRAWFORD, Page 5

calculation error has created a shortfall in the amount of money appropriated by lawmakers to fund the $1,500 teacher pay raise passed earlier this year. When legislative officials asked the Mississippi Department of Education to calculate the cost of the raise, the department undershot the total number of teachers it should include, resulting in not enough money being set aside. The exact number of teachers omitted and the total amount of the shortfall is still being determined, as reported by Mississippi Today. Some estimates have set it as high as $15 million.

Now, the question becomes how to fix it so that the pay raise reaches all of the state’s teachers. And school districts – which have already suffered numerous funding cuts – can’t be expected to make up the difference.

In a press release sent last week, State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said local school districts “will be allocated enough money through the current appropriation to cover the monthly cost of the teacher pay raise.” Meanwhile, both Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have suggested lawmakers can provide additional funds through a deficit appropriation during the 2020 session, which starts in early January.

We believe the fix needs to be more immediate. Waiting until January – especially during an election year – is a patchwork solution that creates too much uncertainty.

Lawmakers can easily re-appropriate the amount of money needed to cover the shortfall. However, Bryant has said he doesn’t want to call a special session at taxpayers’ expense. Here’s another idea – have lawmakers agree to voluntarily return to Jackson without receiving any reimbursement from the state.

What better way to demonstrate true public service and make a statement about the importance of education in Mississippi than to have lawmakers help the state’s teachers on their own dime. Doing so shouldn’t require more than an hour of work, plus commute time to and from Jackson.

Wright blamed the error on an old computer system the department uses to store information. In trying to exclude positions that are funded by federal dollars, the system also missed numerous state-funded teachers, including some special education, career technical education and gifted teachers, as well as a number of assistant teachers. The error was discovered when local superintendents realized they were not given enough money to cover the raise for all of their teachers, as reported by Mississippi Today.

Wright has said the computer system is old and unreliable, but given that knowledge, the department should have had better safeguards in place to confirm its numbers. Meanwhile, legislative leaders also should have exercised more caution in making sure every “t” was crossed in passing the pay raise.

It’s a significant blunder, and there must be accountability. Officials need to take a hard look in the mirror to avoid a repeat mistake.

The more immediate need, however, is finding a prompt resolution.

— The Daily Journal

Perspective

» RICKY NOBILE

May 10, 2019

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CRAWFORD

Continued from, Page 4

Growth of the 65 and older demographic will result in more demand for Medicaid funded nursing home beds, more Medicaid funding for poor elders on Medicare, and more health care access to hospitals and clinics in rural areas, not to mention higher homestead exemption costs and more local services for seniors.

Hmmm.

Fewer people working and paying taxes in most counties with more people demanding taxpayer funded services in every county – sounds pretty darn vexing to me.

No doubt that’s why Emmerich points out that Mississippi’s failure to expand Medicaid may be costing us both population growth and jobs.

He pointed to both Louisiana and Arkansas which expanded Medicaid. Louisiana’s population grew 126,493, seven times Mississippi’s growth rate. Arkansas’ grew 97,707, five times Mississippi’s growth rate. He also noted that Arkansas tax collections jumped $200 million this year.

Hmmm.

Looks like these two conservative neighboring states are using Medicaid expansion to help grow their populations and provide needed healthcare to their citizens.

What will conservatives in Mississippi do?

Emmerich is clearly fed up with conservative politicians who won’t even talk about the issue, much less solve it – notably Tate Reeves and Philip Gunn.

Salter says that “there is no more important question for political candidates than this one: How do you plan to pay for public health care?” » Bill Crawford (crawfolk@gmail.com) is a syndicated columnist from Meridian.

» EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

House that Mayers built gets its deserving name

D

r. Ronnie Mayers had a vision. He wanted to build a world-class competition swimming pool to serve the community, house classrooms for students and be home to one of the best college swim teams in America.

No, it wasn’t in Oxford or Starkville or Hattiesburg or even in Jackson.

It was in Cleveland — yes, Cleveland.

Delta State University has been home to the only collegiate swim team in Mississippi for decades and Mayers helped solidify that by spearheading an Dr. Ronnie Mayers initiative to fund the construction of a new pool at DSU, which was completed in 2001.

Recently, Delta State honored Mayers by placing his name on the building.

Mayers has served as a teacher, coach, athletics director and all-around cheerleader for the university since he arrived in 1969 when a short, bald-headed, fiery track coach named O.W. Reily recruited him from Natchez.

It has been nearly 20 years since the now Mayers Aquatic Center was built.

In that time, it has been a place for swim lessons, aquatic classes, local events, club, high school and college swim meets as well

meets.

It is everything Mayers envisioned and even more when he began planning this facility in his mind’s eye more than 30 years ago.

When he and Dr. Kent Wyatt, Leroy Morganti and Rep. Charlie Capps began pitching the idea to the state legislature for funding, they all used the “If you build it, they will come” metaphor from the movie Field of Dreams to bolster their argument.

People will come, they said. People will most definitely come.

But I’m not quite sure any of them knew just how true those words would be.

In a recent study, it was found that the Mayers Aquatic Center brings more economic activity to Cleveland than any other single thing.

It’s no wonder that Cleveland is in the midst of a hotel building boom that it has sorely needed for many years.

You can thank Ronnie Mayers for that.

In his nearly 50 years in Cleveland and the Mississippi Delta, it would be hard to quantify in dollars what Mayers has meant to the area.

But it is what he has meant, as a person, that has been worth so much more to so many people. Because of Mayers, thou-

sands of athletes and students from dozens of countries have come to Cleveland and then gone on to become valuable parts of the community in Cleveland, the Delta and all across Mississippi.

ROSS REILY All of that being said, it’s a little more personal for me. You see, it was my dad that recruited him to Delta State oh so long ago as he ran track and coached. Ronnie coached me briefly as a youth swimmer and his wife Karen tried to teach me algebra in the ninth grade.

And now, it has come full circle.

Two of my kids learned to swim in that pool and these days they return to Cleveland on a regular basis as competitive swimmers (much better than their dad) to the best swimming facility in Mississippi.

They compete for best times, championships and future opportunities that would not have meant as much had it not been for Dr. Ronnie Mayers’ vision that has meant so much to the sport, so much to the community and so much to the state of Mississippi.

Thank you, Ronnie.

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

6 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019 ECONOMY

State’s GDP hit 10-year high in 2018

» Mississippians earned more money than have in a half-dozen years

Change in Annual Mississippi Real GDP

By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com

5%

Most years, Mississippi’s state economist Darrin Webb sees a lot of sameness in analyzing the state’s Gross Domestic Product, personal income and other economic indicators.

But a break in the sameness has occurred.

Calculations show last year brought something Mississippi has not seen in 11 years: Real GDP growth of 1 percent or more.

Mississippi’s initial real GDP growth estimate came in at 1.4 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis whittled that to 1 percent in its May 2 release of revised calculations for the market value of goods and services nationally and in the states.

Still, 1 percent Mississippi growth marks the largest annual increase in the state’s real GDP since 2008, the last year the state’s economy grew by at least 1 percent, state economists said in the Mississippi Economic Outlook issued in late April by the University Research Center of the Mississippi Institutes of Higher Learning.

The spring Outlook report also forecast 1.4 percent real GDP growth for 2019.

A further positive for 2019: Personal income growth of 3.6 percent for Mississippians, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, or BEA. The BEA said Mississippi showed even better personal income growth in 2018 at 3.8 percent, the largest increase since 2011.

“Everything is relative,” state economist Webb said. “We’ve seen a little bit of improved growth” in income.

In an interview shortly after the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s GDP report, Webb said while Mississippi’s GDP number is at a 10-year high, the “story is the same: overall strong economic growth at a relatively slow pace.”

The slow pace, Webb said, is in comparison to neighboring and nearby states, many of which achieved stronger annual GDP growth after the end of the Great recession

3%

4.1%

4.1%

4% 2.6%

2.8% 2.0%

2% 1%

2.2%

2.5%

2.2%

0.9%

0.4%

2.0%

1.6% 0.6%

0.5%

-1%

-0.9%

-1.0%

-1.4%

-2%

0.3%

0.1%

0%

-3%

-4% -4.1%

-5%

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

* adjusted for inflation

earlier in the decade and continue to do so. Alabama’s real, adjusted for inflation, GDP grew by 2 percent in 2018; Georgia’s 2.6 percent; Tennessee, 3 percent; Missouri, 2 percent; and Louisiana, 1.1 percent.

Also, unlike other Southern states, Mississippi slipped into recession in 2014, with its GDP dropping to a negative 1 percent.

By 2016, state GDP rebounded to 2 percent, however.

An advance estimate from the BEA, put the national GDP growth rate at 3.2 percent. The BEA attributes the national GDP acceleration to an upturn in state and local government spending, speedups in private inventory investment and in exports, and a smaller decrease in residential investment.

Mississippi “is always going to be a little flatter” in GDP growth than the national figure, Webb noted.

He theorized that the 2018 federal tax cuts gave Mississippi’s economy a boost, at least in the short term. On the whole, Webb said he does not dispute other economists who likened the stimulating effects nationally of the tax cuts geared to cor-

porations and the well-to-do to a “sugar high.”

In Mississippi, tax cuts for business and individuals began last year with the first phase of eliminating the state’s $260 million annual corporate franchise tax along with what are projected to be cuts of $145 million annually in individual income taxes. Legislators designed the cuts to phase in over 12 years.

So far, the cuts have not noticeably diminished state revenue collections, which last year reached $5.5 billion and in 2017 $5.4 billion. Lawmakers predicted the cuts will be offset by new revenues that come from increased corporate and individual spending. Corporate tax collections totaled $575 million in fiscal 2018, according to the Mississippi Department of Revenue, which put fiscal 2017 corporate tax collections at $563 million.

The state’s current fiscal cushion materialized after a fiscal 2017 in which dropoffs in revenue collections forced Gov. Phil Bryant to make emergency budget cuts of nearly $175 million and draw tens of millions of dollars from the state’s Budget Sta-

BIG BUSINESS

EastGroup jumps up to S&P MidCap 400 Index

Ridgeland industrial real estate investment trust EastGroup Properties Inc. is the newest listing on the S&P MidCap 400 Index, S&P says.

The listing of EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) will be under the Standard and Poor’s says MidCap 400 Global Industry Classification Standard Industrial REIT’s Sub-Industry index. Elevation from the S&P SmallCap

600 comes after multi-year growth in developing warehouse distribution space near Sunbelt metro areas.

The 40-year-old company recently achieved market capitalization of $4.15 billion and a top 4-percent ranking among all U.S. real estate investment trusts based on investment returns.

bilization Fund. Legislators have since restored the fund to its previous level in the $400 million range.

Since it’s early in the dozen-year phasein of the tax cuts, economist Webb is not prepared to credit them with returning state revenue to healthier levels. “I’m not real sure what’s driving that,” he said.

Webb noted, though, that income growth and newly enacted sales taxes on certain internet purchases have helped to juice state revenues.

Corey Miller, economic analyst at the University Research Center, noted that although it is early in fiscal 2019, “trends look favorable for revenues so far.”

In the spring Outlook, Miller noted the BEA’s forecast of 3.6 percent growth in personal income reflects a .07 percent increase from the previous quarter.

Mississippi employment growth of .03 percent in 2018 marked the lowest growth rate since 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Bureau projects a rebound to .09 percent job growth this year and a return to .03 percent growth in 2020.

EastGroup president and CEO Marshall Loeb said in an email he thinks EGP is the only Mississippi company on the mid-capitalization index.

EastGroup takes the place of the Ultimate Software Group Inc. (NASD: ULTI) in the MidCap 400, and GMS Inc. (NYSE: GMS) replaces EastGroup on the S&P SmallCap 600.

The transitions were effective May 7.

By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com

May 10, 2019

Q

Mississippi Business Journal

Q

7

NEW BUSINESS

Mississippi big cities miss startup list; Tupelo No. 40 for small towns

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com Mississippi’s largest cities struck out in competition for best places to start a business, according to WalletHub, a financial services company that does studies on financial and economic matters.

None of its big cities show up in the WalletHub rankings for 2018.

Memphis, which, of course, is in Tennessee on the Mississippi border, ranks 84th, and its economic reach includes four Mississippi counties – DeSoto, Tate, Marshall and Tunica.

Several of Mississippi’s small cities fare better. Tupelo ranks 40th, Meridian is 102nd and Gulfport is 291st out of 1,261 towns.

Tupelo is the capital of the furniture-making industry in northeast Mississippi.

But that industry took a major hit in 2000, losing a lot of jobs to offshore com-

DINING

Oxford chef wins James Beard award

By MBJ STAFF Vishwesh Bhatt, chef at Oxford’s Snackbar restaurant, has been named best chef in the South in the James Beard Awards competition.

Bhatt, a five-time semifinalist in the competition, was chosen best in the region that includes Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Bhatt Florida and Louisiana.

Awards were also given for best chef in the Southeast and the Southwest.

According to the James Beard Foundation, the chefs nominated “set high culinary standards and also demonstrate integrity and admirable leadership skills in their respective regions. A nominee may be from any kind of dining establishment but must have been working as a chef for at least five years, with the three most recent years spent in the region.”

petition, according to David Rumbarger, president and chief executive of the Community Development Foundation of Tupelo/Lee County.

Tupelo established an incubator in 2006 to offset that loss, Rumbarger said.

Hyperion Technology Group, a graduate of the incubator, announced Tuesday that it will add 25 engineering and technology

jobs.

“Being the only [city] in Mississippi to be in the top 100 is certainly a high honor,” Rumbarger said.

Calls to the East Mississippi Business Development Corp. in Meridian, which was rated No. 102, were not returned.

Gulfport, rated 291, is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan statistical area,

which includes five counties. Its estimated population for 2014 was 427,322.

That puts it closer to the Jackson MSA’s estimated 579,229 for 2016, the 95th largest in the nation.

The Memphis MSA, 84th in the WalletHub ranking, has a population of about 1.3 billion.

The 2019 class of the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 50 Under 40 honorees.

Johnny Beck Daniel Boggs Robert Lance Carnahan Joseph Childs Jessica Cooley Brian Cronin Kelvin Davis Stacia Dunson Anderson Ervin Chelsey Everett Scott Ferguson Kevin Frye Adams Gates Shawn Gillenwater Bob Glover Aubrey Leigh Goodwin Ashley Gray Maxine Greenleaf Dr. Brandon Hardin Shelley Harrigill Laurel Li Harris Matthew Harrison Emily Penn Hoff Sarah Beth Jones Blaine LaFontaine

Sarah E. Link Wayne Madkin Samantha McCain Micah McCoullough Jonathan Mills Jesse Mitchell, III Molly Jeffcoat Moody Kory Moore Bobby Morgan Misti Munro Tami Munsch Sydney Murphy, PhD Josh Norris Scott Pickering Roderick Red Jason Skrmetti Heather Smith Austin Stewart Dr. Braque Talley Regina Todd Chris Vignes Alexander Washington Clarence Webster III Ross Weems Demeria Williams

This magazine will profile all AWARD RECIPIENTS and pay tribute to their excellence in business and community achievements. » Your ad will be seen by all MBJ subscribers. » The Top 50 Under 40 recipients will know that you supported them at this special time in their lives.

Advertising Opportunities: Net Advertising Rates

Full page Half Horizontal Quarter Vertical

Color

$2,135 $1,430 $808

PUBLICATION DATE: May 31, 2019 AD RESERVATION DEADLINE: Friday, May 10, 2019 ARTWORK DEADLINE: Friday, May 17, 2019

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Tami Jones, Associate Publisher

(601) 364-1011

tami.jones@msbusiness.com

8 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019 THE SPIN CYCLE

Earned media (PR pickup) is dominating branding campaigns

I

n our fast-paced, increasingly digital-driven world, one of the ageless measurement tools of PR success – earned media – continues to dominate campaigns.

Earned media is publicity or PR gained through an unsolicited third party (mass media outlet such as newspaper, TV, radio and the Internet). Unearned media is paid media (marketing and advertising).

Earned media is at the center of an increasing number of branding campaigns, according to PRWeek, whether they are orchestrated by, advertising or digital firms.

Consider the work honored each June at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Very few big ideas evolve around traditional TV spots or paid media, most rely on earned media, according to PRWeek.

In 2017, State Street’s Fearless Girl became the most awarded campaign in Cannes’ history, including the PR Grand Prix. Fearless Girl faced off against the Charging Bull sculpture on Wall Street as a push for gender equality in business leadership roles. It was created by Interpublic Group ad agency McCann New York.

McCann also created the previous most-honored Cannes campaign from its Melbourne office. Dumb Ways To Die was a public service announcement – one of the most established PR tools – to stop kids playing on railway tracks.

There’s also Unilever’s Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, named Best Campaign of the Past 20 Years at the PRWeek U.S. 20th Anniversary Awards in March. The cre-

ative idea came from Ogilvy, but Edelman handled PR for the long-running activation.

These diverse campaigns illustrate the complex nature of today’s communications. All three were created by ad agencies, yet all three had PR at their heart. This is the environment in which PR firms operate – and brands are increasingly using PR as go-to tools!

PRWeek’s 2019 Agency Business Report shows overall global agency revenue rose 5 percent in 2018, to $11.9 billion, up 1% from 2017. The U.S. number was slightly less, up 4 percent to $5.64 billion, but double the jump of the previous 12 months. The top 20 firms lagged the overall market, up 3 percent and 2 percent respectively.

One definite trend in 2018 was clients taking services in-house, such as media buying, ad production and content creation. They’re not necessarily spending less money on marketing, just less with agencies.

Misspelled popular hashtags on the rise Two weeks ago, HBO fantasy epic Game of Thrones returned with the premiere of its eighth and final season. Aside from dominating social conversations, it was the most-tweeted-about episode of the show ever, topping the 5-million mark.

However, non-fans who keep track of trending topics may have thought there was a new sensation called Game of Thornes. One out of every 101 hashtags about the show was misspelled on Twitter,

http://www.msbusiness.com

BANKS

Q Regions Bank.................................................................................................................. www.regions.com

HUMAN RESOURCES

Q People Lease.........................................................................................................www.peoplelease.com

INSURANCE AGENCIES

Q Account Services Group........................................................... www.accountservicesgroup.com

LAW FIRMS

Q Victor W. Carmody, Jr. P.A........................................................................... www.mississippidui.com

PAYROLL

Q People Lease.........................................................................................................www.peoplelease.com

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Q Mansell Media.................................................................................................... www.mansellmedia.net

Have your business listed here! Contact your advertising representative at 601.364.1000

according to social media monitoring company Brandwatch.

In the last month, the hashtag #GameofThrones was mentioned more than 6.1 million times, while #GameofThornes got more than 61,000 mentions, according to the firm.

Sloppy spelling does not just happen in GOT. #AvengersEndgame received more than 5 million mentions in the past month, while #AvangersEndgame notched nearly 55,000 mentions. Fully one out of every 94 hashtags that tried to join the conversation was foiled by typos.

There’s a simple explanation: the more an event is mentioned on Twitter, the more a hashtag is misspelled. The night of Game of Thrones’ season eight premiere, one of every 87 mentions was a typo, but on Monday, April 22, the day after episode two of season eight, one of every 50 tweets was incorrect.

It’s getting worse. Data from 2013 indicates typos occurred in one of every 400 hashtags six years ago, according to Brandwatch.

To avoid these spelling pitfalls, Brandwatch recommends a common sense approach: make sure it’s simple, obvious and under 10 characters, such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #TeamCoco and #Oscars.

Grounded Mic | Boeing knew about cockpit safety problem, didn’t initially tell the FAA Just when we thought the Boeing brand was going to come out of its nightmarish tailspin, we find out the airplane builder did not share information about a problem with a cockpit safety alert for about a year before the issue drew attention with the crash of a 737 MAX jet in Indonesia.

Even then Boeing gave some airlines and pilots partial and inconsistent explanations, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company did not publicly disclose the software error behind the problem for

another six weeks, leaving the public and the agency’s acting chief in the dark.

Officials are increasingly questioning the transparency of the Chicago-based aeroTodd Smith space leader regarding problems with cockpit warnings, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A House Transportation Committee is also probing why the FAA and Boeing failed to publicly distribute information about the nonfunctioning sensors.

This new cloud could bring additional challenges to Boeing’s efforts to strengthen confidence in the 737 MAX, solicit regulatory support worldwide and get the MAXes, grounded after the second crash, flying again.

Boeing said company engineers identified the alerts weren’t operating as intended due to a software error in 2017. Boeing said at the time it relied on standard internal procedures and conducted an internal review by engineers and managers that determined the problem didn’t impact airplane safety. Top Boeing leaders didn’t learn about the issue until after the Oct. 29, 2018, Lion Air crash, the company told The Journal.

At the company’s annual shareholder meeting last month, CEO Dennis Muilenburg reaffirmed the company was focused on safety, and the plane maker is seeking ways to improve the development of airplanes.

With the latest misstep, Boeing has a long runway before it’s reputation takes flight.

Each week, The Spin Cycle will bestow a Golden Mic Award to the person, group or company in the court of public opinion that best exemplifies the tenets of solid PR, marketing and advertising – and those who don’t. Stay tuned – and step-up to the mic! And remember … Amplify Your Brand!

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.

May 10, 2019 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

AN MBJ FOCUS: SECURITY

Digital camera security systems cheaper with more functions than ever before

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com Digital camera security systems have come down considerably in price while the quality of images has improved dramatically. And the number of features available now are something that were only in the realm of science fiction in years past.

“The changes every year in the digital camera security business are incredible,” said Wendell Fugitt, owner S.T.A. Security Inc., which covers most of central and south Mississippi. “Equipment we paid big dollar for five to ten years ago is now half the price with five times the technology.

It is like going from an eight-track tape to a CD every year.”

Fugitt, whose business was started by his father in 1978, said cameras being installed today have four to five times the quality of cameras from ten years ago. And the features available are very

advanced. For example, some camera systems have face recognition, and some have a technology called people counting. You can put that in the doorway of your business and know that 30 people have entered, but only 25 have exited.

“So, there may be five people still somewhere in their store,” Fugitt said. “In case of emergency, owners may want to account for every employee and customer. Not all cameras have that feature, but you can get that feature if you want to pay for it.”

Other features can include object removal functions. A high-priced piece of artwork with a box around it will set off an alarm that sends you an email if that item is removed. Other functions include loitering detection, parking detection and people gathering detection.

Not many businesses want to pay for all those different types of things, but the services are available.

“It is almost George Orwell 1984 kind of stuff,”

he said.

Fugitt cautions that when you sign agreements for services like ring doorbell security cameras, you are giving the authorization to allow those images to be viewed by others.

“Just like with Facebook and other things, when you sign those terms of agreement, you are letting someone else have access to a lot of information about you,” Fugitt said. “That is one of the reasons people prefer to go with a family security business instead of the big companies because customers have more trust in a small company protecting their data, rather than a big company that might not do a good job protecting access to their system.”

A lot of people don’t understand how critical it is to safeguard passwords. For businesses, it is important to have a permanent record of passwords or there can be problems if, for example, there is a new manager who doesn’t have the password to the security system.

One major use of security cameras is to deter shoplifters. Having a display monitor at a convenience store that shows your picture as you walk in is a big deterrent as people know they are being recorded.

Sometimes it isn’t necessary to get rid of all the old cameras when installing a new system. Fugitt said the new systems are hybrid. They will record from your existing cameras, but also the newer, much higher-quality cameras. “That is a good fit for the customer,” he said. “Just now we are replacing a camera system that is more than 10 years old. You don’t necessarily replace it until it is not working.”

Michael Clark, a sales person for Interface Security Systems, which has offices in Greenville and other locations, said the newer cameras have better quality and varifocal lenses that allow a much wider angle of vision.

“With high definition (HD) cameras and HD VDR, it allows you from the VDR to move to your left, right and center being able to zoom in on what you are trying to see,” Clark said.

While some people might do just fine buying a digital camera security system from a big box store or online, Clark said there are good reasons to consider using a security firm that does custom installations.

“When you purchase the system, what you are See SECURITY, Page 11

Security

10 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019

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Security

May 10, 2019

Q

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11

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SECURITY Continued from, Page 9

getting are precut lengths of cable,â&#x20AC;? Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you are trying to get a camera 75 feet away from where you are at, you usually canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go in a straight line and you have to go through the wall and ceiling, and hide the cable. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t design the kit for you to be able to call the company and order another 100 to 200 feet of cable.â&#x20AC;?

The connections on the wire are premade and are larger than the cable. That means having to drill a larger hole to get the cable end though it.

Clark said the biggest advantage of using a security ďŹ rm is service. It is a lot easier to be shown how to operate the system than trying to ďŹ gure it out from an ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manual. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most people have no idea how to program it or how to operate it,â&#x20AC;? Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had this happen more times than not. They call, and if we were to send a technician out, the technician would have to be paid to reprogram it and assist them.

If they are not a customer, they can end up paying quite a large per-hour fee.â&#x20AC;?

Another problem is when a customer

has a camera go out, if it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t taken down the proper way, the camera will burn out.

Clark likened using a security ďŹ rm to someone trying to install carpet by themselves rather than use a professional. â&#x20AC;&#x153;By the time you ďŹ gure everything out, hire labor to do it right, and make sure you have warranties with the system, you come out really better with a professional installer,â&#x20AC;? Clark said.

Retail businesses, in particular, beneďŹ t from camera security systems. Clark said sometimes the systems are needed more to keep an eye on employees than outside

customers. And now because of the mass shootings, many churches and schools are installing digital camera security systems.

They are also popular with homeowners who want to keep an eye on the front door, the driveway, the swimming pool, etc. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done more homeowners than ever before,â&#x20AC;? Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cameras are some of smartest things put out there. They never lie. They always tell the truth.â&#x20AC;?

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Newsmakers

12 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019

Newman receives award for work with legal clinic Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has announced that Dinetia M. Newman, counsel in the firm’s Jackson office, has received the 2019 Deborah H. Bell Pro Bono Award from the Pro Bono Initiative (PBI) at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Newman, along with Kay Trapp, a retired litigator and All Saints’ parishioner, was recognized for their work helping to establish and operate the Lawyers in the Parish Hall legal clinic at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Tupelo.

In 2013, Newman and Trapp co-founded Lawyers in the Parish Hall, which is the first and only faithbased pro bono legal partnership in Mississippi. They secured and maintain local and statewide partners to maintain the clinic, including the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, Ole Miss Law, and Lee County Chancery Court, among others. In addition, Newman and Trapp helped to recruit local attorneys to staff the clinic, which is held quarterly in conjunction with Saints Brew, an All Saints’ Episcopal Church program that provides breakfast for the local homeless community.

The Ole Miss Law PBI is an in-house pro bono program through which Ole Miss Law student volunteers attend legal clinics in courthouses or community centers around the state where they team with attorney volunteers to interview and assist pro se litigants.

A member of Bradley’s Healthcare Practice Group, Newman represents hospitals and health systems, physicians, and ancillary service providers on regulatory, operational, and transactional matters.

These include Medicare and Medicaid payment, Anti-kickback Act, Stark Law, EMTALA, HIPAA privacy and security compliance, state law licensure, and Certificate of Need issues.

Newman is a past president of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA), a past chair and co-chair of the AHLA’s Regulation, Accreditation and Payment practice group, an AHLA Fellow and current member of the AHLA Fellows Coordinating Committee. In addition, she is a past president of both the Health Law Section of the Mississippi Bar and the Mississippi Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. She also is a frequent speaker and author and has taught health law as an adjunct professor at Ole Miss Law.

Irby announces new brand Irby, a subsidiary of Sonepar USA, announces a new logo and brand, fifteen years since its last logo release: “Irby – A Sonepar Company”. The company’s new branding includes a vibrant yellow and orange modernized mark to symbolize connectivity, strength and stability. The new mark complements the legacy of the existing name “Irby” which will remain intact with its traditional font and blue color, “connecting” Irby’s past to its future. “We understand that in today’s world, connectivity to your customers is key,” said Michael D. Leech, President of Irby. “Irby is committed to becoming more connected with our customers by strengthening our relationships and becoming an indispensable solutions partner. We honor the legacy and stability of our 93-year-old company, while still connecting it to our promising and progressive future.

Irby is connected to our teams (C&I, Utility, Corpo-

Christensen and Jackson recognized for a lifetime of service

of the expansion project is the 20-story hotel tower, which will feature 300 rooms: 216 standard rooms, 72 corner suites and 12 penthouse suites. Onsite parking will be expanded via construction of a new covered garage with 1,250 spaces.

Work is expected to begin immediately with substantial completion anticipated in January 2021.

The contract value will be included in the Company’s first quarter 2019 backlog.

Butler Snow ranked national Top 10 Bond Counsel Firm

Courtesy of DRMC

The Mississippi Association of Supervisors Minority Caucus honored two members of the Delta Regional Medical Center team. Scott Christensen (right), Chief Executive Officer, and Sylvia Jackson, Board Member, were each presented with the Community Legend Award for their service to the Delta and community.

Christensen has been employed with DRMC in Greenville for over six years. Jackson has served on its Board of Trustees for 12 years and recently retired as the Director of the Area Agency on Aging of the South Delta Planning and Development District. rate), to our customers, to our partners, and to our communities.” Also, by adding A Sonepar Company, Irby is now recognizable as a member of the #1 Electrical Distributor team in the world.

AGJ Systems & Networks hires Don Gall AGJ Systems & Networks Inc. in Gulfport hired Don Gall as Technical Account Manager.

Originally from New Jersey, Gall has been a resident of the Gulf Coast since 2000. He is an Air Force veteran of 21 years, working most of his career in the computer technology and computer crime fields. After retiring from the Air Force, Don spent the next 20 years in various software engineering roles with a fortune 100 software company based on the east coast.

Outside of the office, Don enjoys spending much of his free time with his family and close friends at family gatherings, backyard BBQs, and bonfires on the beach shooting fireworks, just to name a few.

Cupples receives Mississippi Children’s Museum award Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that Margaret Oertling Cupples, managing partner of the firm’s Jackson office, has received the Mississippi Children’s Museum (MCM) Preston Myers Hays Award of Light for exemplary service to the museum. Cupples has served on the museum’s board of directors since 2015 and was board chair in 2017-2018. She now serves as chair of the board’s strategic planning committee. She has also served in a number of leadership roles with MCM Partners, the museum’s volunteer support organization.

A member of Bradley’s Appellate Practice Group, Cupples focuses her practice on civil appeals and commercial litigation, including benzene and silica mass-tort and products liability cases, as well as liti-

gation involving insurance sales practices, consumer finance, and other general commercial matters. She has participated in more than two dozen appeals in Mississippi’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Cupples is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Appellate Law and Products Liability Litigation, and in Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star and as one of the Top 250 Business Women in Litigation.

The MCM is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to inspiring Mississippi’s children from all backgrounds to discover and achieve their potential. The museum features 40,000 square feet of exhibit space designed around five primary initiatives: Literacy, STEAM, Health and Nutrition, Cultural Arts, and Mississippi Heritage. The museum’s exhibits, programs, and outreach opportunities provide engaging, explorative, hands-on educational activities for children of all ages.

Roy Anderson awarded Southland Gaming Casino and Hotel project Tutor Perini Corporation, a leading civil, building and specialty construction company, announced today that its subsidiary, Roy Anderson Corp. (RAC), has been awarded a contract by Delaware North for the Southland Gaming Casino and Hotel Project in West Memphis, Arkansas. The contract value is approximately $200 million. The project scope of work includes an expansion to Southland Gaming and Racing Park and will include a new casino complex and a 20-story, 300-room hotel in West Memphis, Arkansas.

The new, 240,000-sf casino complex will feature new and expanded dining options, including a larger buffet and steakhouse restaurants, new food hall, coffee shop and player lounge. The signature component

Butler Snow announced that it has been ranked as a top 10 bond counsel firm nationally by the Thomson Reuters U.S. Municipals Review for the first quarter of 2019. The firm ranked eighth in the category. In addition, Butler Snow ranked seventh for disclosure counsel, 10th for negotiated bonds and 13th for competitive bonds.

Thomson Reuters ranks firms in a variety of self-reported statistics. The rankings signify how active firms are in the public finance space and provide a listing of the busiest public finance firms in the country.

Bradley named Benchmark Litigation’s Firm of The Year Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that Benchmark Litigation has named Bradley its 2019 Mississippi Litigation Firm of the Year. The firm was honored Feb. 28 at the annual awards dinner in New York.

Bradley was one of four finalists for the award, which recognizes litigation firms in each state based on the significance of their representations. The firm also was a finalist for Alabama and Tennessee Litigation Firm of the Year. The state honors are part of the seventh annual Benchmark Litigation U.S. Awards, with nominees chosen based upon research conducted between March and November 2018. Benchmark Litigation determines its annual rankings through peer reviews and case examinations.

Moore and Tucker join The Cochran Firm Carlos Moore and Charles Tucker, Jr., of the Tucker Moore Group, LLP have joined The Cochran Firm.

Their firm will now be known as The Cochran Firm – Mississippi Delta.

Moore, whose firm is based in Grenada, has deep roots in Mississippi and handled numerous high-profile cases in recent years. Moore has been an attorney in Mississippi since 2003. He partnered with Charles Tucker, Jr. in 2016 to form the Tucker Moore Group, LLP. Tucker began his career in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office and prior to joining Moore, served in several legal capacities in Washington, D.C. The Cochran Firm – Mississippi Delta will operate out of the same location as Moore’s previous firm.

Moore and Tucker have handled a variety of cases that have received significant media attention in areas including civil rights, police brutality, wrongful death and personal injury.

Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of South Alabama and his Juris Doctorate at Florida State University. Tucker earned a B.A., M.P.A. and J.D. from St. Johns University.

Newsmakers Manuel receives Mississippi Bar Foundation award Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that J. William Manuel, a partner in the firm’s Jackson office, has received the 2019 Law-Related Public Education Award from the Mississippi Bar Foundation.

Manuel was recognized for his involvement of almost 25 years with the Mississippi High School Mock Trial competition. The Law-Related Public Education Award is presented annually to a lawyer who has displayed excellence in enhancing the public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.

Manuel was honored April 11 at the MS Bar Foundation Annual Meeting & Fellows Induction Ceremony in Jackson, at which Bradley Jackson Office Managing Partner Margaret Oertling Cupples was elected as a trustee for the MS Bar Foundation.

A member of Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group, Mr. Manuel focuses his practice primarily on commercial and employment litigation. He has handled various disputes for large and small businesses in Mississippi and other jurisdictions. His clients include numerous manufacturers and commercial interests as well as various insurance and financial services companies.

Mr. Manuel also has experience in advising businesses on issues involving age discrimination, sexual harassment, and wage/overtime disputes.

Manuel recently began serving as vice president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In addition, he is president of the Capital Area Bar Association and a member of the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions. He also is a former board member for the Mississippi Bar Young Lawyers Division and a former president of Jackson Young Lawyers.

Butler Snow expands to South Carolina Butler Snow announced the opening of its newest office in Charleston, S.C. with the additions of Kenyatta L. Gardner, Stephen P. Groves and Bradish J. Waring.

Gardner, Groves and Waring will all practice with the firm’s tort, transportation and specialized litigation group.

Gardner is a business litigator whose experience includes matters involving construction defect litigation, environmental torts, serious personal injury, employment, contract disputes and property subrogation and recovery. He has also served as a law clerk in the public defender’s office of Charleston.

Gardner is a member of the American Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute and the James L. Petigru American Inn of Court. He received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the College of Charleston and his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Charleston School of Law. Groves concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, appellate practice and international law. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers® for appellate practice and insurance law since 2010, Charleston’s appellate practice “Lawyer of the Year in 2015 and insurance “Lawyer of the Year” in 2019, and

by Martindale-Hubbell with an AV-Preeminent Peer Review rating.

Groves is a member of the International Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the South Carolina Bar, the Christian Legal Society and the Council of Appellate Lawyers. He received his bachelor’s degree from the

May 10, 2019

Employees honored for service at Mississippi State Hospital

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Mississippi Business Journal

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international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. IADAS nominates and selects winners.

Adams and Reese worked with digital agency One North Interactive and strategic marketing company Content Pilot in the development of the website.

Members of the Adams and Reese core website committee and production team include: Andy Freeman, Co-Chair Website and Partner; Donald Manalla, Co-Chair Website and MIS Technology Manager; Wanda Miller, Director Marketing and Communications; Ann Wallace, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer; Cindy Short, Marketing Administrator.

Members of the Adams and Reese website committee include: Gif Thornton, Managing Partner; Edward Playfair, Partner; Frank Liantonio, Partner; Jeff Manning, Strategic Initiatives Manager; Charles Pinckney, Of Counsel; Jeff Richardson, Partner; John Castillo, Graphic Designer; Kristina Montanaro Schrader, Partner; Lou Ursini, Partner.

Moore named assistant VP at Community Bank Mississippi State Hospital honored employees with April anniversaries for their years of service to the hospital.

Service awards are given to MSH employees in the month of their date of hire, beginning with one year and followed by every fifth anniversary year.

Employees receive a Certificate of Appreciation and a Service Award Pin. The program is sponsored by Friends of Mississippi State Hospital, Inc. Mississippi State Hospital April service award College of Charleston and his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina.

Waring is a trial lawyer with more than 40 years of experience. He focuses his litigation practice primarily in the civil arena at the state and federal levels, and frequently represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters including products liability, asbestos litigation, insurance coverage, subrogation claims, business disputes and admiralty. Waring has been recognized by Best Lawyers for commercial litigation and bet-the-company litigation, by South Carolina SuperLawyers for business litigation, transportation/ maritime, alternative dispute resolution, insurance coverage and personal injury-products, by Chambers USA for litigation: general commercial and by Martindale-Hubbell with an AV-Preeminent Peer Review rating. He was also listed in Charleston Business Magazine’s Legal Elite of the Low Country – International Maritime and is a two-time recipient of South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Leadership in Law Award.

Waring is a member of the American Bar Association, the South Carolina Bar (past president), the Charleston County Bar Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys Association, the Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and the Defense Research Institute.

He received his bachelor’s degree and his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina.

recipients include: Front row (left to right): Danylle Turner (Jackson, 1 year), Levonta Phillips (Jackson, 1 year), Carolyn McLaurin (Canton, 15 years), Linda Evans (Harrisville, 1 year), Misty Morgan (Florence, 10 years). Middle row (l-r): Fontreia Hilliard-Magee (Jackson, 5 years), Mariah Rogers (Canton, 25 years), Mary Simmons (Brandon, 15 years). Back row (l-r): Thomas Taylor (Jackson, 1 year), Jerry Maberry (Bolton, 5 years), Erica Gholar (Silver Creek, 5 years), Carley Quinn (Georgetown, 1 year).

Pearl River Resort Public Relations wins award Pearl River Resort took home a PRism Award at the annual Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM) state conference, held April 10-12 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the awards banquet, Pearl River Resort was among nine recipients to receive a PRism, PRAM’s highest honor for PR professionals from across the state of Mississippi recognizing their outstanding work in their field. Pearl River Resort won the PRism in the category of long-term strategic special events programs for the department’s involvement in the Resort’s annual Angel Tree project.

PRAM is a professional organization for public relations practitioners across the state of Mississippi, consisting of over 600 members from various businesses and industries. The Pearl River Resort Public Relations team consists of Erica Clemons Moore, Cassandra Hickman, Dominique Lewis, Todd Adams, and Katheline McDaniel.

Adams and Reese recognized in Webby Awards Adams and Reese has been named an official Honoree in the Law Websites category in the 23rd Annual Webby Awards.

The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a leading

Jennifer Moore has been named Assistant Vice President.

A native of Jackson, Moore recently served as SBA Loan Officer has been in banking for 23 years, 11 of those being with Community Bank. In her new role, Moore will continue to process and underwrite SBA loans for Moore approval, as well as, assist lenders with any questions they may have regarding SBA financing.

Moore is currently pursuing an Associate Degree in Banking and Finance.

Active in her community, Moore is the Treasurer for Remo’s Rescue in Carthage.

She has been married to her husband Lee for 23 years and they attend Pinelake Church.

Johnson joins Premier Radiology Premier Radiology, P.A., announced the association of Amanda B. Johnson, D.O., for the practice of interventional radiology.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Mississippi State University in Starkville in 2004. She earned her medical degree from Pikeville-Kentucky College of Johnson Osteopathic Medicine in 2010 and completed her internship with UNECOM/Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, N.Y. She completed two years of a nuclear medicine residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., where she served as chief resident. She completed a radiology residency in 2017 and fellowship training in vascular and interventional radiology in 2018, both at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville.

Johnson comes to Tupelo from Panama City, Fla., where she practiced with Bay Radiology Associates.

She is the daughter of Jesse and Peggy Johnson of Pontotoc and has a special interest in interventional oncology.

Newsmakers

14 Q Mississippi Business Journal Q May 10, 2019

MEC announcesl leadership and elected officers Mississippi Economic Council (MEC) has announced its future leadership and the recently elected officers include the following: · William A. “Lex” Taylor III, President and Chairman of the Board of The Taylor Group of Companies, Inc., as MEC’s 2019-2020 Chair. · Anthony L. Wilson, President and CEO of Mississippi Power, as MEC’s 2020-2021 Chair. · Augustus L. (Leon) Collins, Chief Executive Officer for MINACT Inc., as MEC’s 2021-2022 Chair. · Rebecca Wiggs, Attorney at Watkins & Eager, as MEC Treasurer. Wiggs will also serve as treasurer of the Mississippi Economic Council’s subsidiaries, the M.B. Swayze Foundation and the Public Education Forum of Mississippi.

Taylor has been involved all of his life in the family-owned business, Taylor Machine Works. He learned all aspects of the heavy lift equipment industry before entering into the company’s management trainee program. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in General Business from Mississippi State University in 1977. He worked as a Systems Coordinator and as the Assistant to the President of Manufacturing. In 1982, he was promoted to Vice President and General Manager and was elected President in 1982. Elected to the Board of Directors in 1981, Taylor was named Chairman of the Board in 2008. Under his leadership, Taylor Machine Works has followed a course of diversification resulting in the formation of The Taylor Group of Companies, Inc. Taylor is on the Board of Directors for the Business & Industry Political Education Committee, Mississippi Manufacturers Association, College of Business Advisory Board Mississippi State University, and Winston Medical Foundation. He is Past Chairman of Mississippi Manufacturers Association, Mississippians for Economic Progress, and Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Taylor and his wife, Margaret, have three children.

Wilson has worked his entire professional career for Mississippi Power and the Southern Company system, starting in 1984 as an engineering cooperative education student in Biloxi. He moved to Georgia Power in 2002 and held several executive leadership positions before returning to Mississippi Power in 2015.

Wilson is the Chair of the Gulf Coast Business Council board of directors, the Mississippi Aquarium Foundation and the 2019 American Heart Association Heart Walk for Harrison and Hancock counties. He is Vice Chair for the Mississippi State University Foundation and he also serves as a director on the Mississippi Energy Institute board.

Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University and an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is also a graduate of the Oxford University Advanced Management Program.

A native of D’Iberville, Wilson and his wife Tonya have three daughters.

Prior to accepting his current job, Collins was the Adjutant General of Mississippi and served as the Commanding General of both the Mississippi Army and Air National Guard. He commanded a force of more than 12,275 Citizens Soldiers and Airmen.

Collins served on active duty in Operation Desert Shield/Storm as well as commanding the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team during combat oper-

ations in Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004-2006.

Collins was promoted to brigadier general on May 10, 2005 while in Iraq, making him the first African American to attain the rank of general officer in the history of the Mississippi National Guard.

Following his deployment to Iraq, Collins was assigned as Director of Mobilization, United States Army Forces Command, Fort McPherson, GA. He held that post from February 2006 until October 2007.

In 2007, Collins was appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to serve as one of the three Commissioners for the Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Commission.

He held that post until July 2010 when he accepted a position with MINACT Incorporated where he served as the Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning.

When Gov. Phil Bryant took office in January 2012, he appointed Collins the Adjutant General of Mississippi. He was promoted to the rank of Major General on March 14, 2012.

Collins received an Associate of Arts Degree from Northeast Mississippi Junior College, a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from the University of Mississippi, a Master of Business Administration Degree from Jackson State University, a Master of Strategic Studies Degree from the United States Army War College and has completed studies at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as well as the Harvard Business School.

Collins has received numerous awards and honors over his career.

Wiggs practices law with Watkins & Eager PLLC which she joined in 1985. A graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law, she completed mediation training with the American Arbitration Association and mediation.org. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and is also a member of the North Carolina Bar. Her experience spans from general product liability and medical malpractice to labor and employment, consumer finance and appellate advocacy.

Wiggs served MEC previously as chair of its M.B. Swayze Foundation. She is a member of Leadership Mississippi Class of 1995. The Mississippi Women Lawyers Association named her its 2016 Lawyer of the Year and she received the Mississippi Bar’s Lawyer Citizenship Award in 2012. She serves on the Governing Board of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Board of Visitors of the Wake Forest Divinity School.

Wiggs and her husband, Mark, live in Jackson.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber announces 2019 One Coast Award recipients The Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Hancock Chamber of Commerce, Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce, and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce recently announced recipients of the 2019 One Coast Awards.

Community Leader: Brenda Simkins, Brenda H. Simkins State Farm Agency John “Shorty” Sneed, Self Employed - Independent Insurance Consultant Paul Maxwell, Hancock Whitney Bank Lt. Col. Andy Ratcliffe, 1108th TASMG Georgia Storey, Singing River Health System Bernadette “Bernie” Cullen, Retired Kearn Cherry, PRN Home Care

Gordon Redd Jr., Redd Pest Solutions Brent Fairley, Hancock Whitney Bank Jakavious Pickett, Praise Temple of Biloxi Top 10 Under 40: Clayton Legear, Merchant & Marine Bank David Weldon, William Carey University Jessica McNeel; Bryan, Nelson, Schroeder, Castigiola & Banahan Dr. Cedric Bradley, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Shundral Cole, United States Attorney’s office Dr. F. Russell Young, The First, A National Banking Association LaKeshia Robertson, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Geoffrey Knesal, Roy Anderson Corp.

Sheila Kowalewski, Ingalls Shipbuilding Kevin Estrade, Keesler Federal Credit Union The One Coast Awards are the rebranding of the former Roland Weeks Hall of Fame, The Sun Herald Top 10 Under 40 and Community Leader Awards.

Mooney a 2018 President’s Award winner Jay Mooney, business insurance senior territory manager for Mississippi, has been announced as a 2018 President’s Award winner representing the Southeast Region. He was a 2013 President’s Award recipient as well.

Mooney graduated from MisMooney sissippi College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Masters in Business Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Mississippi as well as the Advisory Board for the University of Mississippi’s Risk Management & Insurance Program.

Dr. Scott Martin receives distinctions Dr. Scott Martin of Merit Health Medical Group achieved two distinctions: becoming board certified in wound care and being named a fellow.

Martin became board-certified in wound care by the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery. The ABWMS is Martin an independent, non-profit evaluative organization whose accountability is to the practice of medicine as well as to the public they serve.

Martin also recently became a fellow with the American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair. The ACWHTR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Chicago that is committed to advancing the field of wound care through education, research and advocacy.

Martin received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed his residency and internship in family medicine, also at UMMC. He also holds his bachelor’s degree in biology medical sciences from Mississippi College.

Martin is located at Merit Health Medical Group Primary Care in Clinton.

AGJ Systems hires of Marketing Coordinator AGJ Systems & Networks Inc. hired Emily Walker as Marketing Coordinator. She holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of South Alabama. Emily has more than five years of marketing experience in the technology industry.

Walker is originally from Andalusia, Ala., and now resides in Gautier. Previously, Emily worked for The SSI Group, LLC, City of Daphne, Ala., The American Red Cross and PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

Walker enjoys reading, cooking and spending time with family and friends with occasional appearances as the karaoke queen.

Waste Pro’s Chris Lockwood promoted to regional VP Waste Pro announced that Chris Lockwood, former Divisional Vice President in Southern Mississippi, has been promoted to Regional Vice President. Lockwood will manage the newly-formed Southern Mississippi region, which includes Waste Pro’s Hattiesburg, Gautier, Gulfport, Brookhaven, and Natchez operations.

Lockwood joined Waste Pro in 2013 as a Financial Analyst in the corporate office in Longwood, Fla. The following year, he became a Management Trainee, and was promoted to Division Manager in 2015.

In 2018, Lockwood was appointed Divisional Vice President, managing Waste Pro’s Natchez, Brookhaven, and Hattiesburg divisions. He led the teams in those offices in overseeing daily operations and expanding across the area. In Hattiesburg, where Lockwood began his management career, Waste Pro is now the only residential service provider because of its exceptional service.

Country Club Of Canton names Webb GM, golf pro Country Club Of Canton, announced the appointment of Ralph “Butch” Webb to the position of General Manager & Head Golf Professional. Webb moves to Canton from Rolling Pines Golf Course in Berwick, Penn., where he was Golf Professional and General Manager. Webb is a Class A PGA Professional with Webb some 25 years experience. He is also certified by Titleist Performance Institute, Level 2 Golf and Level 2 Junior.

Webb is a 1992 graduate of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., where he majored in Professional Golf Management & Marketing. Webb is married to Helen Webb, a medical staff professional for over 14 years. Their son Nick is Head Golf Professional at The Palisades Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.

Newsmakers Planters Bank Ruleville announces promotions Planters Bank announced the promotion of Chris West to President and Alicia Chandler as Vice President of the Ruleville branch.

Chris West, a native of Ruleville, has been with Planters Bank for thirty-one years. She has served in many roles while at the bank including bookkeeper, Chandler CSR, Teller Supervisor, and Loan Officer. She is a graduate of Mississippi Delta Community College and attended Delta State University. She is a graduate from the Mississippi School of Banking at the University of Mississippi and the Southeastern School of Consumer Credit.

West is active in Ruleville BapWest tist Church serving as a Sunday School Teacher and volunteering at Vacation Bible School. She is married to Todd West.

They have two children, Steven and Terra, and four grandchildren.

Chandler has worked for Planters Bank for sixteen years and is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. She completed the Southeastern School of Consumer Credit and the Mississippi School of Banking at the University of Mississippi.

Chandler is an active member of the Drew-Ruleville Rotary Club and serves as secretary. She is married to Wesley Chandler, and they have one son, Brant. They are members of First Baptist Bible Church in Drew.

Founded in 1920 in Ruleville, Planters Bank has grown to a region-wide banking system, with assets over one billion dollars, serving 13 communities in 19 locations, as the bank of choice for customers across Mississippi and the region.

Molpus announces promotions in management team The Molpus Woodlands Group, LLC, a timberland investment management organization headquartered in Jackson, announced several promotions and transitions of employees within its company.

Michael Cooper has assumed the position of Senior Director of Client Relations and Business Development. Cooper will lead the client relations team as well as assisting in developing firm-wide strategic initiatives. Cooper has worked with Molpus for almost 20 years.

George Dahduh is being promoted to Director of Client Relations. He will take on a more expanded role with client relationships, both current and prospective, as well as business development. Dahduh will work directly with Cooper on client relation matters.

Reanna J.M. Lee is assuming the position of Chief Compliance Officer. Lee has previously served her past employer as its Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer and has been Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at Molpus.

Molpus manages approximately 1.8 million acres of timberland investments in 17 states.

May 10, 2019

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Mississippi Business Journal

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15

William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine receives national awards

Courtesy of WCU College of Osteopathic Medicine

William Carey University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine sent a delegation in April to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Education Conference in Washington, D.C. More than 20 WCUCOM representatives were honored during the conference: Research: Dr. Randall Harris, associate dean of Preclinical Sciences, earned third place in the annual research poster competition for his project, “Using Artificial Intelligence to Map the Medical School Curriculum.” This marks WCUCOM’s first national research award and demonstrates strong growth in educational research and technology.

Innovation: In another first for WCUCOM, Dr. Melissa Stephens, director of Graduate Medical Education and Population Health, received the 2019 Innovation Award by the Society of Osteopathic Medical Educators for “Implementation of Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) in Medical Education.”

Finalist: Second-year WCU medical student Andrew Joseph Shevitz received

Meacham, Ward, and Weems slated to receive honorary degrees Jon Meacham, Jesmyn Ward, and Dr. Lamar Weems will be recognized with honorary degrees at the upcoming commencement for the class of 2019 at Millsaps College. Commencement is scheduled for 9:30am on Saturday, May 11, on the Millsaps campus.

“This is an incredible group of individuals, and we are excited about the opportunity to recognize and honor their contributions to our state and nation,” said Dr. Robert W. Pearigen, president of Millsaps College.

“The insight and skill they bring to our political discourse, our healthcare systems, and our literature are immeasurable.”

Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and the author of The New York Times bestsellers “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” “Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship,”

an honorable mention in the 2019 National Student Researcher of the Year competition. Only three people are recognized each year for this prestigious award – one overall winner and two honorable mentions.

Inductions: Sixteen third-year WCU medical students and two adjunct faculty were inducted into the Gold Humanism Honors Society, a national organization that recognizes students who have shown exemplary commitment to both academics and service.

AACOM Council: LaDonna Davidson was elected secretary of the AACOM Council on Admissions for Osteopathic Medical Education. Davidson is a WCUCOM recruiter and administrative assistant.

Cutline: Dr. Italo Subbarao, dean of the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine, far left, is shown with some of the WCUCOM representatives who won national awards at a medical conference in April. They are, from left, Dr. Randall Harris, second-year medical student Joseph Shevitz, LaDonna Davidson and Dr. Melissa Stephens.

“Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” and “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels.” He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in the American Presidency and is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. Meacham is a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review and a fellow of the Society of American Historians.

Ward is an associate professor of English at Tulane University and a novelist, essayist, and memoirist.

Her novel “Salvage the Bones” won the National Book Award in 2011, and her novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing” was recognized with the award in 2017; she is the only woman to have won the National Book Award twice. Her first novel, “Where the Line Bleeds,” was published in 2008, and a memoir, “Men We Reaped,” was published in 2013. Her work has been recognized with the Alex Award from the American Library Association, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Heartland Prize, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Ward also received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 2017.

A 1953 graduate of Millsaps College, Weems is a

retired urologist and surgeon and professor emeritus of surgery (urology) at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. In 1965, Weems became the first full-time urologist in the Department of Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). He became director of the Division of Urology in 1967, a post he held until 1990 when he retired and entered private practice at the Mississippi Urology Clinic. A long-time champion of healthcare for Mississippi’s uninsured poor, Weems also held visiting professorships at major medical schools around the nation, including the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, LSU Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Temple University, and Duke University Medical Center.

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