MBJ_Oct17_2014

INSIDE — Kellogg Foundation commits $2.3M to Civil Rights Museum, Page 10

35

MBJ FOCUS Health Care

YEARS

1979

www.msbusiness.com

BREAST CANCER EDITION

2014

October 17, 2014 • Vol. 36, No. 42 • $1 • 24 pages

TRANSPORTATION

» Fundraising for breast cancer never stops P 12 » Career attitude help to fight disease at 41 P 13 » The blessing of an early diagnosis P 14 » Women’s Medical Care Centers List P 17

INSIDE

Page 8

Jackson’s airport raising fees, cutting budget to offset loss of Southwest revenue AIA Mississippi holds annual awards celebration

SPORTS BIZ

Money can't buy love — nor a No. 1 college football ranking

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

» Check out the winners

More, P 4-5

Money is not always the mojo that gets you to the top of the college football mountain.

As the nation's preeminent financial newspaper, The Wall Street Journal understands money. What it is struggling

to explain to its readers is how Mississippi State spends millions less on football than the average power-conference school — and yet the Bulldogs are now the new No. 1 team in college football.

In fact, the team the Bulldogs vanquished last Saturday See

FOOTBALL, Page 9

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

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October 17, 2014

I

Mississippi Business Journal

I

SELENA SWARTZFAGER ON ECONOMIC EDUCATION

Teach your kids sound economic principles

L

uckily, there are usually second chances in life. As the leader of the Mississippi Council of Economic Education, I am often asked “what is the most important thing a parent can do as it relates to financial literacy and their children?� My standard response is that you need to teach them the habit of saving and what it means to use the economic way of thinking. While I took my oldest son, Ashton, to the bank to open a savings and checking account at a young age, we closed the savings account after several years when he was not able to keep the minimum balance required to avoid monthly charges. He worked as a soccer referee from the time he was 13 until he turned 20, which gave him the opportunity to earn income. Why he was not able to save money was my fault as I allowed him to use all his money when he wanted to, as opposed to insisting he save some of his money.

Now I am going through these same motions with my youngest son, Greyson who is 12 years old. I have a second chance so to speak. As of last weekend he is also a certified soccer referee. On his first day of work I could have filled out the W-9 for him, but insisted he fill it out on his own. My objective here was to help him increase his financial literacy. Check! While it would have been easiest for me to cash his checks for him then hand over the cash, I decided to take him to the bank to open his own savings account.

We discussed the “right� amount for him to save vs. spend. While we were at the bank we asked questions about minimum balances, monthly fees and ATM cards. My objective here was to help him increase his financial literacy. Check!

We left the bank and headed to a big box store that sells technology from which I recently received a $20 reward certificate. I offered the certificate to Greyson as I thought he needed a new set of headphones. We entered the store and debated over the purchase of head phones, Xbox points or an iPhone case. “Hurry up, Greyson. I have other things to do,� I told him. We decided on Xbox points and syrup for the soda maker we already had at home. When we got back to the

Âť While I did a pretty good job providing financial literacy education to my oldest son, I did not always practice what I preached. This second time around I pledge to do better.

Thank goodness for second chances.

house, Greyson began spending his $15 Xbox card. He said, “This isn’t bad. I just got several video games for free.� At this point I thought to myself, “What? A chance to talk about the economic way of thinking?

I’ll take it.� I began my speech about how it wasn’t free. There is a cost to everything and it is called “opportunity cost.� I asked him, what else we could have gotten with that $20 certificate. After I

MEC’s

13th

Annual

mentioned opportunity cost several times, he finally said to me, “Mom, stop using all your big words on me.� While he may have been tired of the lesson, I think he got the message. My objective in having this discussion was to increase his economic and financial literacy. Check!

While I did a pretty good job providing financial literacy education to my oldest son, I did not always

practice what I preached. This second time around I pledge to do better. Thank goodness Selena Swartzfager for second chances.

Selena Swartzfager is president of the Mississippi Council for Economic Education. She can be reached at swartsc@millsaps.edu.

HOBNOB Mississippi

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Reeves

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Cochran

Childers

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Top 10 Finalist at Miss America & Finalist for Quality of Life

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Photo courtesy of Matt Boyd Photography

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3

4 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17 2014

AIA MISSISSIPPI HOLDS ANNUAL AWARDS CELEBRATION Designing success The Mississippi chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Mississippi) held its annual Design Awards Celebration Thursday, Oct. 16 at Duling Hall in Jackson.

The Design Awards Celebration “seeks to applaud architecture and design by bringing attention to all components of the program through an event which highlights the art in the architectural profession.”

Added last year as part of the AIA Mississippi’s signature event, Mississippi Celebrates Architecture, this year the Design Awards Celebration recognized 11 projects from dozens of entries involving everything from churches and museums to government and health care facilities.

The presentation ceremony included three Honor Awards, three Merit Awards and five Citations.

The biggest winners were Duvall Decker Architects, P.A. and WFT Architects, P.A., both of Jackson, which took home two awards each.

— Wally Northway

Honor Award — Albert & Associates Architects, P.A. for the Charnley-Norwood House restoration. Client: Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Honor Award — Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons Architects & Engineers, P.A. for Puckett Machinery headquarters.

Client: Hastings Puckett

Honor Award — Gulf Coast Community Design Studio for the Women in Construction Training Center. Client: Moore Community House

Merit Award — JBHM Architecture for the Tupelo Aquatics Center. Client: City of Tupelo

Merit Award — Duvall Decker Architects, P.A. for the James H. White Library renovation. Client: Mississippi Valley State University and Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, State of Mississippi

October 17 2014

I

Mississippi Business Journal

I

AIA MISSISSIPPI HOLDS ANNUAL AWARDS CELEBRATION

Merit Award — Duvall Decker Architects, P.A. for the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services Cooperative Data Center. Client: Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, State of Mississippi

Citation — unabridged Architecture for the Waveland Business Center. Client: City of Waveland

Citation — WFT Architects, P.A. for the Medgar Evers House Museum rehabilitation. Client: Tougaloo College

Citation — WFT Architects, P.A. for the exterior rehabilitation of the John W. Boddie House (The Mansion), Phase II. Client: Tougaloo College

Citation — Carl Small Town Center for the Baptist Town Master Plan. Client: Greenwood Leflore Carroll Economic Development Foundation

Citation — Belinda Stewart Architects, P.A. for the Delta Blues Museum Muddy Waters addition. Client: Delta Blues Museum

5

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

Website: www.msbusiness.com October 17, 2014 Volume 36, Number 42

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

MBJPERSPECTIVE October 17, 2014 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

OTHER VIEWS

Kindergarten attendance needs greater attention

M

ississippi in 1982 became the next-to-last state in the nation to require local public school districts to offer kindergarten classes. It was the biggest piece of the historic Education Reform Act, passed in a special legislative session at the urging of then-Gov. William Winter.

One of the political tradeoffs was not to make attendance mandatory. School districts would have to offer kindergarten, but parents would not be required to send their children.

A lot about kindergarten has changed since 1982.

Back then, there was ample evidence that activities long associated with kindergarten – developing pre-academic social skills, for example – were important to prepare a

child for first grade. But today, the academic stakes are much higher.

In Mississippi, new higher standards for student achievement have made kindergarten essential for children to be successful in the critical early years of school.

As a two-day series of articles in the Daily Journal done in collaboration with The Hechinger Report has outlined, Mississippi students who have completed kindergarten are expected to count to 100, write numerals from 1 to 20 and write complete sentences by the end of the year.

Yet kindergarten attendance is the lowest of all K-8 grades statewide. If children do not attend kindergarten at all, or miss lots of days or hours of instruction, they will enter first grade at a distinct disadvantage and at much higher risk of falling behind in school. That in turn leads

to a higher likelihood they will eventually drop out of school. The problem is aggravated by Mississippi’s lack of a viable statewide pre-k program.

Some of the problem is that parents’ understanding of the importance of kindergarten hasn’t caught up with the reality, and they see missing a day or part of the day as no big deal.

School districts can work to change that perception and emphasize the importance of kindergarten attendance, but until the state has made enrollment a requirement the message will not be as strong nor enforcement as likely. The Legislature took a step in the right direction See VIEWS, Page 7

BOBBY HARRISON Contributing Writer mbj@msbusiness.com • 364-1018 TAMI JONES Advertising Director tami.jones@msbusiness.com • 364-1011

» THE OUTSIDE WORLD

» CAPITOL NOTEBOOK

Complexities in election challenge

MELISSA KILLINGSWORTH Sr. Account Executive

melissa.harrison@msbusiness.com • 364-1030 VIRGINIA HODGES Account Executive virginia.hodges@msbusiness.com • 364-1012

T

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

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

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

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

he decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court rendered in the McDaniel vs.

Cochran case will have long-lasting implications that could impact future elections.

The Supreme Court is weighing whether Chris McDaniel’s challenge of his election loss to sixterm incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in the June 24 Republican primary runoff should be dismissed because he waited too late to file it.

As so often is the case in legal disputes, it could be argued that the laws passed by the Legislature dealing with this issue are confusing and ambiguous. A reasonable argument could be made on either side of the issue.

But from a public policy perspective, it appears that Cochran is arguing through his attorneys Bobby Harrison that a candidate for a local election, such as for constable, should have more time to decide to challenge the results than a candidate for a statewide office, such as for governor or U.S. senator.

Cochran argues that state law gives all candidates – whether for governor or senator or for constable – 20 days from the date of the election to challenge the results. But within that 20-day window state law also gives local candidates 12 days from the time the election is finalized or certified to examine the poll books and other election materials to determine whether a challenge is warranted.

The section of law dealing with multi-county challenges does not contain the same 20-day timeframe.

But Cochran argues that when the sections of law are taken as a whole, based in large part on a 1958 Supreme Court ruling, the same 20-day deadline to file a challenge applies to all elections.

See HARRISON, Page 7

PERSPECTIVE

October 17, 2014 I Mississippi Business Journal

HARRISON

» RICKY NOBILE

»INSIDE MISSISSIPPI

Carpe Diem — It’s time

S

eize the day! Carpe diem in Latin.

That is what Mississippi’s two SEC schools have done thus far this football season, and it is a terrific story! Regardless of whether you supportState or Ole Miss, it is hard not to be proud of each.

Both schools have put on outstanding performances, and both have been very positively portrayed nationally. To think that State could be No. 1 in the nation (or Ole Miss No. 3) boggles the mind.

However, excellent leadership and a strong vision permeate both programs. Those two traits are essential to any successful endeavor, and our teams are the living proof.

So, what does this have to do with taxes – the usual topic of this column? Well, actually, everything….

Let’s start with Washington.

As has been discussed previously, there are a number of key federal tax law provisions that thousands of Mississippi individuals and businesses rely upon which expired at the end of 2013. These include various individual deductions, plus provisions that allow businesses to write off asset purchases more quickly. Other important items provide tax credits for innovative research being done by myriad Mississippi companies and to encourage hiring of more employees by Mississippi employers.

Not knowing the future of these provisions makes it more difficult to plan expansions and hiring.

If the politicians in Washington on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue had the same level of leadership and vision around growing our economy and stimulating employment that Dan Mullen and Hugh Freeze are showing in creating championship caliber football programs, the economy would be growing exponentially and there would be full employment.

They would seize the day.

Instead, both political sides have stated that there may not even be a deal on these matters after the election. If that is the John D. Scott case, a new Congress in 2015 would have to re-introduce and re-pass all these provisions from scratch and make them retroactive to the beginning of 2014 – 13 or 14 months late.

This is the height of irresponsibility, and most definitely not in the spirit of carpe diem.

So, let’s contrast this with Jackson.

The state has filled its rainy day fund. Revenue projections are running ahead of budget. Now, through the leadership of Gov. Bryant, Lt. Gov. Reeves and Speaker (Philip) Gunn, our elected officials are looking at ways to return tax dollars to hard-working Mississippians.

A tax cut, particularly targeted at lower-income wage earners and self-employed workers, is under consideration. This could most easily be accomplished through an increase in the standard deduction up to certain income levels. Or, if properly designed, the Democrat proposal to reduce the sales tax rate on groceries could be appealing.

In any event, these ideas are currently being studied proactively for the 2015 Legislative Session, as they should be. That is leadership and vision.

Seize the day! We get it around here. It must be a Mississippi thing – just like the top of the football polls. » John Scott, CPA, is a tax partner at HORNE LLP and has more than 25 years of public accounting.

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Continued from Page 6

The county election committee in general elections or the local party executive committee in primaries meets fairly quickly to determine and announce the winner, setting in motion the 12-day period to examine the election material for the losing candidate to determine whether a challenge has merit.

But in multi-county elections in party primaries, the results are sent to the state executive committee, which has 10 days to declare a winner. The Mississippi Republican Party Executive Committee announced final results of the June 24 McDaniel-Cochran runoff election on July 7 since holidays and weekends extended the 10-day period.

The McDaniel campaign began its 12-day in depth examination of the election material after the final results on July 7 were announced by the state Executive Committee.

The McDaniel campaign reasoned that the 12-day timeframe to examine the election material would not commence until the state Executive Committee announced the final results because until then it was not clear what the final results were going to be. While state law says that in single county elections there is a 12-day deadline to examine the election material after the county committee certifies a winner, the law appears to be silent on when the 12-day time period begins in multi-county election..

But if it begins after the results are totaled from all of the counties, as McDaniel assumed, then he had far less time to decide whether there was enough concerns statewide to challenge an election than would a constable candidate or any other local candidate. Because, remember, the state Executive Committee did not even certify the results until July 7 – 13 days after the election, counting weekends and holidays.

To give more time to local candidates than statewide candidates appears to be questionable public policy and a lack of common sense.

Of course, the Legislature has a long history of creating bad public policy that often lacks any semblance of common sense. And granted, the court’s job is not to make public policy, but to interpret what the Legislature was trying to do.

In this particular case, good legal arguments – not public policy arguments – can be made on both sides.

And while many might argue that McDaniel’’s overall election challenge – regardless of the timeliness issue – is without merit, that is not what the Supreme Court is deciding.

What the Supreme Court is deciding could impact some future statewide election separated by handful of votes – perhaps less than 100 – where there are complicated issues that might take a while to sort through.

What the Supreme Court decides in the McDaniel contest could shorten the time to work through those issues in some future nail-biter of an election.

Contact Bobby Harrison at bobby.harrison@journalinc.com or call (601) 946-9931.

VIEWS

Continued from Page 6

two years ago when it changed the law to require attendance by those kindergarten students whose parents choose to enroll them. But it still doesn’t make such enrollment mandatory.

Making kindergarten — public or private — part of the state’s compulsory school attendance law isn’t something legislative leaders appear ready to do. But given the stakes, mandatory kindergarten enrollment could be an important tool to aid in the success of Mississippi students, too many of whom begin school behind and never catch up.

— Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

8 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17 2014 TRANSPORTATION

Jackson’s airport raising fees, cutting budget to offset loss of Southwest revenue » Spending trimmed by nearly $1.5M in anticipation of nearly 100,000 fewer passengers in fiscal 2015

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Both airlines and travelers began paying more Oct. 1 to use Jackson Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.

Travelers and visitors must pay 50 cents a day more to park in all but the long-term lot. The garage rate has risen to a maximum of $15.50 a day and the surface rate to $13.50.

Meanwhile, air carriers are paying 28 cents more per 1,000 pounds in landing fees, with the rate going from $2.71 to $2.99. As recently as 2013, while Southwest Airlines was still among the airport’s carriers, landing fees totaled $1.99 per 1,000 pounds.

Consecutive increases in January and April of this year brought those landing fees to $2.35 by April 30. The Jackson Municipal Airport Authority board increased the fees to offset the anticipated loss of Southwest Airlines, which ceased service in Jackson in early June.

The Authority budget projects the increased landing fees will generate an additional $137,000, an amount that falls short of offsetting the $426,000 in fees lost through Southwest’s shutdown of Jackson service.

In all, airport budget writers expect aviation-related revenue of slightly over $6 million. They estimate last fiscal year's aviation revenue totaled about $6.7 million.

Not everything is going up at the city-owned airport, however. The fiscal 2015 budget that went into effect Oct. 1 has no increase on rental car fees. Further, airport tenants will pay less in terminal rents, with the square-foot price dropping from $77.89 to $77.13.

Under pressure to trim operating costs in order to regain a more favorable credit rating from Fitch Ratings Service, the Airport Authority board cut the operating budget by nearly $1.4 million, reducing expenditures from $17.5 million to $16.2 million. “Building repairs, legal costs for arbitration and security provided at airfield gates in fiscal 2014 will not occur in fiscal 2015,” Airport Authority spokesman Gene Moore said in detailing the spending reductions.

Moore declined to make either COO Bonnie Wilson or CFO Gary Cohen available for interviews for this report.

Fitch Rating Service’s downgrading of $39.4 million of Airport Authority revenue bonds has forced a delay of security checkpoint upgrades and improvements to the terminal building at Jackson Wiley Medgar Evers International. Dirk Vanderleest, who retired as Authority CEO at the end of September, said last January that the borrowing could prove too expensive without restoration of the A- rating from Fitch.

In the same interview and in interviews that followed, Vanderleest said the drop to BBB+ came largely from Southwest Airlines’ decision to stop nearly two decades of service. Fitch predicted the loss of the airport’s secondlargest carrier would likely lead to “measurable and potentially permanent declines in the airport’s small

GRANT REJECTION GROUNDS PROSPECTS FOR JACKSON-ORLANDO SERVICE

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com Federal transportation officials have dashed for the time being hopes for a restart of direct air service from Jackson Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport to Orlando, Florida.

The U.S. Department of Transportation left Jackson off a recent list of winners of Small Community Air Service Development Program grants, according to Jackson Municipal Airport Authority spokesman Gene Moore. Jackson Evers International had sought $200,000 to help establish direct service through Allegiant Airlines from Jackson to Orlando/Sanford International, a small commercial airport about 20 miles from Orlando.

Jackson lost the non-stop service when Southwest Airlines ceased operations at the airport in early June.

Even with the DOT grant, the airport would have faced a challenge getting a deal with Allegiant, an ultra-low cost carrier based in Las Vegas.

Allegiant had insisted it wanted significant incentives and concessions from the airport as a way to maintain its inexpensive ticket pricing. In exchange, the airline would provide twice weekly direct service to and from Orlando/Sanford International.

Allegiant keeps it fare ultra-low across the 96 airports it serves and would not set higher fares as a way to remain in Jackson after the grant expires, Allegiant spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler said in a July interview.

“Our business is focused on very low costs and very low fares,” she said. “We need the airport as a partner in helping to keep our costs down.”

The loss of Southwest Airlines and its annual $800,000 in revenues to Jackson-Evers led the airport to raise fees to carriers twice in the first few months of this year. A third increase went into effect on Oct. 1.

Airport Authority staff had been confident it getting the DOT grant, after having previously received the grant to establish service to New York City.

“Buildingrepairs,legal costsforarbitrationand securityprovidedatairfield gatesinfiscal2014willnot occurinfiscal2015.”

Gene Moore Airport Authority spokesperson

enplanement base.”

The Airport Authority expects a dramatic drop in enplanements in fiscal 2015. It expects an enplanement total for fiscal 2014 of 552,175 passengers to fall to 464,771 in fiscal 2015, according to the Authority's new budget.

As a gauge of the steep decline brought by the loss of Southwest, Medgar Wiley Evers International had enplanements of 604,789 as recently as fiscal 2013.

Passenger declines can severely damage airport revenues by causing the loss of dollars from non-airline sources such as parking and rental car activities — both of which account for much of the airport’s revenues.

Nearly two-thirds of the Authority’s fiscal 2013 operating revenues of $17.6 million came from non-airline sources. Parking revenues alone counted for about $6.1 million, Fitch said in a report last year detailing the ratings downgrade.

The new budget projects that reduced passenger counts will cause parking lot fees to decline by $545,000, an amount that includes the 50 cents increase in parking for the garage and surface lots.

Fewer passengers also mean less money from rental car fees in the new fiscal year. The budget projects a drop of $199,000 in the fees.

In all, the new budget projects non-aviation revenue to account for 47 percent of total revenue at $7.6 million.

Vanderleest said in the January interview the $39 million bond issue would need to be delayed at least one year to keep the debt off the airport’s books until after Fitch reassesses the airport's credit worthiness.

The Authority planned to use the $39 million for security and terminal improvements as well as a rental car “turnaround” facility. The projects are part of the airport’s $88 million five-year capital improvement plan.

The capital expenditure's portion of the new budget allocates $1 million toward the $9 million quick turnaround facility. Rental car companies will use the compound for vehicle cleanings and routine maintenance.

The 2015 capital budget also includes $502,630 for pole lighting and $450,000 for roadway signage.

While revenue and passenger counts are declining, the amount of money commercial air carriers are paying per passenger at Medgar Evers International is on the rise. Fiscal 2013 showed a per-passenger cost of $9.53. The Authority budget estimates that cost rose to $10.58 in fiscal 2014 and will climb to $11.38 in the new fiscal year. The $11.38 is still below the national average of $11.99, a figure based on rating agency information and various airport Bond Official Statements.

Despite challenges with lower passenger counts causing across-the-board declines in revenue, the airport still estimates operating income will exceed operating expenses by $3,073,530. The budget estimates that last fiscal year's operating income totaled $3,259,783.

Here are some other highlights of the Airport Authority's new budget: >>> Concession revenues are projected to drop by a little more than $200,000, going from $2.6 million to $2.4 million. >>>Employee salaries are projected to decline by $159,000, along with a drop of nearly $50,000 in employee medical and other benefits. The Airport Authority pays 100 percent of employee medical insurance costs and 50 percent of costs for dependents. >>>Landscaping will cost $85,255 compared to $60,910 last year. >>>Travel for Airport Authority board members will jump from $80,495 in the old budget to $112,153 in the new budget. Their meal money will stay the same, however, at $4,481.

October 17 2014

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Mississippi Business Journal

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Jackson joins other cities set to ride wave of lightning speed into tomorrow » C Spire’s one gigabit broadband can create ‘new economic reality,’ Chamber chief says

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Thanks to C Spire’s extensive fiber-optic network, Mississippi may be about to wave goodbye to a long-held reputation for letting things happen in their own sweet time.

You likely won’t hear about people doing something in a “Mississippi Minute,” but you will hear about Mississippi being home to some of the fastest broadband speeds on the planet.

Change has been in motion for the better part of a year as Ridgeland’s C Spire progresses in its effort to bring one gigabit Internet service to the Magnolia State’s homes and businesses.

The regional telecommunications company has a roster of selected cities for its next-generation Internet service that includes Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Horn Lake, McComb, Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville.

Jackson became the newest entry last Thursday, with a kick-off at the Jackson Convention Complex. With Jackson, C Spire is initiating what it calls a “consumer-inspired” strategy by which it says it can help neighborhoods qualify sooner for the 100-times-faster Internet access and related digital HD TV and home phone services.

One-hundred times faster means just what it says, according to C Spire: 100 times as fast as the average connection speed in the United States, which Internet company Akamai Technologies put at about 10

FOOTBALL

Continued from Page 1

— the Auburn Tigers — spends $36.3 million a year on football.

MSU? It comes in number 58th among power conference teams with an annual expenditure of $15.3 million.

That school up north — Ole Miss — spends substantially more at $25.2 million, according to data the The Wall Street Journal gathered from the U.S. Department of Education.

Mississippi State ascended to the top of the polls Sunday for the first time in school history, leapfrogging previously top-ranked Florida State and separating itself from No. 3 Ole Miss on the strength of its 38-23 home win over then-No. 2 Auburn, which kept the Bulldogs undefeated this season and in line for a College Football Playoff spot.

megabits per second.

It’s a speed the New York Times says can allow the download of 612 kitten photos in about two-and-a-half minutes.

C Spire’s goal is to get sufficient numbers of Jackson residents in a neighborhood to pre-register with a refundable $10 deposit.

Online pre-registration for the services began in Jackson last month at www.cspire.com/jackson. Several hundred residents throughout the city already have done the pre-registering, C Spire executives said at the kick-off announcement last week.

Along with the grassroots campaign, the signup effort will feature billboards, radio and print advertising, direct mail, building and bus wraps, street teams and sponsorship of high-profile events.

Jackson neighborhoods that reach signup levels set by C Spire will be the first to get the new generation of fiber services, the company says.

With Clinton and Ridgeland already among the cities designated for the one gigabit service, Metro Jackson and its businesses stand to gain a significant economic development asset, said Duane O’Neill, president & CEO of the 2,100-member Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership.

O’Neill, among the speakers at the campaign announcement, said the gigabit infrastructure will help attract new businesses and business investments to the metropolitan area “Gigabit infrastructure can create a new economic reality for the city of Jackson,” O’Neill said. “In the handful of U.S. cities where this infrastructure is deployed and widely available, it has generated thousands of jobs, millions of dollars of new investment, boosted home values and improved the overall quality of life.”

As CEO of Innovate Mississippi, Tony

Jeff has thought plenty about how the arrival of one gigabit broadband will change business in Mississippi. Still, he has difficulty grasping the immensity of the impact, he said in email this week.

It “is such a large capacity that it’s hard to even predict what future applications and technologies will be developed to take advantage of it,” said Jeff, whose organization seeks to drive innovation and technologybased economic development for the state, particularly through assisting innovationbased startup companies and connecting entrepreneurs with investors.

Here are some of the impacts Jeff said he thinks will be felt almost immediately: » 4K/Ultra-High Definition through streaming is an immediate “killer app” since questions on how 4K/UHD programming can be delivered have somewhat slowed the growth of the format. » The “Internet of things.” As more and more home devices are connected to the Internet and their video and data capabilities grow, fiber to the home is going to greatly increase their value and use. This also greatly increases the opportunities for companies to develop solutions to take advantage of the bandwidth available. This is also likely to affect home security significantly since the expectation may soon be that anyone approaching a home will expect that they are being video taped – probably from multiple angles. This obviously has privacy concerns as well, though, so homeowners will be looking for solutions that give them security and privacy. » Home is faster than work. The whole idea of “Cyber Monday” was that people waited until they got back to their broadband connections at the office to place orders the weekend after Thanksgiving.

That entire idea is turned on its head when

The WSJ calls Mississippi State's status atop college football “a remarkable twist” for a school whose lone Southeastern Conference championship came all the way back in 1941. But it isn’t just the school’s history that distinguishes Mississippi State’s climb. What makes it so unlikely today is that the Bulldogs are winning on a budget, The WSJ notes.

The $15.3 million Mississippi State spent on football in fiscal 2013 makes it thriftier than every SEC member and all but seven of the 65 schools in the five richest conferences (including independent Notre Dame), according to The WSJ. Alabama, which hosts Mississippi State on Nov. 15 in the Bulldogs’ next matchup with a currently ranked team, spent $41.5 million on football expenses. It allocates almost as much for coaches’ salaries ($11.8 million) as Mississippi State does for its entire football program.

people have faster connections at home than at work. » Another big advantage: Many employees can work from home and have nearly real-world work experiences. This will enable people to live far from their work locations even better than today without affecting the quality of their work. » Access to any type of education is now available anywhere that you can get good broadband, but the quality of the experience is greatly enhanced with higher bandwidths and more immersive experiences.

Jeff said he can’t emphasize enough how little anyone knows about what will be invented yet. “So this is the Wild Wild West again like what we saw with cell phone functionality 7-8 years ago,” he said.

Atlanta telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said he thinks C Spire’s new generation of Internet speeds will let Mississippi “ride the wave of lightening speed into tomorrow.”

Cities that have this, he said, will be able to attract new businesses and keep the ones they have. “It is true that companies will take better advantage of this than will individuals,” he said.

Google has initiated the one gig fiber service in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., Austin, Tex., and Provo, Utah.

The Internet giant is also in talks with nine other metro areas, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Portland, Ore., Chattanooga, Tenn., and several other cities that have fiber networks of their own, not connected with Google, the New York Times reported in a Sept. 6 article.

The Times’ article speculated that the true take-off for one-gigabit speed must await creation of applications that can make worthwhile use of it. In truth, the Times’ article said, Google’s one gig speed is so fast, it is hard to know what to do with it.

Kagan advises the payoff will come with patience. “You have to build the road before the trucks can drive on it,” he said.

But once the road is built, Kagan added, the companies that venture onto it “will look at themselves and say, ‘We’re doing business.’”

Associated Press

Mississippi State fans cheer in the first half of their NCAA college football game against Auburn in Starkville, Oct 11. No. 3 Mississippi State beat No. 2 Auburn 38-23 enroute to become ranked No. 1.

10 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17, 2014 DOWNTOWN JACKSON

Kellogg Foundation commits $2.3 million to Civil Rights Museum

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Tuesday received a commitment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for a $2.3 million endowment.

The endowment will go toward the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s development of educational programs for the Civil Rights Museum.

The $2.3 million will fund a partnership between Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation and the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute.

The Civil Rights Museum will educate visitors about the struggle for civil rights and provide a venue where visitors may come together to engage in public dialogue and programs that foster reconciliation and promote healing, said the Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg Foundation in its announcement.

The museum endowment will fund numerous educational initiatives in the lead-up to and after the opening of the museum, including: ·Summer teacher training programs and school workshops to prepare educators to teach an expanded civil rights curriculum and utilize the resources of the museum. ·Digitizing important historical documents from the Evers collection to be housed at the museum for use by scholars, teachers and students. · Supporting the Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series throughout the state to engage communities in the museum’s programs.

Foundation President &CEO La June Montgomery Tabron said the endowment is recognition that understanding that racial equity and healing are essential “if we are going to accomplish our mission to support children, families and communities in Mississippi.

“The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will help us all take an honest look at the past in a state that was, in so many ways, the epicenter of this struggle in our county. It’s important to heal the wounds of the past, so

In total, The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum complex in downtown Jackson will encompass more than 300,000 square feet. The target completion for the museum’s shell is May 2015. that we can move forward together and put racism behind us for good.”

Mississippi is one of four priority places in the United States for the foundation – along with the city of New Orleans and the states of Michigan and New Mexico. The foundation’s endowment to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum comes one year after the foundation committed grants to 25 organizations across the state whose work focuses on setting Mississippi’s young men of color on a path to success.

That $3.8 million initiative is designed to help young men of color in

WORK SAFETY

SPORTS BIZ

BASS returning to Barnett JACKSON — The Ross Barnett Reservoir will be the first stop on the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society's Central Open Series in 2015.

The tournament dates are March 12-14 and the event is expected to draw in excess of 300 professional anglers and amateurs.

A Bassmasters tournament was held the Barnett Reservoir in 2013.

BASS officials say the Barnett Reservoir has a long history with the organization including a 1978 Bassmaster Classic won by Bobby Murray and most recently, Randall Tharp won the 2013 Central Open 3.

LOUISIANA

Oyster season delayed BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is delaying the oyster season in part of the public seed grounds to protect recently settled tiny oysters called "spat."

The area is east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, including Lake Borgne and Mississippi Sound. The season was originally scheduled to open there Oct. 20.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

OSHA cites Fulton lumber company for violations FULTON — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Graham Lumber Co. in Fulton for two safety violations following the April death of a worker who got entangled in a conveyor belt.

OSHA says in a news release the worker, employed at the company for less than two weeks, was cleaning up sawdust and bark around an unguarded conveyor when the entanglement occurred.

OSHA says a safety guard, which had been removed, had not been replaced immediately.

OSHA has proposed penalties of $75,610. The company has 15 days to appeal.

Graham Lumber is a subsidiary of Waynesboro, Virginia-based American Hardwood Industries, which operates two other sawmills in Linden and Selmer, Tennessee. The company mills hardwood lumber primarily for the flooring industry.

The company employs 26 workers at the Fulton mill.

DEEPWATER HORIZON FALLOUT

Treasury OKs rule for dividing oil spill money GULF COAST — The U.S. Treasury Department says it has cleared the way for Gulf Coast state and

Mississippi by building a comprehensive network of support from birth into adulthood, developing their educational, emotional, physical and economic potential.

The Civil Rights Museum and an adjoining Mississippi History Museum are expected to open in 2017, the bicentennial of statehood.The museums, situated between North and Jefferson streets, have been under construction since last fall.

local governments to begin applying for recovery grants through a federal RESTORE Act trust fund fed with civil penalties arising from the 2010 BP oil spill.

A department statement says that, so far, the trust fund has $653 million. That figure is expected to grow by billions.

Under rules finalized today, 35 percent of the Gulf Restoration Trust Fund will be divided equally among Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas state governments and a group of 23 Florida counties.

The federal Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council will use 30 percent for restoration and will distribute another 30 percent to the states. The remaining 5 percent is marked for research programs and monitoring.

WARREN COUNTY

ERGON to spend $150M to expand refinery VICKSBURG — Ergon Inc. says it will spend $150 million to expand its Vicksburg refinery.

The Flowood-based private company said yesterday that it would enhance parts of the refinery and expand its tank farm. It said the changes, in addition to allowing it to make more products, would allow Ergon to feed the refinery with more kinds of crude oil.

“These investments will allow Ergon to further diversify its product portfolio,” Don Davis, president

of Ergon Refining Inc., said in a statement.

The Vicksburg refinery produces base oils used in industrial lubricants, tires, grease, chemical processing, metalworking fluids and hydraulic fracturing oils.

Controlled by the Lampton family, Ergon spent $250 million on expansion in Vicksburg in 2009.

The company, which Forbes estimates has $3.8 billion a year in revenue, also owns an ethanol plant and towboat company in Vicksburg, with more than 250 employees there. It’s not clear if the expansion will create any jobs. Ergon did not respond to requests for comment Monday and Tuesday.

Ergon is also expanding its other refinery in Newell, West Virginia, and says it has spent $600 million on the two refineries over the past 10 years.

The company sells the products of the two refineries worldwide.

EDUCATION

Louisiana official chosen as charter school director JACKSON — An employee who leads charter schools in Louisiana has been hired as executive director of the new Charter School Authorizer Board in Mississippi.

Officials said today that Marian Schutte (SHEDdy), of New Orleans, will begin her $95,000-a-year Mississippi job on Nov. 3.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

October 17, 2014

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Laurel hopes to restore steam locomotive LAUREL — The city of Laurel is asking the Mississippi Department of Transportation for money to restore a steam locomotive now located at Daphne Park.

The Chronicle reports grant writer Whitney Pickering told city council members this week that the steam engine dates back to 1916 and was once used by the Illinois Central Railroad.

Masonite Corporation reportedly purchased it in the 1940s and it was donated to the Junior Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s.

Officials say the restoration of the train would be a cost to the city but the grant could be used for the construction of a shed to cover the steam engine.

The locomotive is 16 feet wide, 66 feet long and the proposed shed would be 30 feet wide and 80 feet long.

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ADVERTISING

City of Columbus may lift billboard ban COLUMBUS — The Columbus City Council may allow billboards along U.S. Highway 45 North and portions of Mississippi Highway 182.

The change, if adopted, would lift a billboard ban in effect in the city limits of Columbus for 14 years.

The Commercial Dispatch reports the changes would come to areas in the city zoned Highway Commercial. It would include all property in those zones, city-owned or otherwise.

The council is expected to take up the rules Oct. 21.

City Attorney Jeff Turnage said Leonard Busby, owner of a digital billboard company in Laurel, is asking for the change. Busby has a digital billboard near Lion Hills Golf Club and hopes to place more around the city, Turnage said.

Councilman Charlie Box suggested that allowing billboards in the city that were not already grandfathered in before the ban may distract drivers.

"Why do we need a bunch of those signs stuck up all over town?" Box said. "We've had a sign ordinance for a long while and it seems to be working pretty good. Those signs give off a lot of light. It looks to me like they would distract drivers and may even be a safety hazard."

The proposal before the council would put in place 11 regulations for parties interested in erecting billboards in permitted areas.

On-premise billboards, or signs advertising services provided on the property where the sign is, are permitted. The exemption would allow for off-

premise billboard advertising, most typically largeformat sign advertising.

The billboards could not be placed closer than 1,000 feet within each other in any direction and can be a maximum of two single-sided panels or one double-sided panel.

The sign itself could not be bigger than 400 square feet and couldn't be closer than 50 feet from the right of way of any public street. It could not be more than 40 feet above the road and couldn't have beacons, banners or similar features.

Digital billboards would be allowed as long as the message doesn't change more than once every eight seconds.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

GULF COAST

GOVERNMENT

More construction on the way in D’iberville

Bryant hires former MDEQ director

LEGAL

Murder-for-hire cases will take time to sift through GREENWOOD — Leflore County prosecutors are planning trials for two men allegedly involved in a Greenwood doctor's murder-for-hire scheme.

A judge ruled last week that Dr. Arnold Smith, a Greenwood oncologist and the alleged instigator of a failed plot to kill attorney Lee Abraham, is mentally unfit for trial. Smith's case is now before a chancery judge for civil commitment proceedings.

While Smith's case was being addressed, prosecutors had delayed trials for co-defendants Cordarious Robinson and Derrick Lacy.

Assistant District Attorney Timothy Jones tells The Greenwood Commonwealth trials will likely held next year. Jones said that Lacy's attorney, Aelicia L. Thomas of Rosedale, is currently campaigning for youth court judge in Bolivar County.

"It won't be until after the first of the year," Jones said.

Prosecutors said Smith's plot that ended April 28, 2012, with the death of gunman Keaira Byrd and the serious wounding Derrick Lacy. Byrd allegedly was hired to kill Abraham, who represented Smith's exwife in their divorce years ago.

PROTESTS

Atheist group: Miss. school aided bible giveaway JACKSON An atheist group says it objects to a Mississippi principal telling fifth-grade teachers to take students through a public school lobby where Gideons were handing out Bibles.

The American Humanist Association sent a letter of complaint Tuesday to Kara Killough, principal of Northwest Rankin Elementary School in Rankin County; and other Rankin County School District officials, including Superintendent Lynn Weathersby.

The Washington-based association said the school violated the First Amendment ban on government establishment of religion by making it easy for Gideons to hand out Bibles on campus last Friday.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

D'IBERVILLE — Nearly $141 million in building permits were issued in the last fiscal year in D'Iberville and city officials say more construction is on the way.

"That's up at post-Katrina levels," Hank Rogers, the city's community development director, told The Sun Herald.

The biggest project on the list for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 is the Scarlet Pearl Casino.

Mayor Rusty Quave said work is progressing toward the opening in December 2015.

A new Coast Transit center also is under construction in that area where.

Quave said the elevation and insurance in the old town near the water has developers looking to build more multi-family, higher income housing near the casino and downtown, he said. If the city can get people back downtown, Quave said he thinks more development will follow.

Other large projects in the past year were the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Store that will open Nov. 5, the continued renovations at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, a $3.1 million city fire station, site work for Academy Sports, more stores at The Promenade, a Volkswagen dealership, a new building at Arbor View Apartments to replace the one that was destroyed by fire and 24 homes.

Construction continues on the Interstate 10-110 intersection, and Quave said crews seem to be ahead of schedule. Work will be completed next year.

People continue to shop and dine in D'Iberville, Quave said. "Even through construction, our sales tax held in there," he said.

From January to August, sales tax diversions in D'Iberville are up 2 percent from a year ago.

HANCOCK COUNTY

Will historic A&G Theater get a new role?

It’s hard to miss the for-sale sign on the old A&G

JACKSON — Gov. Phil Bryant has hired the former director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality as a consultant.

The contract with Trudy Fisher, dated Sept. 5, says she will advise the governor on energy policy, environmental and restoration policy and provide support in court cases. The agreement is good for six months and can be renewed for six months after that.

Appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour and retained by Bryant, Fisher said in May she was leaving the department to explore other career options. A lawyer who led the environmental agency for seven years, Fisher has been deeply involved in Mississippi's recovery efforts following the 2010 BP PLC Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Knox Graham, a spokesman for Bryant, said that's why the governor chose to have her keep handling those issues, including payments under the federal Natural Resources Damage Assessment process, Mississippi's legal interests against BP and the Restore Act, which is supposed to send 80 percent of pollution penalties to Gulf Coast states.

"The governor's office hired Ms. Fisher because of her unparalleled knowledge about the Restore Act and other policy issues stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident," Graham wrote in an email Tuesday. "She recently negotiated the NRDA Phase III projects that resulted in the state receiving $68 million for restoration on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The governor's office will use whatever portion of Ms. Fisher's contract is necessary to maximize Mississippi's recovery from the oil spill."

Fisher will charge $195 an hour for herself and others who help her, up to $99,000 over a year. Her work will be overseen by Bryant's chief lawyer, Bobby Waites.

The contract says Fisher can't represent legal clients in areas related to the services she's providing.

The governor's office provided a copy of the contract to The Associated Press on Monday in response to a public records request. Graham said Bryant's office didn't find any other documents relating to Fisher's hiring.

Bryant named lawyer Gary Rikard, who started work Sept. 1, to replace Fisher as director of the Department of Environmental Quality. He must be confirmed by the state Senate during the legislative session that begins in January.

— from staff and MBJ wire services Theater in downtown Bay St. Louis. The owners, the Hayden family, want serious inquiries only, and they’ve gotten a few. They’re selling the building on North Beach and a couple of adjacent lots on State Street.

Here are some facts and figures on the historic building: A&G opened April 1927. Seating capacity 1,000 people. Cost to build: $60,000-plus.

A&G named for owners Geraldine Ames and Philomene Gaspard. Two other theaters preceded it.

The first, built in 1905, was an open “air dome.”

Second theater across the street from the A&G was built by the two families in 1915.

1927 Sea Coast Echo headlines: “A&G Theater declared ‘thing of beauty and joy forever’ by public”

Sidebar: “New theater will have competent, regular organist” A&G was stabilized in 2008 after Hurricane Katrina. The project won a restoration award in 2010.

Sale price for both tracts: $1.2 million Spanish Mission-style theater has 4,800 square feet. Interior is clear, with cement floors, no interior walls and no utilities, but all utilities are available at the street.

The Hayden family said plans for use of the building by a new owner must be approved by the Bay St. Louis Historic Preservation Commission.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

AN MBJ FOCUS: HEALTH CARE RESEARCH

Fundraising for breast cancer never stops » ‘Making Strides’ event donates about $60M annually

By LISA MONTI mbj@msbusiness.com

Want more info?

HE AMERICAN Cancer Society’s fundraising efforts are among the most recognized of any nonprofit organization. The largest voluntary health organization in the country, with a network of local and regional offices, is behind the high-profile Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraiser, held in more than 300 communities.

This Saturday (Oct. 18) is the Making Strides of Harrison County-The Gulf Coast annual walk in Biloxi; next weekend (Oct. 25) is the Hinds County event at Jackson’s Thalia Mara Hall. Both are major breast cancer fundraisers and awareness raising events.

Along with the American Cancer Society, organizations including the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Susan G. Komen Texas-based nonprofit corporation and the Avon Walk Around the World for Breast Cancer are major fundraisers.

The American Cancer Society says its Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the largest network of breast cancer awareness events in the nation. Dollars raised from the noncompetitive events help the Society invest in breast cancer research and provide free information and services for women who need them, according to ACS. Since 1993, ACS said, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event has led the way in building awareness and raising money to fight breast cancer. Every year, nearly 1.2 million walkers raise more than $60 million for the American Cancer Society.

T

For information on Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, go to www.cancer.org or call 800-227-2345. It’s available 24/7.

The walk gets larger every year, said Mallory Hill, the American Cancer Society’s senior representative on the Gulf Coast, said. “It’s our only event for breast cancer,” she said. The goal is to raise $230,000. Last year the walk raised $210,000.

The fun 5K walk coveering about 3 miles is centered around Biloxi’s Town Green.

Starting at 5 a.m. on Friday (Oct. 17), volunteers will set up and decorate tents all day and take care of last minute details in preparation for the 7 a.m. registration on Saturday. The walk starts at 8 a.m.

“We are expecting 5,000 to 7,000 walkers,” Hill said. “It’s a big, big walk.”

Preparations never actually stop, she said.

“It takes 365 days to plan but we have wonderful volunteers who take all the work and run with it. It’s completely volunteer.” She said the Jackson walk is similar in size to Biloxi’s.

Walkers are about evenly divided between individuals and groups, Hill said.

“A lot of workers get together to support a co-worker and there are church groups.

Some people just come out for a fun time. It’s great to see the community really embrace this.”

New this year in Biloxi is a kid’s zone with crafts and game. There also will be a pink Corvette that participants can take their pictures with. Massages for breast cancer survivors also will be available.

Adding to the fun atmosphere are the over the top costumes and T shirts worn

Suzanne Russell profile — Page 14

just for the event. “We get men dressed in pink tutus and other funny outfits,” Hill said. “It’s so much fun.”

But behind the scenes are myriad details that have to be handled before, during and after the walks.

“We work with the local police department on finding the best route for walks and for blocking off streets,” Hill said. “Things as simple as putting signs on tents and placing port o potties.

Every little details has to be taken care of but it all comes together with the help of our volunteer committee.”

BREAST CANCER E

SEARCH THE CU

October 17, 2014 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

PROFILE: BRYNN JOACHIM

» Career attitude help to fight disease at 41

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com

K

NOWN FOR “her bubbly personality and drive” is how the bio on the website of Focus Group Advertising describes Advertising Operations Manager Brynn Joachim. Those words do aptly describe Joachim, who kept a sunny profile through previous jobs at the Harrison County Development Commission and Traditions Properties Inc. — and even when faced with dealing with advanced breast cancer at the young age of 41.

“Like most women at my age, I was totally taken by surprise by the breast cancer,” Joachim said. “I didn’t do my regular self exams. I had not had a mammogram, and had no family history. Ironically, I was home sick on Oct. 1, 2009, and was watching an Ellen DeGeneres show where she was talking about the importance of self-exams. That is when I felt the lump. I knew it wasn’t good.”

Testing revealed the lump was cancerous, and probably at stage three.

Surgery was scheduled in two weeks. The lump was too big to be a good candidate for a lumpectomy, so she decided on a mastectomy. And considering that she got the cancer at an early age when breast cancers can be very virulent and aggressive, she opted to have a double mastectomy.

“I figured if I got cancer in one breast, it was highly possible I would get it in the

CER EDITION

CH FOR CURE

other one,” Joachim said. “I didn’t want to have another surgery. To this day, that is probably the best decision I have made.”

She kept a positive attitude about facing the type of surgery that is devastating for a woman as while the surgery is necessary to save her life, it can harm her identity as a woman. She feels fortunate that she has “an amazingly supportive husband.“ “My husband never for a minute made me feel unattractive or unloved because I didn’t have boobs or hair,” Joachim said. “Another thing that helped a lot was social media because it was providing messages of support I could read when I wanted to. My Facebook pink army did nothing but try to help lift me up on bad days and share my successes when I was feeling good.

I was pretty open about what I was going through. There were photos of me when my hair was gone, and I was picking out wigs. It was part of my healing process, helping raise awareness. I could post when I wanted to. I could update my family without repeating the same thing on the phone 19 times a day. Trust me, at a certain point, you get tired of talking about being a cancer patient.”

Her oncologist recommended chemotherapy for certain, but said that radiation later on was optional. Joachim considered it insurance. She opted to do both because she didn’t want to look back and regret not doing everything possible to kill the cancer.

See

JOACHIM, Page 16

Family support and social media helped Brynn Joachim after her double mastectomy.

Courtesy of Brynn Joachim

MBJ LIST: Women’s medical care centers — Page 17

HEALTH CARE

14 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17, 2014 PROFILE: SUZANNE B. RUSSELL

The blessing of an early diagnosis » Licensed professional counselor celebrating 12 years of being cancer free

By LYNN LOFTON mbj@msbusiness.com

Licensed professional counselor Suzanne B. Russell of Jackson is celebrating 12 year as a breast cancer survivor. She’s happy to say there have been no further problems since her bilateral mastectomy on Aug. 15, 2002.

A retired teacher who now owns mindCARES counseling services, Russell was age 50, had no family history of breast cancer and no symptoms when a routine mammogram, followed by a sonogram, revealed she had estrogen-fed tumors.

“There was a suspicious spot detected by a mammogram so they performed a sonogram,” Russell said. “Sonograms cannot be used to survey the entire breast, only a small portion. When they performed the sonogram, the suspicious spot was not a problem, but they were able to detect another spot not detected by the mammogram. When the biopsy was completed, the

doctors determined the tumor was malignant.”

At the time, Russell’s daughter was expecting her first child, a daughter.

“My first reaction was shock and disbelief, along with abject fear like I had never felt,” she recalls.

“Was I going to die? Russell Would I see my granddaughter grow up?”

The next day after the diagnosis, Russell saw a surgeon who recommended that she have a lumpectomy, and referred her to a radiologist. “The radiologist advised against a lumpectomy because I had fibrocystic breast disease making any future tumors very difficult to detect,” she said. “I began researching all of the options, and I decided to return to see the surgeon with the plan for a bilateral mastectomy. My daughter was expecting her child near the end of July, so surgery was set for August 15. I did not tell

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anyone, other than my parents; I wanted the arrival of my first grandchild to be total happiness for all of us.”

Although Russell’s surgeon was firm that all she needed was a lumpectomy since she had only one small tumor in the left breast, research revealed to her that reoccurrences were most likely to be in the remaining breast. She also learned that many women who have lumpectomies later have more tumors. “Thanks be to God, I stood by my decision! I did not want my life to be an endless parade of mammograms every six months wondering if or when the tumors might reappear,” she said. “It is customary to have a pathology report after any surgery for cancer. When the surgeon received the report, he was stunned to learn that there were several malignant tumors in the right breast that were undetected by the mammogram.

“I truly believe I would not be here today if I had not had that mammogram in July of 2002. I believe that God places people in your life to help you navigate through

difficult times, and I kept hearing the words of the radiologist, ‘I would not do a lumpectomy, because I am a worry wart.’

How right he was!”

Fortunately, there was no lymph node involvement for Russell as the tumors were estrogen fed; most likely from birth control pills and estrogen replacement therapy.

Now 62, Russell feels a positive attitude and tons of support from family and friends helped her through the throes of surgery, recovery, and the years that have followed. “Also, I never lost sight of what a blessing the early diagnosis was. I was extremely fortunate to get the early diagnosis and effective treatment,” she said. “One lady friend, Johnnie Carlisle, took me to Cancun for a week during the recoup time and that certainly helped maintain a positive outlook.”

Russell’s advice to those struggling with See

RUSSELL, Page 16

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HEALTH CARE

16 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17, 2014

JOACHIM

Continued from Page 13

She took a month off between taking chemo and radiation. During that time, she sat for her real estate exam, and passed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I decided nothing was stopping me,â&#x20AC;?

Joachim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to keep on trucking with my career. I kept a positive attitude saying, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m good. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m healthy. We will get through thisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;?

Joachim has since spoken at events like those held by the American Cancer Society encouraging women to do self-exams

and get regular checkups. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You get busy in life, but your health is important,â&#x20AC;? Joachim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know that it is a cliche, but I took my health for granted. I had no idea the fact I had lost 10 to 15 pounds without doing anything different was a symptom of cancer.â&#x20AC;?

Joachim feels very fortunate to have had such a supportive employer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was out of work for six weeks, and there was no question whether I had a job to go back to,â&#x20AC;? said Joachim, who was vice president of sales and marketing at Tradi-

tion Properties Inc., the largest master planned community in the state. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They told me to just focus on getting better.â&#x20AC;?

She found the six weeks of radiation (two weeks on and two weeks off at a time) was much harder on her than the chemo. She was fatigued, and unable to work full time during that period. But she was allowed to do some work at home, and work as able while going through radiation treatments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was very blessed with an employer who gave me time to have surgery and get it treated,â&#x20AC;? Joachim said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not all women

have that benefit.â&#x20AC;?

Joachim has never felt that going through breast cancer was a black mark on her professional record. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If anything, most employers or business professionals I know have a soft spot for people who go through breast cancer,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is so personal. It is a part of the body that makes women feel feminine. Most people who knew about my situation were very respectful and supportive for what I was going through.â&#x20AC;?

RUSSELL

5

th

A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

School of Business presents

Tu esd ay, O ctober 21, 2014 8:00 amâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;3:00 pm | lunch will be served Mississippi College | Clinton Campus | Anderson Hall More info: 601.925.7749 | mcbusiness@mc.edu http://business.mc.edu/health-care-reform-summit Sponsorships oppor tunities star t at $1,000 Individual tickets $100 Hear from national, state and local leaders, including:

Gregg Harper, U.S. Representative for Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3rd Congressional District Chris Anderson, President & CEO, Mississippi Baptist Health Systems Ashley Gillihan, Attorney, Alston & Bird Jeff Styres, Senior Legal Counsel, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company Thomas Graf, MD,

Community Practice Service Presented by a Partnership between the MC School of Business, Southern Farm BureauÂŽ Life Insurance Company, Mississippi Business Group on Health, Capital Area Human Resource Association and the Mississippi Society for Human Resource Management

Continued from Page 14

breast cancer is simple. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Find a purpose for living and then live that purpose â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;all in.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Surround yourself with positive people and walk by faith, not by sight,â&#x20AC;? she said.

Devotion to family and friends has been an important purpose of Russellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life but fulfillment in her career has played a significant role in her renewed zeal for life. Since her breast cancer surgery, she completed post graduate work in counseling and became licensed as a professional counselor.

She worked for a time at St. Dominic Counseling Center until another detour in January 2009 when St Dominic downsized their behavioral health program and she was without a job. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had heard the saying that faith begins at the end of your comfort zone and after much prayer and faith, I stepped way out of my comfort zone of a predictable salary and opened a private practice on April 1, 2009,â&#x20AC;? she said.

The practice was initially called Suzanne B. Russell, LPC, but in the fall of 2013 she changed the name to mindCARES. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The first couple of years in private practice were challenging to say the least, I averaged about nine clients a week, but by the summer of 2014 that number had grown tremendously to an average of 35 clients weekly,â&#x20AC;? she said.

With another leap of faith, Russell recently expanded her practice to add two counselors, Lyn Pruitt and Anne Sinclaire, to mindCARES. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since moving to our 751 Avignon Drive location in Ridgeland, mindCARES has continued to expand services. In addition to counseling services provided during regular office hours, we offer two groups never before offered to the general public in the Jackson area,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are Overcoming Codependency for Women, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Divorcedâ&#x20AC;ŚNow What? â&#x20AC;&#x153;As part of my appreciation for the support I have received in my private practice, I am offering free Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder screening to any child or teen during the academic year of 2014-2015,â&#x20AC;?

Russell said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is estimated that a child or teen who has ADHD and is not treated misses up to 50 percent of what is presented in the classroom. More than 90 percent of youth who are treated for ADHD experience a vast improvement academically.â&#x20AC;?

WOMEN’S MEDICAL CARE CENTERS

October 17, 2014

I

Mississippi Business Journal

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17

NEWSMAKERS

18 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17, 2014

Diez replacing Travis The Mississippi World Trade Center has named Tracy Diez its new executive director. She served the MSWTC as marketing and events coordinator since joining the organization in April 2012.

Diez has 20 years of executive operational management experience in the non-profit and restaurant industries including business development, employee supervision, fiscal management, staff development, product and service rollout and project and facilities management. Before joining the MSWTC, Diez was the co-executive director of the Flowood Chamber of Commerce and district manager at Financial Management Services. She is also an active member in numerous professional, service and civic organizations, such as the Mississippi Society of Association Executives and the Mississippi Economic Development Council.

Diez holds a bachelor of science degree with an emphasis business management from the University of New Orleans and is certified in non-profit management.

Diez replaces Barbara Travis, who has retired after serving as MSWTC’s original executive director.

BancorpSouth’s Lewis to retire BancorpSouth Senior Executive Vice President Gordon Lewis is retiring effective Dec. 12. Lewis joined BancorpSouth in conjunction with the merger of First United Bancshares into BancorpSouth in 2000 where he was the regional chairman responsible for First United's banks in Texas and Louisiana.

Lewis also served as chairman, president and CEO of Fredonia State Bank in Nacogdoches, Texas, as part of the First United Bancshares senior management team. Following the merger, Lewis continued to have senior management responsibilities for BancorpSouth's Texas and Louisiana region. In 2008 he was promoted to vice chairman of the company's Community Bank Division, assuming management responsibilities for all BancorpSouth community bank locations throughout its eight-state footprint.

Lewis' management responsibilities will be distributed among several BancorpSouth executives. Chris Bagley, president and COO, will coordinate the transition of duties with James Threadgill, senior executive vice president and chief business development officer. Day-to-day management responsibilities will be assumed by Greg Ray, executive vice president and chief banking officer, and Tommy Darnell, executive vice president and chief sales officer.

Threadgill, a member of the company's sevenperson Executive Management Committee, will assume responsibility for all business development activity of the company including all product lines and business units.

Darnell will be relocating to Tupelo to assume his new role as executive vice president and chief sales officer.

McClain wins award SONIC Drive-In recently presented the Troy Smith Hall of Fame Award to franchisee Buddy McClain, chief executive officer of MVP Sonics. Named after SONIC’s founder, the Troy Smith Award is SONIC’s most prestigious award given to a franchisee that has worked with SONIC for a noteworthy duration and has made a significant contribution in terms of leadership, growth, positive influence and brand image.

HORNE promotes team members The accounting and business advisory firm HORNE LLP has made numerous promotions. Promoted team members include Lauren Welch, Dianna Broussard, Wesley Williams, David Papale, Amy Parnell, Jackie Brown, Pat Siegrist, Maliegh Ford, Nick Dubuisson, Jordan Wood, Justin Walley, Katie Barfield, Pol Steiner, Tim Hall, Brent Gay, David McClendon, Diane Laird, Renee Tabari and Hannah Lewis.

Welch was promoted to an accounting technician and is a member of the firm’s health care team in the Hattiesburg office.

Broussard, Williams and Papale were promoted to associate. Broussard is on the government services team in Biloxi.

Both based out of the Ridgeland office, Williams focuses on tax services and Papale is a member of the firm’s technology team.

Parnell, Brown, Siegrist, Ford, Dubuisson, Wood, Walley, Barfield, Steiner, Hall, Gay, McClendon, Laird, Tabari and Lewis were all promoted to senior associate. Franchise team members Parnell and Brown are both based in the Lucedale office.

Siegrist is a on the government services team in Biloxi. Ford is on the health care team in Hattiesburg.

Team members based in Ridgeland are Dubuisson (construction); Wood (assurance services); Walley (assurance services); Barfield (tax services); Steiner (assurance services), Hall (business advisory and accounting services); Gay (financial institutions); McClendon (technology); Laird (government services); Tabari (government services); and Lewis (public and middle market).

Siegrist

Steiner

Tabari

Barfield

Broussard

Brown

Dubuisson

Ford

Gay

Hall

Laird

Lewis

McClendon

Papale

Parnell

Walley

Welch

Williams

Wood

Wicks named commissioner

Council confirms appointees

Butler Snow attorney Ashley N. Wicks has been named the minority-at-large member of the board of commissioners of The Mississippi Bar. Wicks is a member of Butler Snow’s business services group and the public finance, tax incentives and credit markets group. She focuses her practice on public finance, state and local taxation and tax and estates.

Wicks earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in public administration from Jackson State University before completing her juris doctor at Tulane University and her LL.M. in taxation at the University of Alabama.

Wicks was named to the Lawyers of Color “First Annual Hot List” in 2013, and has also been named a Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Star for Tax Law. Wicks is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Capitol Area Bar Association, Jackson Young Lawyers, the Texas Bar Association, the Magnolia Bar Association (immediate past president), and serves on the board of directors for the Mental Health Association of the Capitol Area.

The Jackson City Council has confirmed Mayor Tony Yarber’s appointees to the Historic Preservation Commission, Jackson Zoo Board, Jackson School Board and a new director of Planning and Development. The mayor has appointed Eric Anthony Jefferson director of Planning and Development.

Jefferson is currently a transportation engineer and planner with Stantec Consulting. He was previously employed as the engineering manager for CivilTech Inc., where he worked as project manager and design engineer for various public works, residential, industrial, institutional, commercial and mixed use projects.

Yarber has nominated Camille Simms and Dr. Richard Lind for the school board. Lind is the residing pastor of Morning Star MB Church in Utica. He also serves as the dean of Department of Theology at New Foundation Theology Seminary. Lind is currently serving as the director of food service for Central Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Simms is the co-owner of the Royal Bleu Boutique, located on the campus of Jackson State University. She is also an independent insurance broker.

Yarber has appointed Catherine Cooper, Plavis Patterson and Dr. Virginia Cora to the Jackson Zoo

Board. Cooper is a retired Jackson Public Schools employee. She worked in the district as a vocational counselor and a guidance counselor. Patterson is the owner of a diabetic foot care facility and founder of The Polish Foundation, a nonprofit that addresses homelessness. Cora is professor emeritus, providing consultation on the graduate nursing program at the University of Mississippi School of Nursing.

Yarber has appointed Dr. George Washington, Jeffrey Seabold, Gean Tucker Johnson and Dr. Rico Chapman to the Historic Preservation Board.

Washington is retired from Jackson State University, where he once served as associate director of the Health Careers Program. Tucker is risk manager at JSU and previously worked as an underwriter for Mississippi Farm Bureau. Chapman is academic director at JSU’s Fannie Lou Hamer Institute. Seabold has a firm that specializes in a mix of commercial and residential new construction and remodel projects.

Yarber appointed Rosie Pridgen to the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority. Pridgen served in a dual role as superintendent of the Mississippi School for the Blind and interim superintendent of the Mississippi School for the Deaf from 2006 to 2009. She’s currently an education consultant.

NEWSMAKERS

October 17, 2014

I

Mississippi Business Journal

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19

Reeves relocating to Mississippi

Thompson chosen by Regions

Reeves taps Webb

Noce receives master’s degree

Tim Reeves, the editor of Selma (Alabama) Times-Journal, has been named president of Vicksburg Newsmedia, LLC and publisher of The Vicksburg Post. Reeves has served as editor of the Times-Journal since September 2010. He helped lead a newspaper redesign and the launch of a magazine. During Reeves' time as editor, the Times-Journal earned 46 editorial awards from the Alabama Press Association, including the Most Improved Newspaper award in 2011 and 2012.

Regions Bank has appointed Stacy Thompson as assistant vice president and manager of the bank's Cowan Road Branch in Gulfport.

A native of Petal, Thompson has more than 15 years of banking industry experience. She most recently served as a branch manager for BancorpSouth in Hattiesburg.

Thompson earned her business marketing degree from California Coast University. She also Thompson served for eight years in the Mississippi National Guard and attended the Mississippi School of Banking.

Thompson has served in various organizations and continues to be involved in many civic and community projects. Leadership positions include serving as past president of Petal Kiwanis, Mississippi Jump Start Coalition, Junior Achievement of Hattiesburg and member of the Area Development Partnership.

Mike Webb has been named to the board of directors of Mississippi Home Corporation (MHC). Lt. Governor Tate Reeves appointed Webb to MHC’s Tax Credit Subcommittee, and will serve a sixyear term expiring in 2020.

Webb is the CEO of Iuka-based First American National Bank, where he has been employed for 18 years. He was chosen as Mississippi’s youngest bank CEO in 2000; he also serves as chief fi- Webb nancial officer. Prior to First American, he worked for a super-regional bank in the Memphis and Tupelo areas.

Webb earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi. He furthered his banking education by completing the Southeastern School of Commercial Lending at Vanderbilt University, and he was an honor graduate of the National Graduate Commercial Lending School at the University of Oklahoma. Webb also completed courses through the Risk Management Association and the Internal Audit School through Compass Bank.

He is a former instructor for the American Institute of Banking banker training program. He has served as chairman of the Resolutions Committee for the Mississippi Bankers Association; executive board member of the Mississippi Bankers Association and delivered the results and mediated the MBA Resolutions Committee platform at the 2007 MBA Conference and Convention Center in Sandestin, Florida. He is the current chairman of the MBA Mississippi School of Banking at the University of Mississippi.

Active in the community, he is a member of the Tishomingo County Development Foundation. Webb formerly served as a director for Habitat for Humanity and as a committee member for both the United Way Campaign Corporate Division and the Yocona Boy Scouts Campaign. He is also a former education and business committee member of the Community Development Foundation of Lee County; CREATE Workforce Development and the Memphis/DeSoto County Economic Council.

Webb and his wife, the former Amy Long of Fulton, have two daughters, Isabella, 14, and Amelia, 10.

Vincent Noce, a staff member of the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, recently completed a master of arts degree in security studies at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Noce has served in various investigative and intelligence roles in government for the past 17 years, and recently served a two-year tour as director of Mississippi’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security-designated fusion center. He currently serves as a program director at state homeland security headquarters. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Marquette University and currently resides in Flowood.

During the 18-month online and in-residence program, Noce collaborated with homeland security officials from across the nation on current policy, strategy and organizational design challenges. He wrote a thesis titled “Collective Impact and its Application to the Domestic Intelligence Enterprise.”

Young named alumni director Willie James Young Jr. was recently named the new director of alumni affairs at Mississippi Valley State University. Most recently, Young has worked as the personnel director for the Greenwood Public School District, a position he held from July 2003 until June of this year.

A native of Greenwood, Young began his professional career in 1980 in Greenwood at Republic Finance Inc., where he eventually became a branch manager. In 1992, he became the owner and manager of C&W Collection Services and an independent associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services (now LegalShield) in 1998. He has worked as a lead counselor with Three Rivers Community Economic Development Corporation’s Leflore County Juvenile Report Center in 20012002 and as director of the Education and Training Institute’s Leflore County Fatherhood Initiative Program from 2002-2003. He served as head coach of the Greenwood High School baseball team during the 2003 season.

Young graduated with honors in 1980 from Mississippi Valley State University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. While at MVSU, he was captain of the MVSU baseball team and the Most Valuable Player during the 1980 season. He was also a member of Alpha Chi National Honor Society.

He has served as co-founder of the Davis School Male Mentor Program, president of the Davis School Parent Teacher Association, a member of the Greenwood Public Schools Strategic Planning Committee and coach/secretary-treasurer of the New Stone Street Baseball League. Young is a member of Salem Missionary Baptist Church, where he serves as superintendent of the Sunday school.

An avid baseball fan, Young enjoys hunting, fishing, baseball, golf and cooking in his spare time. He and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of two adult children, Courtney JeLecia and Willie III. He is the son of the late Willie J. Young Sr. and Mary Young of Greenwood.

Daniel Coker adds attorneys The law firm of Daniel Coker Horton & Bell, P.A. has added three new attorneys. Marcus A. Williams is now practicing in the firm’s Jackson office. Williams earned a B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 2010 and a J.D. from the UM School of Law (cum laude) in 2014.

Philip M. Levy, who practices in the Oxford office, earned a B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 2001, an M.A. from UM in 2003 and a J.D. from the UM School of Law in 2011.

Emily H. Wilkins received her B.A. in accountancy from University of Mississippi (cum laude) in 2006, M.A. in taxation from UM in 2007 and a J.D. from the UM School of Law (cum laude) in 2014.

Wilkins, who is based in the firm’s Jackson office, received her CPA from the state of Mississippi in 2009.

Community Bank welcomes Dubois Shane’ E. Dubois has joined Community Bank in the Flowood office as a vice president. Dubois was previously employed at another local bank as a vice president and branch manager with over 19 years of experience.

Dubois, a Jackson native, resides in Rankin County with her husband, Flowood native Dan Dubois, and their two children, Danielle and Landon.

Active in the community, Dubois Dubois serves on the board of directors for the Flowood Chamber of Commerce and is the chairman of the Flowood Referral Networking Group. She was also selected to the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 50 Businesswomen in Mississippi for 2014.

Realtors chooses Wingard Central Mississippi Realtors has selected Nita Wingard as its first director of communications and public relations. Wingard began her career in marketing and community support at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Institute for Disability Studies.

She has previously worked in various capacities of non-profit organizations over the past seven years including roles such as housing resource specialist, Wingard community outreach coordinator and marketing specialist.

Wingard is a native of Jackson and earned her B.A. in mass communication and journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2006. She holds an MBA from South University.

Mooney earns recognition Jay Mooney, Liberty Mutual Insurance’s territory manager of Mississippi, has been named the 2013 Territory Manager of the Year for the Southeast Region of Business Insurance. Mooney graduated from Mississippi College with a bachelor of science in business administration in 2006 and an MBA in 2008.

TEC chooses McClellan TEC has appointed Randy McClellan as account executive in the Sales Department at TEC of Jackson Inc. McClellan received a bachelor of business administration from University of Mississippi and a masters of religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He brings with him several years of experience in the telecommunications industry.

McClellan currently resides in Brandon with his family.

MSH honors employees Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) recently honored employees with anniversaries for their years of service to the hospital. Service award recipients include: Dehrun Lyons of Jackson, 10 years; Lula Green of Jackson, one year; Lora Bodker of Brandon, 15 years; Lilly Blackwell of Whitfield, 50 years; Gary Strehlow of Crystal Springs, 15 years; Donnie Sanders of Jackson, one year; Jena Thomas of Natchez, one year; Rokeiya Adams of Crystal Springs, one year; Carey Styles of Jackson, one year; Lakeita Berry of Jackson, 15 years; Trese Evans of Jackson, five years; Danny McClung of Brandon, one year; and Dewayne West of Bolton, one year.

Firm welcomes Spearman, Rhea

Barnes tapped for program

Andrew Spearman and Ryan Rhea have joined Nail McKinney Professional Association as staff accountants. Spearman is a native of Tupelo and a 2014 graduate of Mississippi State University with a master of taxation. He has passed all parts of the CPA exam and is working out of the firm’s Tupelo office.

Rhea, also a native of Tupelo and a 2014 graduate of Mississippi State University with a master of professional accountancy, has passed all parts of the CPA exam. He is working out of the firm’s New Albany office.

Raymunda Barnes has been selected to participate in the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program along with 17 other professional and civic leaders throughout the state. Barnes is assistant vice president at Pearl River Community College’s Hancock Center in Waveland.

Barnes has been at the Hancock Center since 2007, serving as lead instructor for four years after teaching at the Gulfport Job Barnes Corps Center and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He was named director in 2011 and assistant vice president a year ago.

Spearman

Rhea

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

20 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17 2014

OUR TEAM HAS EXPANDED. SO HAS OUR EXPERIENCE. Butler Snow welcomes new additions to our team.

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Clay W. Escude, Joshua A. Hill, La’Toyia J. Slay, and Phillip S. Sykes are licensed to practice in Mississippi. Adam M. Langley is licensed to practice in Tennessee. Sessions Ault Hootsell III is licensed to practice in Louisiana and Texas. Jessica F. Nwokocha and Caitlyn T. Smith are licensed to practice in Louisiana and Texas. No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

This ad has been authorized by Donald Clark, Jr., Chairman, Butler Snow. 1020 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, MS 39157.

»FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

Raising the Walls: Habitat’s latest Build (and Homeowner)

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arolyn Madlock, 37, and her son Jimmy, 11, are excited about the prospects of moving into their own home soon, thanks to the folks at Habitat for Humanity / Mississippi Capital Area.

We talked with Carolyn recently about her new home, and how the process works.

She has worked for St. Dominic’s since she was 17 years old, working her way up from the patient tray line to cafeteria food service, and now serves as a cafeteria food service supervisor.

Carolyn has never had a home of her own, and has lived with her mother and father for her entire life, as has her son. Carolyn said that “things are pretty crowded” in her parents’ home, and she is “truly excited” about the prospect of being able to move into her own space.

She has always loved working at St. Dominic, and when she had the opportunity to apply for consideration for a Habitat build, she jumped at the chance.

“I appreciate St. D for what they are doing for me, helping me get a Habitat home,” she said.

Her new home will be located in Jackson’s Virden Addition, an area she lived in as a child, so “I’m familiar with the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s near St. D, and I’d like my son to go to Walton Elementary.”

Asked what she likes most about the opportunity, she said that she is happy that she won’t be “throwing away money on rent, and it will be just great having the key to my own home”.

There are people who think that Habitat somehow provides “free houses” to its clients. That is absolutely not so. A prospective homeowner must pass the necessary screening process, which is in some ways similar to applying for a bank mortgage. The homeowner will carry a 30 year mortgage, just like any other home buyer.

In Habitat’s case, the mortgage is provided on an interest-free basis.

In addition to passing the screening process, the prospective homeowner also has to contribute “sweat equity,” which includes work on her home, earning community service hours, and work on other Habitat builds, such as laying sod, clean-up of the work site, and helping to prep a home for rehab.

She also had to complete the Financial Peace classes that Habitat provides all prospective homeowners.

“I feel like I learned a lot through all of this,” Carolyn said. “I feel like I’m on solid financial ground, and I hope to be able to save money for our future, too.”

Carolyn’s home is a part of the Catholic Build, which is Habitat’s oldest

TAMI JONES / MBJ

Carolyn Madlock

faith-based Covenant sponsor.

Participating in this year’s build are many Catholic churches in the area, along with St. Dominic’s Foundation.

Alan Turner Now that the initial qualification process with Carolyn has been completed, it’s time for the exciting part — namely, building her house. The volunteers are lined up and ready. The first build day is Saturday, Oct. 18, when the walls and trusses go up. The process begins with a prayer and blessing of the build by a priest.

From start to finish, the building process will generally take about 3 months.

Since its founding in 1986, HFHMCA has partnered with more than 590 families to build homes in the Mississippi capital area, according to Cindy Griffin, Executive Director of the organization. Cindy said that so far in 2014, Habitat has served 295 families: 12 first time home buyers and 283 in need of critical repairs on homes they own through the Neighborhood Revitalization Program. They also have ongoing rehabs of 12 houses and 2 new builds, of which Carolyn’s home is one.

Clearly, Habitat has made a lasting contribution to the lives of many families in Jackson through the years, and has done so through the hard work of its partners and the many volunteers who provide the labor to get the job done.

For those who might be interested in seeing how the process works, Carolyn’s home will be located at 2940 Smith Robinson in Jackson. We plan to check in on the build and follow up with future articles on how it all goes.

For further information on Habitat, visit their website at habitatjackson.org.

Contact Mississippi Business Journal publisher Alan Turner at alan.turner@msbusiness.com or (601) 364-1021.

October 17 2014

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» MISSISSIPPI LEADERS by Martin Willoughby

Muli-family office Adams helps grow Addicus

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reat businesses are built around knowing what the customer wants, understanding what your company does best, and delivering exceptional value. This is much easier said than done.

Hall of Fame quarterback turned business mogul Roger Staubach once said, “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” It takes great intentionality and skilled execution to deliver remarkable service again and again.

For companies that do like Four Seasons and The Ritz Carlton, people line up to pay a premium price for premium service.

Drew Adams and his partner, Stephen Miles, are building a fast-growth client service company because they are committed to that level of service excellence. They formed Addicus, a multi-family office in 2011, and have experienced substantial growth by understanding the needs of their high-net worth and high-income earning clients and delivering great value. Adams grew up outside of Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta before getting his undergraduate degree and MBA from Ole Miss. Adams spent 11 years in the financial services business working in Memphis and Tupelo before joining up with his business partner Stephen Miles to form Addicus. Adams noted, “Our purpose was to

Up Close With ... Andrew (Drew) Adams Title: Co-founder, Addicus Favorite Books: Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki); Essentialism (Greg McKeown) First Job: ”My first job was raking yards when I was 8 years old, and at that time I came up with the idea of raking up the pine straw and selling it to the neighbors. I continued as an entrepreneur when I began a mobile detailing business offering high end cleaning services for people at work onsite, and had three employees all throughout high school.”

Hobbies/Interests: ”We love to vacation in warm areas and scuba dive, we are avid watersports enthusiasts, most notably wakeboarding and wakesurfing. In the winter, I enjoy riding my Polaris and hunting.”

fill what we saw as a void in the marketplace, offering deep advice to families and business owners to optimize their wealth.”

The concept of a family office began in the era of Mellon, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.

These families realized they couldn’t get conflict free advice and the attention they needed without employing directly most, if not all, of their advisors (wealth managers, accountants, attorneys, human resources, etc.). Adams explained, “Today, a single family office is not efficient for families with assets less than $1 billion. Therefore, there has been a large shift where single family offices are banding together with other wealthy families to spread

the resources and costs to gain efficiency.”

The financial industry has adopted this model which has led to the rapid growth of multi-family offices. Unlike many multifamily offices, Addicus offers its family office services to clients with a net worth from $25 million and up, and does not manage money, instead they remain focused on unbiased advice, custom designed solutions and complete implementation and management.

In addition to their family office services, Addicus provides holistic planning for high-income earners as well. To serve this type of clientele, Addicus has been committed to continually innovating and look-

“Our purpose was to fill a void in the marketplace...”

ing for ways to deliver exceptional service.

What high achievers understand is that they must always be striving to get better personally and professionally. I noted that Adams participates in Martin Willoughby the renowned Strategic Coach program personally, and he and Stephen regularly use a business coach for their organization to help it continue to evolve as a team. In addition, they are members of the Family Office Exchange and have industry leading mentors.

Very few people take the time and invest the money to continually make themselves better like that.

Adams shared that he is inspired by the Vince Lombardi quote, “Perfection is unattainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Adams credits his father with instilling in him a commitment to leadership and service. He shared, “I would go to work with my Dad as a young boy, and I was always in awe of the way his employees looked up to him. He always seemed to have the vision that at first no one could truly understand or see until it was executed.” I am impressed with how Adams and Miles have turned their vision into reality and how they are building a growing and successful organization. They, along with their organization, will be ones to watch in the years to come.

Martin Willoughby is a business consultant and regular contributing columnist for the Mississippi Business Journal. He serves as Chief Operating Officer of Butler Snow Advisory Services, LLC and can be reached at martin.willoughby@ butlersnow.com.

Once again enjoy the company of the residents of Mitford

W » Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good

By Jan Karon Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons $27.95 hardcover

elcome back to Mitford. The many fans of Jan Karon's popular series will enjoy this tenth book about Father Tim and the colorful inhabitants of Mitford, North Carolina.

Karon is back with an update of the nowretired Father Tim Kavanagh, his wife Cynthia, Dooley, Lace and all the other inhabitants we've come to know and love.

It's a fictional town full of fictional people, but somehow we feel we know them; anyone who's ever lived in a small town knows them. With characters such as Coot, Mule, J.C., Fancy, Hessie, Buck, Puny, Pooh, Joe Joe — well, you get the picture. Every small town in the South is full of characters with similar names. You'll find yourself laughing with the book's characters and sometimes at them. I especially like the town's weekly newspaper, the Mitford Muse, with its hilarious typos.

Mitford, set in the lovely mountains of North Carolina, may

be somewhat secluded but it's not immune from the outside world and modern technology. There are cell phones, the internet, disputes and even a rascal or two to encroach on the peace of this mountain village. A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Jan Karon reflects contemporary culture more fully than almost any other living novelist.”

In Karon's latest novel, Father Tim wrestles with an offer to

once again become the pastor of Lord's Chapel when the current pastor is caught up in scandal; his adopted son Dooley Barlow has doubts about his future as a country veterinarian and his relationship with the beautiful and gifted lace; Dooley's brother Sammy is still enraged by their mother's abandonment; and others face illnesses, loss and the ups and downs of life in the sympathetic, big-hearted and engaging way we've come to expect in Mitford. It was a pleasure to spend time in their company for all 511 pages. Father Tim is — as always — amused and amusing, and most of all long suffering as he deals with his fellow residents with wit, humor and love.

Karon has written other books involving Father Tim, including Home to Holly Springs. Yes, that's Holly Springs, Mississippi, where the hero of all the Mitford books was born and reared.

— Lynn Lofton, mbj@msbusiness.com

22 I Mississippi Business Journal I October 17 2014 THE SPIN CYCLE

MANUFACTURING

The five most common grammar errors that aren’t in the digital age

Ice Industries expanding yet again, bring workforce closed to 300

f you spend anytime in PR, you will encounter the self-proclaimed “Grammar Nazi” who wears the dreaded red Sharpie around his/her neck like a nerdy Flavor Flav. I should know, I’m one of those folks!

And despite the mind-numbing changes by the AP Stylebook that sometimes don’t need to be made, it is important to stay current on the latest editing trends.

For that reason, this week’s Spin Cycle will actually dive into some edits that don’t need to be made – to make your writing sharper, clearer and in a more active voice.

It’s okay. Take a deep breath and step away from the Sharpie.

1. Ending a sentence with a preposition.

This is an undeniable truth in clarity. Writing has changed because of advertising and the Internet. Sometimes the preposition is best placed in the post. Imagine you’re writing a love note with the line, “You are the woman for whom I have longed.” The sentence looks incomplete, so she splits, never to be heard from again. Unless you want to sound like a stuffy professor, readers aren’t having it. And note the genius witticism by Sir Winston Churchill: “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” Got that?

2. Starting a sentence with a conjunction.

If you have blogged, written copy, or even read online news lately, you have noticed something that has my high school grammar teacher pulling her hair out — a sentence that begins with and. Why? Because it works – and it has been a persuasive art form of journalism. And if you want to feel better about it, it’s a fact that no one has been able to find a book or authority that has ever proven the practice is wrong.

Nonetheless, old-school English teachers feel this is unacceptable. Conjunctions join clauses. Give them a chance and they may surprise – and inspire – you.

3. Passive Voice. For the scorecard, active voice makes subjects do something while passive voice permits subjects to have something done to them. Active voice shows strength and passive feels less direct.

However, the English language still has a need for the passive voice, which is why you shouldn’t kick it to the curb always. The passive voice is an important device for promoting the object of a verb in the case when the doer (the subject) is unimportant or unknown. Besides that, it can work if you use it correctly.

4. Plural Latin. Yeah, yeah. A bunch of doctors and lawyers use Latin and that’s it.

Well, not so fast. PR people have the same issue to consider every day. How about the

I

word data? If you are talking about one piece of research, isn’t that datum? Closer to home is the word media.

That’s plural. How many times do you say, “Hey, my friend works Todd Smith at the medium.” You don’t, and it’s just fine.

Media is plural but treated as a singular noun. And then you get the cat trying to be correct by saying “What mediums are you considering for outreach?” None — if you are asking correctly.

5. The Split Infinitive. The most notorious grammar slip in history arguably comes from Star Trek as we discuss “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” If you are Strunk and White, the answer would be putting that pesky adverb before the verb.

People are offended by this sentence structure. They laugh at Captain Kirk. “Sure, he flies at warp speed but he did he even graduate 8th-grade English!”

Here’s the funny thing: No one really cares about the split infinitive any more because it has been used so much. And, wellcrafted prose like the Star Trek tagline makes an impact and builds your brand.

Feel free to ignore it altogether.

Subway’s controversial Halloween ad smacks of scary sexism Subway‘s most recent ad implies that people – “people” meaning “women” – should stay thin past summer because they have to look good in all those “sexy” Halloween costumes like “attractive nurse” or “hot devil.” This is a scary reminder that stupid marketing still abounds in today’s world.

The ads have been called sexist. Subway told the Today show “some people” (also women) are missing the “intended humor of the ad,” which is another way of saying, “We’re sorry you were offended.”

The Spin Cycle proposes the problem here is taste as much as sexism. And no, we’re not talking about the taste of the sandwiches.

Some media outlets are calling it “stupid and lazy,” not just because of what’s in the ad but because of what’s not: men, who also tend to go shirtless on Halloween.

Here we have a case where someone almost certainly saw the controversy coming but decided that generating buzz would be worth it. The brand has always marketed itself as a healthy alternative that can aid in weight loss efforts, á la Jared. And here’s a way, perhaps, to add an edge.

Equally problematic for this ad and others is that far too many people don’t understand the difference between “edgy” and careening into a deep ditch.

The act of overstepping prompts customers to question not just a brand’s taste, but its integrity. Not cool to make a joke – at least in ads – at another person or group’s expense.

FYI, the ad has been removed from YouTube.

Buzzed Mic | Michael Phelps is drowning in out-of-the-pool behavior problems Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, with 22 medals (18 of them gold) from the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. And although he “retired” after the London Olympics, the guy is used to a certain notoriety. He loves the spotlight.

But his out-of-the-pool behavior continues to get him into legal trouble. Recently, Phelps was stopped by police for speeding excessively and crossing double lane lines in Baltimore in the wee early hours. After a DUI and a good amount of public shame, Phelps decided to head to rehab. This isn’t Phelps’ first encounter with the law. He was arrested for DUI in 2004 and apologized for the incident later that day. Five years (and one Olympics) later, Phelps was caught hitting a bong at a college party and admitted he “was out of control.” Last week, he was found to be driving 84 mph in a 45-mph zone with a blood alcohol level “nearly twice the legal limit.” Obviously, these legal troubles and substance issues are a huge PR hit for the Olympic champion. When you compete for the entire United States, people expect more.

Regretfully, the man who personifies the Olympics more than any other is not living up to those outsized expectations. For that Phelps, grabs a slightly off kilter Buzzed Mic. The Spin Cycle hopes he gets the help he needs.

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 fullservice 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.

» Formerly known as Grenada Stamping and Assembly, Ice Industries supplies parts to many different industries GRENADA — Metal stamping and machining company Ice Industries is set to make its fifth expansion here since 2010, investing $1.8 and adding 50 jobs that will bring the workforce to about 290 people.

Ice Industries Grenada, formerly known as Grenada Stamping and Assembly, supplies parts to the appliance, automotive, heavy truck, and alternative energy markets. Improvements will include infrastructure upgrades, overhead crane improvements, and shipping and safety enhancements that will allow the company to continue to expand service to its customers. New metal stamping and assembly equipment is also being installed to accommodate additional work from existing customers, as well as new work the company has acquired in the furniture industry.

The company’s Grenada operations are housed in a 300,000-square-foot main plant and a recently-renovated 40,000-square-foot facility.

Ice Industries Chairman and CEO Howard Ice said the plant upgrades and expansion will enable Ice Industries to more fully accommodate a growing customer base..

“We continue to find ways to grow our capabilities and add value to our global customer base by not only providing metal stamping, but also through assembly operations, welding, and painting. This latest investment clearly demonstrates the commitment Ice Industries has made to world class manufacturing in Grenada, Mississippi,” Ice said.

The Mississippi Development Authority provided assistance in support of the project for building improvements. Grenada County provided assistance for the project as well.

Headquartered in Sylvania, Ohio, Ice Industries Grenada has broad capabilities, including the ability to blank, form, weld and assemble a variety of materials, strengths and thicknesses. In addition to Electrolux in Canada, the company provides parts to Ford Motor Company in Argentina; First Solar Panels in Canada; Copeland in Northern Ireland, Belgium, Thailand and China; and Toyota Boshoku in Indiana.

— Ted Carter / MBJ

SALES MOVES

October 17, 2014

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» JEFFREY GITOMER

What investment in your business are you REALLY making? ”Return on Investment” (ROI) in business is predicated on the ability of the company to deliver as promised in product, profit, and its accompanying service.

It's amazing to me that everyone measures ROI to the penny, and no one measures ROS (return on service) at all.

Most companies are too busy pissing their money away on customer satisfaction surveys when they could eliminate the survey costs, and spend half of that money training people to improve service, and measure the only three things in business that matter: repeat business, profit margins, and referrals — all the rest of the “satisfaction” process is an empty waste of time and money.

Let’s get real here, when J.D. Power gives the customer satisfaction award to an airline, what could the category possibly be? Least crappy?

The object of service is to be so amazing that one person tells another person, or one person posts to their Facebook account, or both. How’s yours?

The key to profitable repeat business and unsolicited referrals is to create genuine word-of-mouth, and word of mouse about the company, the products and services, and especially the people.

ROI REALITY: Do you want to deliver service that’s satisfactory or remarkable?

ROI REALITY: Do you want to deliver service that’s satisfactory or memorable?

Return on service can take place in any part of

the business.

Here are the most prominent examples: » Provide positive attitude training for everyone in the company » Provide specific and customized empowerment service training for everyone in the company (what is EACH employee allowed to do and say to a customer?) » The receptionist or telephone operator. This is the customer’s first point of contact and sets the tone for the entire transaction. » Ship an order error free and backorder free. Get them what they want fast and seamlessly. » The delivery and arrival of a customer shipment. Packaging determines image, and the condition of the contents upon arrival proves their worth to the shipper and the care of the shipping department. A HUGE part of re-order consideration. » The accounting department people. Accounting can play a major role in customer loyalty. The way they talk to an account, the frequency of error, their accuracy of invoicing, and the common courtesy they may display when someone is late making a payment. » Damned automated attendant. No one on earth wants to hear their telephone call answered by a computer, yet every major company in the world employs these godforsaken things. There has to be a better way, and the person that creates it will make billions.

» The speed, accuracy, and outcome of handling a complaint. Complaints go WAAAAY beyond one customer. They go all the way to social media.

You must perform REMARKABLE or MEMORABLE service for: » Following up and thanking customers for an order » Following up and making certain that the service call went perfectly » Making certain that everyone on the inside of the company is well rewarded, and well thanked for a job well done.

And for those of you who still possess an ounce of skepticism about ROS after these truths, here are some additional “return” elements to consider.

Many Happy Returns: • Return on training. Especially for front line people.

• Return on morale. Internal happiness creates customer happiness.

• Return on leadership. The leader sets the tone and the attitude BY EXAMPLE. • Return on friendliness. All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends.

• Return on getting the job done ahead of schedule. Real profit created by exceptional team effort.

• Return on wowing the customer. Priceless. Period.

• Return on accuracy. Beyond a good feeling all the way to respect – and reorder.

• Return on quality product. This is a given,

but creates more word-ofmouth than any other single forum.

• Return on positive social media posts. Social media is the new “satisfaction” survey or report.

• Return on value messages offered to Jeffrey Gitomer customers on a consistent basis. Weekly valuebased messages to customers create life-long desires to stay connected.

• Return on using voice-of-customer in YouTube, blog, and Facebook video posts.

When you say it about yourself it's bragging. When someone else says it about you, it's proof. Video proof is the new proof.

Big companies hammer their entire workforce to make certain that their customer satisfaction scores are high or higher, when they could be (should be) creating an internal training program that begins with the word wow, and progresses upward from there.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Sales Bible”, “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless” “Customer Loyalty is Priceless”, “The Little Red Book of Selling”, “The Little Red Book of Sales Answers” and “The Little Black Book of Connections”.

His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PBV-09252014 - Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers

The Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, No. VI (MRHA VI) announces the availability of 20 Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) for the City of Tchula (Holmes County), Mississippi for existing multi-family housing only.

RFP packages may be requested by e-mailing: kpace@mrha6.org. Requests should include contact information, including a valid return e-mail address. The RFP package is in digital format (Microsoft Word Document), which is fillable.

The deadline for all completed RFPs is October 31, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. (CT). Neither facsimiles nor e-mails will be accepted. Respondents shall return one original and three hard copies by the deadline. Completed RFPs should be mailed or delivered to: Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, No. VI, 2180 Terry Rd., Jackson, MS 39204.

No RFPs will be accepted after the deadline.

MRHA VI reserves the right to cancel or re-issue this RFP; to modify the selection criteria or the number of PBV vouchers available for award; and to request amendments to qualifications after the expiration deadlines. MRHA VI also reserves the right to waive any informalities or minor irregularities if it serves its best interest to do so.

SERVING OUR CLIENTS FOR OVER A CENTURY BRUNINI IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE JUAN HERNANDEZ HAS JOINED THE FIRM IN THE JACKSON OFFICE

Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, VI Dr. Hickman M. Johnson, PHM Executive Director

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATION (RFQ) FOR DEVELOPMENT SERVICES Mississippi Regional Housing Authority, No. VI (MRHA VI) hereby requests proposals from qualified entities to partner with the Authority to construct new and/or rehabilitate existing housing, using a variety of funding sources and financial arrangements, to expand the supply of affordable housing. The affordable housing project(s) may leverage low income housing tax credits (LIHTC), housing choice vouchers, public housing funds, Federal Home Loan Bank affordable housing, USDA and HOME Funds.

Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) may be obtained from: Mrs. Katina Pace, Deputy Executive Director Mississippi Regional Housing Authority VI 2180 Terry Road, Jackson, MS 39204 Phone: (601) 714-3960 E-mail: kpace@mrha6.org Proposals must be submitted to MRHA VI at the above address, no later than, October 31, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. (CT).

Mr. Hernandez joins as an associate in the firm’s litigation department.

Juan received both his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and Master of Legal Studies from Texas State University before receiving his J.D. from Mississippi College School of Law. JACKSON

•

BILOXI

• COLUMBUS • www.brunini.com

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FREE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. This notice is authorized by Granville Tate, Jr., Chairman 190 East Capitol Street, Suite 100, Jackson, MS 39201

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