Mbj sept20 2013

INSIDE — Robert Khayat and ‘The Education of a Lifetime’

www.msbusiness.com

September 20, 2013 • Vol. 35, No. 37 • $1 • 24 pages

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Randle named MOA president Eric D. Randle, O.D., of Oxford has been named president of the Mississippi Optometric Association for 2013-2014.

More newsmakers, P 7

MISSISSIPPI TO HOST SOUTHERN AUTOMOTIVE CONFERENCE

Bridging the Blues

» State leaders call Mississippi ‘the heart of the Southern Automotive Corridor’

BY LISA MONTI mbj@msbusiness.com

Around town {P 8} » Humor in economics Strictly Biz {P 9} » Never assume you can’t or won’t be scammed The List {P 16-17} » Independent Insurance Agencies

Special To The Mississippi Business Journal

In addition to the Mighty Mississippi Music Festival in Greenville, numerous nightclubs and juke joints in Mississippi will offer live music to blues enthusiasts as they make their way to the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Ark.

Multi-state effort expects to boost blues-related development

BY WALLY NORTHWAY wally.northway@msbusiness.com

Inside Biz {P 10} » Mississippi banks outperform national averages in Bauer ratings

At first take, the Bridging the Blues initiative sounds like a case of misplaced loyalty. Why would a bunch of Mississippians work so hard to boost attendance at the upcoming King Biscuit Blues Festival in Arkansas, and why would Mississippi tourism organizations and leaders — and their counterparts

in Tennessee — back their effort?

However, organizers of Bridging the Blues, which will be held Sept. 27-Oct. 13, say look again. They are touting the effort as regional economic development in its purest form, maintaining that what is good for the King Biscuit Blues Festival, to be held next

Mississippi economic development leaders tout the state’s location as “the heart of the Southern Automotive Corridor.”

Next month the Mississippi Automotive Manufacturers Association will host the annual Southern Automotive Conference and organizers expect a packed house at Beau Rivage in Biloxi. The joint conference Oct. 2-4 with the Alabama and Tennessee auto manufacturers will carry the theme “In the Driver’s Seat: Steering Strategically.”

Barbara McDaniel, manager of external and government relations for Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America and the president of Mississippi’s automotive manufacturers association, said the sessions will focus on workforce, procurement, sustainability.

“We’ve got a really nice lineup of panelists who will bring a variety of perspectives in each of those sessions,” she said.

See AUTO, Page 23

See BLUES, Page 2

MBJ FOCUS: Insurance & Emp. Benefits

On the home front Coast insurance is expensive Page 12

2 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013

FROM THE COVER BLUES

Continued from Page 1

month just across the Mississippi River in Helena, Ark., is also good for cultural/heritage tourism in Mississippi as well as Tennessee.

“This is the quintessential example (of regional economic development),” said Malcolm White, head of the Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division. (MDA has provided funding for Bridging the Blues.) “The average stay of tourists in Mississippi is 2.5 days. Bridging the Blues has the potential to bring visitors into our state for up to 10 days, including many who would not have come if not for the King Biscuit Blues Festival and the other events packaged around the festival both here and in Tennessee by Bridging the Blues.

This is right up my alley, and I’m excited about it.”

While today many are involved in the Bridging the Blues project, now in its second year, it was the brainchild of one man. Wesley Smith is a Greenwood native who grew up with a love for the Mississippi Delta and its heritage, particularly blues music. Over the years he became a regular attendee of the King Biscuit Blues Festival, often camping out on the grounds.

Choosing tourism for his career, Smith would work with several organizations, including blues-focused work in Memphis, before landing his current position as executive director of the Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Greenville.

(He is also president of Mississippi Delta Tourism Association and has worked on many blues-related tourism projects, including the Mississippi Blues Trail.)

“I began to think of how we could possibly package events here in Mississippi as well as in Tennessee around the King Biscuit that would give us a chance to show all of the opportunities we have here while also helping grow King Biscuit,” Smith said. “I saw it as a great chance to really tell the story of the blues.”

With that, Smith reached out to others, one of whom was Allan Hammons. Hammons heads the Greenwood-based advertising firm Hammons and Associates and has played a key role in large blues-based projects, most recently the GRAMMY Museum going up in Cleveland on the campus of Delta State University.

Hammons told Smith he was in. The next move was to find a Mississippi event that would be willing to play the weekend before King Biscuit.

The first step in the journey was not positive. Smith contacted Billy Johnson,

“This is the quintessential example (of regional economic development).”

Malcolm White Director of the Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division

who established the Highway 61 Blues Festival and is curator of the Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland. Smith asked Johnson if he would be willing to move his festival to the weekend before King Biscuit.

I n i t i a l l y, Johnson said no, but then the massive Mississippi River flood of 2011 forced the cancellation of the Highway 61 event.

Shortly after the announcement, Johnson called Smith wondering if he was still looking for a pre-King Biscuit event.

Then a stroke of serendipity — Smith had developed a friendship with Arkansas native David Bush, who served on Smith’s board in Greenville. Smith subsequently learned that Bush was a longtime friend of Munnie Jordan, executive director of King Biscuit. Bush promptly agreed to set up a meeting with Jordan.

Smith, Johnson, Bush and Hammons made a trip to Helena to see Jordan, who quickly gave them a nod.

“I saw the potential for Bridging the Blues immediately,” Jordan said. “A lot of visitors will fly into Memphis or Little Rock (Ark.). Why not give them something else to do as they make their way here? I thought it was a great idea.”

Johnson agreed.

“Partnering with King Biscuit is a winwin for the festivals and the fans,” Johnson said in a statement. “Fans will have two weekends of music to count on with a week of blues activities — across the Delta in both Arkansas and Mississippi — in between.”

The group worked to recruit organizations in Arkansas and Tennessee, and the initiative was announced in March 2012.

Today, Bridging the Blues is a partnership between Mississippi Delta Tourism, Arkansas Delta Byways, Arkansas Parks & Tourism, Mississippi Development Authority, Memphis CVB and the Mississippi

Arts Commission.

Feeding off what organizers say was a successful inaugural year, Bridging the Blues has grown its offerings for 2013.

The biggest news is Mississippi’s new marquee event during Bridging the Blues.

The Mighty Mississippi Music Festival, which incorporates the Highway 61 Blues Festival, will be held Oct. 4-6 at Warfield Point Park on the banks of the Mississippi River at Greenville. Developed by local musicians Steve Azar and Jason Fratesi, the Mighty Mississippi Music Festival will feature Drive-By Truckers, North Mississippi Allstars and Edwin McCain among others, including local artists Eden Brent, Azar and Fratesi.

A sampling of other Mississippi events in the Bridging the Blues lineup is the Delta Busking Festival in Clarksdale (Sept.

27-29), Tours and Blues Jams at Dockery Plantation (Oct. 1), Delta Country Jam at the Abbay & Leatherman Plantation in Tunica (Oct. 4) and Mississippi Blues Fest in Greenwood (Oct. 5).

In addition to music festivals, Bridging the Blues offers such blues-related happenings as preservation tours, Delta State’s DMI Mobile Music Lab, art and photog-

raphy exhibits and more.

Events culminate with the 26th-annual King Biscuit Blues Festival, to be held Oct. 10-12 in Helena. The musical lineup includes Gregg Allman, Robert Cray, James Cotton, Bobby Rush, Marcia Ball among others. Other King Biscuit events include a Blues Symposium, 5K/10K fun run and an all-new barbecue cook-off competition.

Where Bridging the Blues goes from here is still being developed. The initiative has little funding, and most everyone working on the project has full-time jobs.

But, Smith thinks they have only begun to develop the event’s potential, and some talk has begun to develop a Bridging event in the spring.

“Our thought was to get it going, get two or three years under our belt and see where we are,” Smith said. “It’s another step to developing our blues-based economy. If we had not had the Mississippi Blues Trail, maybe we wouldn’t have landed the B.B. King Museum in Indianola. If we hadn’t landed the B.B. King Museum, we might not have landed the GRAMMY Museum in Cleveland. We just have to keep it rolling.”

For more information on Bridging the Blues, visit www.bridgingtheblues.com.

R R R R R R What do high school students and their parents look for in a university?

In Mississippi and across America, they focus on these attributes: Nationally recognized academic excellence Exciting careers after graduation A diploma that will be recognized and valued everywhere Competitive price A collegiate experience they will treasure for a lifetime 8LEX´W XLI HI½ RMXMSR SJ ZEPYI MR LMKLIV IHYGEXMSR XSHE] &] GLSSWMRK XLI 9RMZIVWMX] SJ 1MWWMWWMTTM MR LMWXSVMG RYQFIVW XLMW ]IEV TISTPI EGVSWW XLI WXEXI ERH XLI REXMSR EVI VIGSKRM^MRK I\GIPPIRGI ERH ZEPMHEXMRK SYV WYGGIWW 8LIMV XVYWX MR 3PI 1MWW SYV WXEXI´W ½ VWX ERH PEVKIWX TYFPMG YRMZIVWMX] MW E KVIEX LSRSV JSV SYV JEGYPX] SYV WXEJJ ERH IZIV] 1MWWMWWMTTMER

Visit news.olemiss.edu for just released data on the University’s historic growth.

8LMW ]IEV XLI 9RMZIVWMX] SJ Mississippi welcomes 3,579 JVIWLQIR 8LI PEVKIWX WMRKPI GPEWW MR WXEXI LMWXSV] KVS[MRK

Total enrollment is now 22,286, representing all 50 states and 93 GSYRXVMIW EVI 1MWWMWWMTTMERW ERH EVI QMRSVMXMIW

Last year’s freshmen class returned with an 86% retention VEXI ERSXLIV VIGSVH

Visit olemiss.edu and click on “Prospective Students� to apply.

The Journalism and Engineering schools both achieved growth rates SJ QSVI XLER 1MWWMWWMTTM´W ½ VWX 7GLSSP SJ )RKMRIIVMRK [EW EX 3PI 1-WW

4 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013

REAL ESTATE / INSURANCE

Coast has wave of worries as federally subsidized flood insurance nears end » Flood-zone homes built before 1974 to be hit with 25 percent annual increases starting Oct. 1

By TED CARTER ted.carter@msbusiness.com

Just as hurricanes Camille and Katrina altered where people built houses and businesses on the Mississippi coast, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 promises to significantly change the makeup of home and business ownership along the state’s 45-mile expanse below Interstate 10.

The state felt some of the first effects in July 2012 when new property owners in federally des» See more on insurance and real ignated flood estate on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. zones could no longer re— beginning, Page 12 ceive federal flood insurance subsidies. More effects are set to be felt on Oct. 1 when flood zone properties that have sustained repeated flood losses or fallen victim to substantial damage must pay full freight.

More far-reaching for a coastal zone dotted by homes a half-century old or more is the Oct. 1 rate hike of 25 percent on homes built before the federal government drew the first flood maps in 1974. The 25 percent yearly increases are to continue until the Federal Emergency Management Agency decides rate levels reflect actual risk, a benchmark the agency terms “actuarially sound.”

Then, starting on Jan. 1, premiums on vacation homes and rental properties within the zones are scheduled to go up 25 percent annually and continue year until actuarial soundness is reached.

In the not-too-distant future, all coastal Mississippi homeowners within a flood zone will lose their “grandfather” status, which brings an accompanying loss of the federal subsidy and the likelihood that what now costs around $425 a year will go to $7,000 or higher. When that occurs hinges on the next FEMA flood remapping on the coast, the last of which occurred in 2009-2010. The agency has told U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo’s office to expect the new mapping in 2017-2018, the office says.

With Biggert-Waters in full force, federal officials expect to be on their way toward erasing the National Flood Insurance Program’s $24 billion deficit.

A detour could be straight ahead, however.

The prospect of escalating premium increases on older homes, rental properties, commercial buildings and newly purchased homes, has led coastal region lawmakers such as Palazzo as well as congressional delegations from other flood-prone areas of the country to push for a delay of Biggert-Waters of at least one year. The House has passed legislation specifying a delay and is awaiting Senate action.

While Congress may ultimately decide to put off major provisions of Biggert-Waters for 12 months, the bill’s implications – and the uncertainties it has created for the coastal real estate market – are here to stay, real estate and insurance executives say.

Gulf coast property insurance executive Ned Dolese sees the potential for $7,000 annual flood insurance premiums

to cause a real estate collapse. “If you liked TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) you are going to love BW12,” said Dolese, marketing manager for Coastal American Insurance.

With Biggert-Waters set to affect $6 trillion in real estate nationwide, the measure “will make TARP look like a walk in the park,” he predicted, referring to the nearly $1 trillion banking bailout of the last decade.

Coastal America has close to 3,000 policies on its books three years after its startup. It requires policy-holders to have both wind and flood coverage as a way to avoid origin-of-damage questions on a claim. That provision is too important to waive for a company founded on the principle of coordinating property loses under flooding and wind, Dolese said.

“We are looking at the real possibility we could lose policyholders,” he said, and noted neither current homeowners in coastal flood zones nor buyers of the homes in the zones can afford the vastly increased rates.

“The problem is no one is going to pay $8,000 a year for flood insurance,” he said.

What happens next? “Houses become unsellable,” he said.

And as the houses become unaffordable for those living in them now, foreclosure could be the only way out, Dolese added. “I expect that people will say I am not going to go broke paying for flood insurance and here are the keys to my house.”

Ken Austin, a Pass Christian real estate broker and president of the Mississippi Association of Realtors, is not making predictions either way. “I’m not going to speculate,” he said, adding that for the moment, he prefers to put his faith in a congressional delay.

The biggest issue, Austin acknowledged, “is the uncertainty that is giving people pause.”

Regardless of whatever orbit Biggert-Waters launches flood insurance rates into, banks won’t be awarding home mortgages to buyers in flood zones who don’t carry flood insurance, said Chevis Swetman, CEO & president of Peoples Bank in Biloxi.

“The feds won’t let us do it,” he said.

Peoples Bank extends its flood insurance requirement to some properties outside flood zones. “If you can see the water, you are going to have flood insurance,” Swetman said of his bank’s lending policy.

And, he added, “If your house flooded in Katrina,” a buyer will have to get flood insurance before getting a Peoples Bank mortgage.

“You can walk to the bank across the street and I don’t care.”

Swetman predicted banks will protect themselves from borrower give-backs by requiring borrowers to make larger down payments, say, of 30 percent to 35 percent.

None of this bodes well for the real estate market, Swetman conceded.

Already, he said, “I know of several transactions that have cratered. The guy who is going to buy” got cold feet over flood insurance worries.

Even now, building on the coast forces you to spend $40,000 to $50,000 extra to build up to double-digit elevation requirements, Swetman noted. Toss in the new, higher flood insurance rates, property insurance and mortgage insurance and suddenly “your insurance is going to be See

FLOOD INSURANCE, Page 5

DELTA KEEPS FINGERS CROSSED THAT FEDS WILL KEEP WAIVER PROMISE ON FLOOD INSURANCE

By TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com While coastal Mississippians brace for unprecedented increases in federal flood insurance rates, their counterparts who live in the Delta’s flood zones cling to an unofficial promise that they’ll be exempted from the increases — at least for the time being.

The exemption would apply for however long it takes for the Army Corps of Engineers to bring the Mississippi Delta’s levee system up to the standards necessary for recertification, a step that can’t occur until levees on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River are rebuilt to recertification standards, said Chip Morgan, executive VP of the Stoneville-based Delta Council, the region’s economic development entity.

“They are going to waive the increases,” said Morgan, though he emphasized “we don’t have anything in writing to substantiate that.”

Morgan said the exemption pledge came through meetings with representatives of the Morgan Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the government agency whose mapping determines which areas of the country go into designated flood zones and thus subject to significant increases in flood insurance rates under the Biggert-Waters Flood Control Act of 2012.

The flood legislation aims to remove federal subsidies for flood insurance and rid the program of $24 billion deficit within five years.

“Flood insurance is always an issue as it relates to flood insurance,” Morgan said. “Our major issues are really governed by how soon the Corps of Engineers is able to raise the levees in the Delta on the Louisiana side. That controls when we can raise our levees.”

A large number of properties on the eastern side of the Delta are in designated flood zones, especially the stretch from Yazoo City to Indianola, where a 27-mile long protection berm must be raised more than a foot-and-a-half to provide its intended protection.

A recalculation of the 100-year flood mark after the floods of spring 2011 led the Corps of Engineers to conclude the levee must have three to five feet of “free board,” a water free mark from the highest level of a 100-year-flood to the top of the levee.

The levee serves as a tributary backup to the main levees on the Mississippi River and must be raised 1.5 feet, according to the Corps, which has said it lacks money to do the work.

September 20, 2013

REAL ESTATE

How to become a closer » Ole Miss, MSU real estate producing grads schooled in the art of the deal

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

The School of Hard Knocks produced many of Mississippi’s commercial real estate professionals. They started as small investors in a retail center or office building only to learn that bad timing – or just bad luck – came with the territory. Those who could rebound from such blows with more savvy about deal making eventually would find success.

However, hanging on the office wall of today’s Mississippi real estate pro is likely to be a diploma from the University of Mississippi’s School of Real Estate or one in Real Estate Finance from Mississippi State University.

Just reaching Dr. Matthew Hill’s real estate program at Ole Miss or Dr. Mike Highfield’s real estate finance program at Mississippi State is an achievement, with prospective students having survived such core business courses as upper level economics, fundamentals of accounting, actuarial statistics and other courses relating to the fundamentals of business.

“There’s a bit of a filtering process,” says Hill, an assistant professor of finance who serves as the J. Ed Turner Chair of Real Estate.

Hill says he spends much of his classroom time on “quantitative things” that put a premium on calculation skills. But the student doesn’t have to be locked into numbers entirely, he adds. “The way we market it specifically to the 18 year-old who is a senior in high school or even a freshman or sophomore is that the program provides so much more flexibility. Say, if you don’t want to focus on the quantitative side there is a huge opportunity for you on the marketing side” or in the back office of a real estate operation.

“There is something for everyone,” Hill says.

At Mississippi State, the real estate emphasis prepares students for the finance end of real estate, says Highfield, head of

FLOOD INSURANCE

the Department of Finance & Economics and Warren Chair of Real Estate Finance.

“We did have a major in real estate but now have a major in finance with an emphasis in real estate. We went away from that because most of our grads Hill still go to work in the financial services field,” he says. “We place students in loan underwriting, loan origination, loan processing and the like. It’s kind of where” finance and real estate meet.

“We have redesigned our major to focus on that Michel intersection.”

The five real estate core courses MSU offers qualify students to sit for the Mississippi broker’s exam, where the university’s Real Estate Finance program’s training in real estate law, appraisals, real estate investments and mortgage financing can be valuable. Tartt Likewise, Ole Miss Real Estate graduates are eligible for the exam. J. Walter Michel, principal of the J. Walter Michel Agency in Jackson, went straight to the broker’s exam after graduating as one of four members of the first Ole Miss Real Estate class in 1983.

“I went to work for the family business instead of doing sales for a year,” Michel says of the opportunity that came with passing the broker’s exam and soon after the Certified Commercial Investment Members (CCIM) exam.

Michel, a former longtime Mississippi state senator, figures he may have been the youngest broker in the state at the time. As an Ole Miss sophomore in 1980, he heard the university was starting a real estate

Continued from Page 4

larger than you mortgage payment,” he said.

Like Dolese and Austin, Swetman wants Congress to call a time out. The goal should be to set flood insurance rates that reflect genuine risk – not a desire by the federal government to wipe out a $24 billion deficit with five years of drastic rate increases, he said.

“I think it is going to be over a period time” that the rates

school under the guidance of professor Dennis Tosh, who went on to become a cofounder of real estate appraisal software firm FNC Inc. in Oxford. “I told him I wanted to register,” Michel recalls. “He said, ‘Good, you are the first person to sign up.’”

Today, Michel serves on the Real Estate School’s Advisory Board. Members mentor students on everything from job interviewing to social skills essential to successful business networking and deal making.

It’s in these sessions, Michel says, that he learns who the go-getters are likely to be.

“You can tell the ones who are really interested – and really have ‘it’.”

Blake Tartt III, a Class of 1984 Ole Miss marketing major and Houston, Texas, real estate developer, is president of the Real Estate Advisory Board. Today’s curriculum carries a strong amount of reality-based instruction, he says.

“I think Matt (Dr. Hill) has done a real good job at that,” Tart says. “That has been a big part of our deal. I think our students today want a real world experience.”

That real experience, courtesy of the Advisory Board, includes a session every October at which board members detail emerging trends in real estate and how to prepare resumes that reflect the potential to meet the challenges of the current market.

Knowing how to entertain clients in the real world also is emphasized, according to Tartt, who builds shopping centers and small office properties in Texas and has real estate holdings in Oxford, including a home.

will increase incrementally “until we can get something on an actuarial basis.

“It might take 10 years, it might take 20 – but “to say you’re going to get back to an actuarial basis in five years.

Come on!”

Dolese said he, too, thinks the any solution must start with rates that reflect risk and not elimination of a sizable program deficit.

The solution must also start with an understanding that grandfathering of low-cost flood insurance rates is dead

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Mississippi Business Journal

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“We do a wine tasting. We bring senior students together with the Advisory Board and the faculty. We are trying to accomplish several things,” he says. “One is to teach the kids how to interact with adults in an informal cocktail setting. We try to teach them a little something about wines” so they have knowledge of wines to order when they go out for a job interview or entertain clients.

“Then, in the spring before graduation, we bring them together and have a luncheon,” Tart says. “We talk to them about what to expect in the real word and what is happening in the business.”

Trends in the real estate sector have influenced the directions students in the programs at Ole Miss and Mississippi State have taken, Hill and Highfield say.

At the time of the real estate bust in 2008, Ole Miss had a ton of majors still clinging to the idea of careers on the residential side, Hill says. “After the bust our numbers dropped but now we are seeing an uptick again, mostly in commercial real estate.”

At MSU, some of the emphasis reflects changes in the financing end of the real estate industry, according to Highfield.

“The whole industry has become so heavily regulated and so technical,” he says, and notes that “some of the ways we use to teach our stuff was not as technical.

“What we are trying to teach today is that real estate at the commercial level and the lending level is a much more technical sport.”

Regardless of the trends that with changing times, Highfield says, successful graduates “have to go out and show their stuff.”

and gone, he said. “Everybody should agree that $415 (a year) was a fictious rate.”

Any solution for the Mississippi coast, he said, should include rate discounts for property owners who elevated their structures after Katrina to meet flood maps drawn in 2007 and again in 2009-2010.

“So that would take the $7,000 premium down to $2,000. If you can’t afford $2,000 to live here, then you need to move.”

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

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Website: www.msbusiness.com September 20, 2013 Volume 35, Number 38

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

MBJPERSPECTIVE September 20, 2013 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

OUR VIEW

Beware — but economic signs are encouraging ississippi’s legislative budget leaders should be cautious about the recent uptick in tax collections.

Two months are not enough to discern a trend.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly a whole lot better when there are numbers that justify a

M

dose of optimism rather than pessimism.

According to the state Department of Revenue, tax collections for July and August, combined, were 4.3 percent higher than lawmakers had estimated when they set the current year’s budget. That translates into almost $27 million of extra money.

Lawmakers are expected to use the bump in tax collections to plug holes left in this year’s budget, such as the $20 million or so deficit for corrections.

If the improvement continues, the Legislature for a change could start loosening the belt it’s been forced to tighten.

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

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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.

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NEWSMAKERS CVB selects Bland The Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau has appointed Stacey Bland director of administration.

Bland, who joined the bureau in 1997 as one of its four original employees, will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Gateway to the Blues Visitor Center and Gift Shop. She also will manage employees at the Visitor Center, Mississippi River Museum and Gift Shop at the Tunica RiverPark.

Randle named president Eric D. Randle, O.D., of Oxford has been named president of the Mississippi Optometric Association for 2013-2014. Randle has practiced at Holly Springs Eyecare PLLC since 200. He is a graduate of the University of Houston College of Optometry. He has served on the MOA board of directors since 2007 and has been actively involved in several committees with the MOA. Other officers include presi- Randle dent-elect Nicole Monroe, O.D., of Southaven; vice president Greg Loose, O.D., of Wiggins; secretary-treasurer Mike Weeden, O.D., of Corinth; and, past president Bradley Thompson, O.D., of Forest.

New district representatives to the board are Sallye Scott, O.D., of Senatobia and Tonyatta Hairston, O.D., of Jackson.

Board members are Allison Lord, O.D., of Rolling Fork; Jacob Ivey, O.D., of Louisville; Chad Smith, O.D., of Brookhaven; Lori Blackmer, O.D., of Picayune; Glenn Cochran, O.D., of Quitman; and, Megan Sumrall Lott, O.D., of Lexington.

Corps staffers win awards Robert Cory Winders, hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District’s Modeling, Mapping, Consequences, and Production Center (MMC), recently received a Commander’s Award for Civilian Service at the.

Winders received the award for his exceptional performance as a hydraulic engineering national technical expert during the national implementation of the Corps Water Management System (CWMS). He successfully executed the Corps Water Management System in 10 basins in the first year of its production.

At the District, he serves as the MMC’s CWMS project coordinator and provides technical review and oversight of the model implementation. He creates schedules, budgets, and staffing of modeling teams; mentors and leads CWMS team members and ensures timely completion of tasks within budget. Winders began his career with the Corps in 2009 as a hydraulic engineer in the hydraulics branch of Engineering

and Construction Division. He is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

A native of Olive Branch, he earned his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University, and is currently pursuing his master’s degree in civil engineering at Mississippi State University.

He is married to the former Jennifer Forrest and they are the parents of two children.

Also, Dennis Ward, a contract representative at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sardis Lake Field Office, recently received a Secretary of Defense Global War on Terrorism Medal, a Commander’s Award for Civilian Service and the NATO-5 Medal. Ward received the medals and Commander’s Award for his support of Operation Enduring Freedom where he served as a construction representative in support of construction efforts and execution of more than 28 projects totaling $360 million for the Afghanistan National Security Forces Program. He began his career with the Vicksburg District in 2002 as a contract representative with the Sardis Lake Field Office.

Ward, a native of Excelsior Springs, Mo., completed electrical technology training with the U.S. Air Force while he was on active duty from 1983-1992. He is married to Mercedes Ward and they are the parents of a daughter. He is the son of Ella Jean Ward and the late J.R. Ward of Excelsior Springs.

Finally, Whitney R. Ladzick, a hydraulic modeler with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District's Modeling, Mapping, and Consequences Production Center (MMC), received a Department of the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service. Ladzick received the award for her role in the completion of dam break analyses on Corps dams, consequence estimates, and geographic information systems assistance throughout three Corps divisions and four Corps districts.

Ladzick began her career with the District in 2011 as a Department of the Army intern working as a hydraulic modeler in the hydrology branch. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers. A native of Sherwood, Ore., she earned her bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. She is the daughter of David and Denise Ladzick of Sherwood.

Lampton named year’s best Ladzick

Ward

Winders

The Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians has named Dr. Lucius M. “Luke” Lampton, of Magnolia, as the 2013 MAFP Family Physician of the Year. Each year, the award is presented to the physician contributing the most to the development of family medicine in the state. Although he now practices in rural Mississippi, Lampton was born in Jackson into a physician’s family. His leadership and scholarship abili- Lampton ties were recognized early on in both high school and college where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors. He was awarded his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1993 and stayed on to complete his Family Medicine residency. He is licensed to practice medicine in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ontario, Canada, where he serves as a volunteer canoe camp doctor.

Lampton practices at the Magnolia Clinic and serves as medical director of Beacham Memorial Hospital. A past president of the MAFP, Lampton has been actively involved in the academy over the years

September 20, 2013 and is currently an AAFP delegate. In 2006, he received the James C. Waites M.D. Leadership award presented to a Mississippi State Medical Association member under the age of 50 who exhibits outstanding leadership skills in organized medicine and community affairs.

Lampton’s dedication to Family Medicine can be seen in his involvement in the establishment of the nationally recognized Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program, and he continues to serve on the legislative commission, which is charged with its oversight. Lampton also played a leadership role in the recent creation of the Mississippi Office of Physician Workforce. In 2006, he was appointed to the Mississippi State Board of Health by Gov. Haley Barbour and was promptly elected chair. He was then reappointed to a six-year term in 2007 and has served as chair since that time, one of the longest serving chairs in the Board’s history. In 2013, Gov. Phil Bryant reappointed Lampton to another term on the Board.

Widely known for historic preservation efforts, Lampton currently serves as president of the Foundation for Mississippi History. Lampton also serves as editor and publisher of The Magnolia Gazette. He served as medical editor of the soon to be published Mississippi Encyclopedia, and he contributed an essay to the recently published New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. He has served as the editor of the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association since 2004, where he has written hundreds of articles on a variety of medical topics.

Lampton is married to the former Louise Lyell of Jackson and they have two sons, Crawford and Garland.

Directors elected to seats Friends of Mississippi State Hospital has voted in its board of directors for the 2013-2014 year. Friends of MSH board members and officers are: Mike Kimbrell; Sheila Shows (secretary); Mary Crossman; Jessie Buckley; Jerald Ball; Kathy Denton; Dr. Marc Lewis; Bridget Lowery (vice president); Bobby Stephens; Dee Payne (treasurer); Joel Ross (president); Gale Martin; Tim Durr; Steve Lesley; Larry Swearengen; Bill Bobbs; Gladys Jackson; and, Miriam Hollens.

Thames takes honor Virgie Thames of Decatur is being honored for her exemplary work as administrative assistant for the Mississippi Small Business Development Center at East Central Community College in Decatur.

Thames is the 2013 recipient of the MSBDC State Star Award.

Thames earned an associate’s degree from ECCC in December 2003. She is also a 1991 graduate of Moore Business College, previThames ously located in Meridian.

Thames is married to Kerby Thames and is the daughter of Mary L. Buckley, also of Decatur.

Mallard selected as chief The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District (Corps) recently selected Jennifer Fryar Mallard as chief of the permit section in the regulatory branch. Mallard joined the Corps in 2001 as a park

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ranger at Lake Greeson in Murfreesboro, Ark. After deploying to Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina emergency operations in 2005, she accepted a position in the regulatory branch where she has served as an environmental specialist and senior environmental specialist for the past eight years.

A native of Caddo Gap, Arkansas, she is a graduate of the Mallard University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Henderson State University where she earned a bachelor's degree in environmental soil and water science and in park and recreation management.

Mallard is the daughter of the late James R. Fryar and Gracie G. Fryar of Caddo Gap, Arkansas. She is married to Matthew Mallard of Enterprise, and they share two sons.

Moore comes to MHA The Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA) board of governors has chosen Timothy H. Moore to succeed Sam W. Cameron as the association’s president and CEO. Moore, who previously served as president of North Mississippi Medical Center and has been an active member of MHA for many years, will take over for the retiring Cameron, who has served MHA since 1969.

A native of Forest, Moore Moore holds a master’s degree in health Care management from the University of New Orleans, a bachelor of science degree from Mississippi State University and an associate’s degree in radiological technology from Meridian Community College.

He is married to Janice Moore and they have two sons and one grandson.

Coyne named VP Regions Bank has named Josh Coyne as vice president, consumer sales manager in Gulfport. He is responsible for the overall sales performance and skills development of the branch managers and sales teams in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, and for creating and expanding business development activities. A banking industry veteran with more than eight years of experience, Coyne previously served for Coyne more than three years as manager of the bank's Bay St. Louis branch.

A native of Bay St. Louis, he is a member of the Bay St. Louis Rotary Club. He and his wife, Dr. Amy Yarborough Coyne, and the daughter reside in Waveland.

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

8 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013 BOOKS ON MISSISSIPPI

EVENTS

Robert Khayat’s ‘The Education of a Lifetime’

The humor in economics

By STEPHEN McDILL mbj@msbusiness.com

University of Mississippi chancellor emeritus Robert Khayat’s much-anticipated memoir “The Education of A Lifetime” is not just the story of a man: It is the story of a school and a state.

Born in Moss Point, Khayat was a high school football standout and signed with Johnny Vaught’s Ole Miss Rebels in 1956.

“You represent all that is good about Mississippi. If you are champions, the state will be a champion,” Vaught once told the team. “We owe it to ourselves and to the people of Mississippi to be the best we can possibly be.”

That quote resonated with the young Khayat and would spur him on as his destiny continued to be woven into the Oxford campus.

Khayat’s childhood dream of being a doctor gave way to a short professional football career in the NFL after which he earned law degrees from Ole Miss and Yale Law School. He served as a law professor at Ole Miss until his appointment to chancellor in 1995.

While the opening chapters crackle with Khayat’s play-by-play football recollections with the Ole Miss Rebels and Washington Redskins, the real meat of the book dwells on his efforts to reform the University of Mississippi from a struggling Deep South college into “one of America’s great public universities.”

The book shows how Mississippi has evolved since the days of Jim Crow. One doesn’t need to look much further than Oxford to see the tug and pull that goes on today in Mississippi between the Old and New South.

When Khayat took the helm of the stately university in 1995 it had barely been a generation since the iconic campus was scarred by National Guardsmen and rioters clashing over the enforced admission of the segregated school’s first black student James Meredith.

During the early days of Khayat’s

tenure, Confederate battle flags, "Dixie" songs and Colonel Reb were still regular icons at the weekly football games. That is until the university’s administrative quarterback called an audible.

“The elephant in the room, of course, was Mississippi’s tragic race relations history,” Khayat writes. “The challenge was to move from segregation, separation and discrimination to an open society and culture with full access to all.”

Khayat writes of the conversations he had with friends, faculty and staff including Ole Miss football coach Tommy Tuberville. “We can’t recruit against the Confederate flag,” Tuberville told him.

After hiring a public relations firm and ordering a massive inspection of every inch of the Oxford campus and its institutions, Khayat came to the conclusion that “perception was a critical component of any forward movement for the university… that perception included not only how we were perceived by others, but how we perceived ourselves.”

While those difficult years of rebranding nearly reignited the Civil War in Mississippi, Khayat was emphatic that changes had to be made. “I want the best for our students,” he told faculty and staff.

Letters poured into his office including death threats that were investigated by the FBI. “Dixie” is still played at Ole Miss football games but the Colonel Reb mascot and the Confederate flags are officially gone. The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation was founded in 2006 and a memorial honoring James Meredith and the school’s 1962 integration was built that same year next to the famous Lyceum.

Increasing enrollment and contribu-

The book shows how Mississippi has evolved since the days of Jim Crow. One doesn’t need to look much further than Oxford to see the tug and pull that goes on today in Mississippi between the Old and New South.

» Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise, to be held on Sept. 26

By ALAN TURNER alan.turner@msbusiness.com

tions w e r e » The Education of a Lifetime K h a y a t ’ s By Robert Khayat other two Published by Nautilus Publishing leading pri- $24.95 softback orities and he vividly describes relationships with donors ranging from the eccentric Jackson socialite Gertrude Ford to the Silicon Valley billionaire Jim Barksdale, each of whom founded the university’s performing arts center and honors college.

Between 1995 and 2009, enrollment at Ole Miss increased 43 percent while minority enrollment grew 78 percent. Research and development grants topped $100 million.

Phi Beta Kappa, the country’s leading liberal arts honor society, awarded a chapter to Ole Miss and more than 800 students have since been inducted.

Perhaps, the university’s proudest achievement was hosting the nationallytelevised 2008 presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

“It wasn’t lost on the 3,000 journalists that we were hosting the first AfricanAmerican presidential candidate just a few hundred feet from where the Meredith crisis took place,” Khayat writes.

“Most importantly, I felt the world now had a better picture of the Ole Miss that I knew and loved.”

Khayat writes not as an outsider but as an insider. He is every bit an Ole Miss Rebel as anyone you’ll meet in The Grove on game day. He is just as candid in remembering his defeats as his victories whether its missing a critical field goal against the Tennessee Volunteers or having his bid to become dean of the Ole Miss law school rejected.

Khayat’s tenure was one of reform from within. While some of his decisions are controversial to this day, depending on who you ask, they no doubt put the University of Mississippi on the map and under the microscope.

That searing introspection and its inspiring results are well worth the read.

At this year’s Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise, to be held Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Jackson Convention Center, the focus will be partly on the lighter side of economics.

You didn’t know there was a lighter side to economics? Make your plans to attend this year’s Forum, and you’ll find yourself laughing along with a whole roomful of business and government leaders. That’s because this year’s keynote speaker will be America’s only stand-up economist, Yoram Bauman.

Bauman performs regularly at colleges and corporate events, and he’s share stages with everyone from Robin Bauman Williams to Paul Krugman.

For those who haven’t been exposed to his take on economic issues, it’s definitely good fun. Bauman indicates his goal is “to spread joy to the world through economic comedy and help to reform economic education.” In that regard, he’s right on track with the Mississippi Council for Economic Edu- Fitch cation, an organization dedicated to furthering economic education in Mississippi schools and “empowering children to be financially successful.” The Council has numerous programs to further these objectives, More info and as a non» Thad Cochran profit, is one of the state’s most Forum on American efficient and efEnterprise fective organizaWhen: Thursday, Sept. tions in terms of 26, 11:30-1:00 delivering services Tickets: with low adminiswww.mscee.org or trative costs. In fact, the MCEE (601) 974-1325. consistently ranks among the top 10 in the nation among all affiliated state Councils.

Also on tap to speak at this year’s event is Mississippi State Treasurer Lynn Fitch, who will share her views on economic education.

The annual Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise is one of MCEE’s key fundraising efforts. For more information, visit www.mscee.org to purchase tickets, or contact MCEE at (601) 974-1325.

The Forum will be held from 11:30-1:00 on Thursday, Sept. 26.

September 20, 2013

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FROM THE NEWSROOM

TECHNOLOGY

C Spire lands publication’s ranking through rewards program RIDGELAND — C Spire has returned for a second consecutive year on InformationWeek 500’s list of the nation’s top technology innovators.

InformationWeek lauded C Spire’s Information Technology for its work on PERCS, a consumer engagementbased rewards and loyalty program. In last year’s listing, InformationWeek recognized the Ridgelandbased wireless provider for development of a web-based customer relationship management system and middleware to support personalized sales and services.

In 2012, C Spire placed 49th overall and ranked the best among all U.S. wireless communications providers. This year, the company placed 160th on the annual list.

InformationWeek 500, the most prestigious business technology ranking, identifies and honors the nation’s most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing. Each year, 500 companies and projects across the U.S. are honored.

TECHNOLOGY

Dress for Success hosts red carpet evening The metro Jackson chapter of Dress for Success Worldwide will present its “Little Black Dress with a Tie” gala and silence auction at 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Mississippi Museum of Art and Art Garden, 380 Lamar St. Jackson.

The fall event is a key fundraiser for Dress for Success Metro Jackson, the state affiliate of Dress for Success Worldwide. The chapter has supported over 7,000 women on their journey toward financial independence by ‘suiting’ them in appealing workplace attire and helping them prepare to return to the work with self-confidence and the support they need to succeed.

Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide, will attend. Gordon was recently featured in the book Lean In by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg about women and their will to lead. The local chapter will also recognize community leaders and community organizations that help to advance the world for women and children.

Tickets are $50 in advance and $60 at the door. (Details: 601.985.9888 or jackson@dressforsuccess.org)

Ted Carter / MBJ

THE ANATOMY OF A SCAM Never assume that someone won’t or can’t scam you thought it sounded too good to be true when mere minutes after putting a couple of items for sale online I got a bite.

Turns out I was right, and it gave me an upclose-and-personal look at the sheer nerve and ingenuity of today’s online scammers.

I recently placed two items on the Jackson area Craigslist. It was the first time I ever offered anything for sale online, and being a Delta boy I was a little apprehensive.

Less than an hour after splashing up the items, I got a strong response for one of them. He offered to send a cashier’s check, would provide information on shipping later and would cover the postage.

Great, right?

Well, The Wife is much more savvy than I am when it comes to online transactions. She smelled something bad, mainly because the person’s phone number was out of state. So, she recommended telling the person that as soon as the check cleared the bank, we would proceed with the deal. I did, and the person raised no objections.

Last week, an envelope came Express Mail containing a seemingly legitimate cashier’s check for nearly 10 times the agreed-upon price. I was speechless.

I was also surprised to see that it had been posted in Texas City, Texas, from some clinic. I did a search for the clinic — nothing.

Hmmm…

The next morning I was on the phone with the Attorney General’s Office. Without even seeing the check, the AG staffer said it was a classic overpayment scheme. The account number on the check was legit, she said, but the check was totally bogus. And, if I

I

deposited it, the bank would come back on me for the money.

I subsequently checked with my bank, and they verified what the AG’s office said.

By this time, I was getting texts from the “buyer” wanting to know the status of the check. Unlike the earlier texts, these were poorly written — terrible

Still, I decided to exact Wally Northway some revenge.

For a better part of a week, I played the dumbest country bumpkin imaginable. I informed the scammer that the check was for much more than the agreed-upon price. Was he/she aware of this? What was I to do with the balance? Where was the address to ship the item? Considering the money involved, would it not be wiser to meet face to face?

Etc. Etc. With that, the thief started putting forth the most preposterous lies. Oh, the extra money was for some movers that were transporting the item for him. The difference was for them. The movers wouldn’t take a check, so I was just to hand them the item and the balance of the money in cash when they arrived — as a favor. When I still balked, the person offered me $100 if I would just deposit the check — “for your runings (sic).”

I just raised more concerns, and howled at the responses, sharing them with friends and family. After dozens of text messages, the scammer obviously just gave up. I bet the thief wanted to kill me — maybe literally. I haven’t heard a word since.

I learned a lot from this whole mess. One, the folks in the Consumer Protection Division of the AG’s Office are interested and more than willing to help.

Obviously I also discovered that when it comes to online transactions, one can never be too cautious. Thinking you’re too smart to get ripped off is utter stupidity.

Finally, I learned that there is not a more rewarding pastime than scamming a scammer.

I would like to think that I would have been smart enough not to fall for this scam. But, I honestly don’t know. If The Wife hadn’t raised concerns, would I have been duped? grammar — and the tone was threatening.

“Where is the check that is with you? You trying to rip me off from my money? If I don’t hear from you on today, I reported you to FBI.” Unbelievable.

I would like to think that I would have been smart enough not to fall for this scam. But, I honestly don’t know. If The Wife hadn’t raised concerns, would I have been duped?

I have been guilty in the past of wondering who in the devil would be so dumb as to fall for some of these schemes. Now, I know. This scammer was sophisticated, well organized and apparently fearless.

It was impressive.

Of course, by the time I started receiving the threatening messages, I already knew this was all a sham. It made me mad, but I got some satisfaction that at least the crook(s) was out the cost of postage.

Contact MBJ senior reporter Wally Northway at wally.northway@msbusiness.com or 601-364-1016

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10 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013 BANKING AND FINANCE

5-STAR BANKS

Mississippi banks out-perform national average in Bauer ratings

Here is the second quarter list of Mississippi’s five-star banks: » Bank of Anguilla: Anguilla, » Bank of Benoit: Benoit; » Bank of Bolivar County: Shelby; » Bank of Brookhaven: Brookhaven; » Bank of Forest: Forest; » Bank of Jones County: Laurel; » Bank of Morton: Morton; » Bank of Walnut Grove: Walnut Grove; » Bank of Yazoo City: Yazoo City; » BankFirst Financial Services: Macon; » Century Bank: Lucedale; » Charter Bank: Biloxi; » Citizens Bank: Byhalia; » Citizens Bank: Columbia; » Cleveland State Bank: Cleveland; » Commerce National Bank: Corinth; » Covington County Bank: Collins; » Farmers and Merchants Bank: Baldwyn; » First American National Bank: Iuka; » First Bank: McComb; » First Commercial Bank: Jackson » First Federal Savings and Loan: Aberdeen; » First Federal Savings and Loan: Pascagoula; » First National Bank of Clarksdale: Clarksdale; » First National Bank of Oxford: Oxford; » First National Bank of Pontotoc: Pontotoc; » First Southern Bank: Columbia; » First State Bank: Waynesboro; » Great Southern National Bank: Meridian; » Guaranty Bank: Belzoni; » Hancock Bank: Gulfport; » Jefferson Bank: Fayette; » Magnolia State Bank: Bay Springs; » Merchants and Marine Bank: Pascagoula; » Newton County Bank: Newton; » Oxford University Bank: Oxford; » Peoples Bank: Ripley; » Peoples Bank and Trust: North Carrollton; » Planters Bank and Trust: Indianola; » Richton Bank and Trust: Richton; » Sycamore Bank: Senatobia; » Tallahatchie County Bank: Charleston; » United Mississippi Bank: Natchez.

BY TED CARTER I STAFF WRITER ted.carter@msbusiness.com Mississippi’s banks dipped slightly in the second quarter from the same quarter last year in the percentage of banks making independent rating firm Bauer Financial’s list of “Recommended” banks but still outpaced the national average by more than 7 percentage points.

Bauer reports that 77.7 percent of bank in the Magnolia State made the “Recommended” list for 2Q. In the second quarter of 2012, Mississippi banks joined banks in 23 other states as having at least 80 percent of their banks rated as “Recommended” by Bauer, a Coral Gables, Fla., banking rating and financial data company.

Nationally, Bauer awarded “Recommended” ratings to 70 percent of the banks surveyed.

That’s a noticeable improvement over the same quarter a year, when Bauer limited its “Recommended” rating to 66.6 percent of the nation’s banks.

Bauer’s 2Q survey listed zero percent of Mississippi banks in the second quarter as “Troubled & “Problematic,” a designation the rating agency reserves for banks that fail to gain any stars. Bauer awarded only one star to OmniBank of Bay Springs, a designation that falls into the “Problematic” category. The FDICregulated bank’s assets fell from $75 million in the first quarter last year to $47.4 million in this year’s second quarter, down $1 million from the first quarter. The bank, which has three locations and 30 employees, had overdue loans and leases of $3.6 million at the close of the second quarter, a $200,000 improvement from the first quarter.

Only two Mississippi banks that received Five Star designations as “Superior” in the first quarter failed to gain the same designation in the second. Those banks were Jackson’s Trustmark and Greenwood’s Bank of Commerce. Both banks received four stars, a designation that carries a recommendation of “Excellent.”

New to the five-star list in the second quarter are Lucedale’s Century Bank, Jackson’s First Commercial Bank and Belzoni’s Guaranty Bank & Trust.

Mississippi market leader Regions Bank received a 3 ½ star ranking, as did regional heavyweight BancorpSouth of Tupelo. Another Tupelo-based regional, Renasant, garnered four stars just ahead of completion of its acquisition of Farmers and Merchants Bank, a Kosciuskobased institution with 38 locations.

Brandon’s BankPlus, a large Mississippi banking operation with 65 locations, received four stars.

Gulport’s Hancock Bank, a multi-state institution as well, remained in the “Superior” category by keeping the five stars awarded in the first quarter.

Regional bank Cadence, now headquartered in Birmingham after moving form Starkville, kept the five stars it won in the first quarter.

Bauer weighs each bank’s level of tier one risk-based capital and total risk-based capital ratio, as well as any profitability-and-loss trend.

It also evaluates the level of delinquent loans, charge-offs and repossessed assets, the market versus book value of the investment portfolio, regulatory supervisory agreements, the community reinvestment rating (CRA), historical data and liquidity.

TOURISM / ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Old school to new hotel? Developer set to take ownership this month BAY ST. LOUIS — The long awaited sale of Second Street Elementary School to New Orleans developer is scheduled to close Sept. 25. The deal has been more than a year in the making.

Developer Jim MacPhaille has been informally polling city officials and residents of the Second Street neighborhood to see what kind of development the neighbors would welcome. A condo hotel or hotel plus a restaurant and theater are on the short list, but MacPhaille is still in the early planning stage.

The latest hurdle in the sale of the school is the debated ownership of and access to a driveway across the street from the main school campus.

The school board’s attorney said all parties are working toward a fix so that the sale can be completed.

Ray Ban and Maui Jim. The locally owned business also sells camping, boating, hiking and other outdoor merchandise online and employs 50 people at locations in Gulfport and Waveland in addition to the new storefront in Bay St. Louis.

Green Canyon Outfitters sells more than 200,000 products and has set its goal to become the top outfitting source in the country.

HEALTHCARE

Ochsner takes over Hancock Medical BAY ST. LOUIS — The operation of Hancock Medical Center is in the hands of Ochsner Health System for 90 days. The board of supervisors signed a contract with Ochsner to improve how the county-owned medical facility performs.

Supervisors terminated the management contract with Quorum Health Resources, which had run the hospital for several years.

Ochsner’s Polly Davenport is leading the management team. She is CEO of Ochsner’s North Shore Region.

ECONOMY RETAIL

High-end outfitter opens storefront GULF COAST — A high-end outdoor store is now open on Beach Boulevard in Old Town Bay St. Louis. Green Canyon Outfitters carries brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Hard Tail, Olukai, Costa Del Mar,

Tax sale takes in nearly $2 million HANCOCK COUNTY — The annual tax sale in Hancock County brought in a total of $1,885,797 for 3,053 parcels, Tax Collector and Assessor Jimmie Ladner said the weak economy and insurance uncertainties in the coastal county contributed to the sale volume.

HEALTHCARE / ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Miss. lawmakers hear BlueCross-HMA dispute JACKSON — Mississippi lawmakers say they hope the state’s second-largest hospital company and largest health insurer will resolve a financial dispute before patients lose care or facilities close.

Health Management Associates, a Florida-based company that owns 10 Mississippi hospitals, sued Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi in June, saying that the insurance company broke contract terms by underpaying for procedures. Blue Cross says HMA overcharges.

Since Sept. 1, the HMA hospitals have been out-of-network for Blue Cross, meaning patients eventually could face higher out-ofpocket expenses.

Representatives of the two companies addressed the state House and Senate insurance committees Monday at the Capitol.

House Insurance Committee Chairman Gary Chism says if the dispute isn’t resolved by January, legislators might need to consider a bill that would essentially eliminate insurance networks for hospitals.

GOVERNMENT / CRIME

Ex-Vicksburg mayor, Paul Winfield, pleaded guilty to bribery JACKSON — Former Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield pleaded guilty Monday to bribery for seeking $10,000 in cash in exchange for a city contract.

Winfield pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Natchez. He faces up to 10 years at sentencing, scheduled for Nov. 19 before U.S. District Judge David C. Bramlette III. The plea deal prohibits Winfield from running for elected office in the future or applying to work for any government entity, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Gregory Davis. He also agreed to forfeit the bribe money.

Winfield, a Democrat, completed his first term as mayor this year and lost his re-election bid.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

Ladner said 1,182 parcels in the county went into state ownership, erasing $140,000 in revenue that would have gone to the local governments.

More property owners aren’t paying taxes and the lost land is taken from the tax roles, Lander said.

“The bulk that went to sale in the last two years was south of I-10,” he said. “A large portion being sold is attributable to people recognizing they may never come back.”

ENVIRONMENT

Turtle watch on Bay beach GULF COAST — Fencing has been placed along the waterfront on a small portion of the sand beach at Washington Street to temporarily discourage turtles from coming ashore and laying eggs.

Federal Wildlife and Fisheries officials don’t want the turtles to go near the culvert construction to improve drainage in the area.

To make sure no turtle nesting is taking place, the county sends someone out early every morning to check the area. Engineers say the work will be completed in 45 days and the turtle excluder fencing will come down.

Turtles are no strangers to the area. A fisherman hooked one identified as a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle this week. It was cared for by the Bay St. Louis Fire Department until it was delivered to the care of The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, which will release it back into the wild.

— Lisa Monti / MBJ

September 20, 2013

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HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY

» Columbus orthopaedic center debuts smartphone app for patients, other physicians

By BECKY GILLETTE I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

T

“The MSU Athletic Department is loving this (app),” said Dr. Scott Jones, and orthopaedic surgeon with Columbus Orthopaedic Clinic and Outpatient Center.

ODAY, WHEN AN athletic trainer at Mississippi State University has a question about the orthopaedic care of one of its athletes, instead of making a telephone call to schedule a visit and do other business, he or she can use a smartphone to send a question — or even a photograph of the athlete’s injury — straight to the orthopedist or nurse at the Columbus Orthopaedic Clinic and Outpatient Center.

The Columbus Orthopaedic Clinic has recently instituted a new smartphone app that provides quick and efficient interactions between patients, physicians, referring physicians, athletic trainers and home health nurses to confer about treatments, make appointments, find directions to the clinic or other facilities, check on test results, contact the billing department or connect to reliable links such as to American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery that provide information about the condition being treated.

“The MSU Athletic Department is loving this,” said Dr. Scott Jones, an orthopaedic surgeon with the clinic. “We are the team doctors for Mississippi State. Their athletic trainers have such incredible access with this that it is a big hit. With a big athletic department, including six or eight trainers, they are contacting our office literally every hour about this. This is an incredible tool for them. And we have only been live a few weeks. It gives them instant access to us, instead of finding time to call to ask a question or try to get a patient appointment. We have integrated everything about a person’s ortho care through this one site. It is easy, friendly, and it is really complete.”

“Our staff really appreciates the ease of using this app,” said Mary McLendon, director of sports medicine for MSU women’s basketball. “It gives us a way to quickly get prescription refills and schedule appointments. I personally like the links to information about common orthopaedic conditions. It is nice to be able to refer student-athletes and their parents to trusted resources on the web, since there is a lot of misinformation out there.

We obviously think very highly of the care our doctors provide, and this is another way they are trying to improve the patient experience.”

Kara Roberts, a patient of Dr. Russell Linton, said the Columbus Orthopedic app for iPhones and Androids is a handy tool for setting up appointments or refilling meds.

“It also offers the contact info for the various related offices — no more digging through the phone book or searching online,” she said. “You can also access your patient portal and see X-rays and such. All in all, it is a handy app for patients.”

And it isn’t just for patients. The app is also a time saving, efficient tool for physicians, referring physicians,

Courtesy of Columbus Orthopaedic Clinic and Outpatient Center

See

APP, Page 15

AN MBJ FOCUS:

INSURANCE & EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

AT HOME

» Coastal home insurance scene expensive, but improving 8 years after Hurricane Katr

By LYNN LOFTON I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

T

HE COST OF insurance continues to be a common lament among homeowners in the state’s three coastal counties. As more insurance companies write coverage in Mississippi, will competition cause costs to decrease? Should anyone contemplating the purchase of a home buy now before insurance prices increase more?

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney isn’t dispensing advice on what individuals should or should not do regarding home purchases, but he does assess the overall condition of coastal insurance in a positive light. “It’s improving due to the addition of new companies, mitigation discounts and limited grant funds for retro-fit mitigation,” he said. “We have more homeowner companies ‘in play’ on the Coast than we have ever had when you include the surplus lines companies.”

As for rates increasing, Chaney says rates have gone up, varying by company and property location. “Rates in the coastal counties have increased from 20 to 65 percent since Hurricane Katrina. Some specific companies have gone up more than 150 percent, but their market share has decreased by 50 percent,” he said. “The Mississippi Insurance Department encourages consumers to shop around and know what their coverage is.”

Veteran Bay St. Louis insurance agent

Angelyn Treutel, president of SouthGroup Insurance-Gulf Coast, points out that insurance comes in so many different types and packages, making shopping for insurance confusing. “Each company has different guidelines and coverage,” she said. “The good news is that we have more carriers writing property insurance on the Coast.

Several are writing with wind coverage included, but each company has different criteria, and they typically prefer to write newer homes or homes more than one mile from water. More competition in the marketplace leads to better pricing and more options for coastal consumers.”

There has been no major storm in coastal Mississippi for eight years, and Treutel says the coastal market is better each year that goes by without such a storm. Chaney recommends that homeowners shop around and mitigate by making their homes stronger and more resistant to storms.

Treutel, who is also a CPA, said, “Homeowners need to do whatever they can to make their property more attractive to the insurance marketplace. There are many variables that affect home rates, including credit, prior claims, type of home construction – better built construction means lower rates – age of home, age of roof, bundling policies with same carrier, taking higher deductible options and carefully selecting only desired endorsements.”

Additionally, she says most of the better carriers offering the better rates are now

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Angelyn Treutel, president of SouthGroup Insurance-Gulf Coast, says, “We have more carriers writing property insurance on the erage included, but each company has different criteria, and they typically prefer to write newer homes or homes more than one m marketplace leads to better pricing and more options for coastal consumers.”

more closely scrutinizing the homeowners’ pride of ownership, which means the companies conduct a thorough inspection of the property to determine how well the property is maintained and kept free of hazards, such as having tree limbs on the roof or shrubs rubbing the sides of a home, which can damage the structure, and checking that the property is free of yard debris.

“Some homeowners have been displeased with the carrier’s inspection process and the resulting requirements to make repairs or cut tree limbs in order to retain their coverage,” Truetel said. “The insurance companies are imposing the requirements to reduce hazards, and by doing so they can

offer better pricing to consumers.

“If a homeowner chooses not to comply with the requests, then their coverage must be re-written with a higher-priced insurance provider. This practice has been followed for many years for business and commercial insurance, and now we are seeing it occur much more in the personal lines arena.”

Many coastal residents – depending on location – are required to carry wind coverage and national flood insurance; both can be pricey. The lack of wind coverage provided by private carriers forced a large number of homeowners into the State Windpool, insurance coverage of last re-

sort. Ho ing to wr number “It rema tial de-p As of mately 7 force in Flood I cording t Congres fice, insu are watc rate incr other ye tinue to

September 20, 2013 • MISSISSIPPI BUSINESS JOURNAL • www.msbusiness.com

AT WORK » Commercial insurance market is stable and growing

ane Katrina

By LISA MONTI I CONTRIBUTOR mbj@msbusiness.com

T

File photo/Brenda Simkins / Special to the MBJ

perty insurance on the Coast. Several are writing with wind covomes more than one mile from water. More competition in the

mply must surfoland seeonal

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sort. However, with more companies willing to write wind coverage, Chaney says the number in the windpool is not increasing.

“It remains level, but we see some potential de-population of the windpool.”

As of late 2012, there were approximately 75,000 flood insurance policies in force in Mississippi through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), according to Chaney. With a move in the U.S. Congress to raise NFIP rates, Chaney’s office, insurance agents, realtors and bankers are watching developments closely. Large rate increases have been delayed for another year, and coastal residents will continue to monitor the situation.

HE OVERALL STATE of the commercial insurance market in Mississippi is stable and growing, according to state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney.

One market trend Chaney sees is increases in the commercial auto and workers compensation rates. “That is due to the fact that we are coming out of a soft market,” he said.

Insurance executives are focused on two looming national issues — the increase in flood insurance premiums and the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Both are expected to have a profound impact on insurance carriers and policyholders.

The closer to the Mississippi Gulf Coast you get, the more alarmed people become about the potential game changing costs of flood insurance for business owners and homeowners.

Certainly, wind and flood insurance issues are uppermost on the mind of John “Shorty” Sneed, president of Stewart Sneed Hewes, a division of Bancorpsouth, in Gulfport.

“The flood insurance program has been subsidized by the federal government since 1968 and was never meant to be actuarily sound,” Sneed said. Insurance companies didn’t want to take the risk of covering flooding so the federal government stepped in, he said.

The controversial Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 was designed to make the federal flood insurance program self sustaining.

But by taking away the federal subsidies to keep premiums down, the new law will unleash what Sneed calls gigantic flood insurance increases.

“It’s the single biggest problem for people on the Gulf Coast,” he said. “If you have flood insurance, you’ve got a problem.”

The increased premium for commercial businesses and condominiums will kick in Oct. 1. A measure to delay any increases has passed the House and is awaiting Senate approval.

Sneed said the higher premiums eventually will reach every area of the country.

“They remapped Mississippi and Louisiana first and we’re the first to feel the effects of it and it’s a gigantic economic bomb. People

can’t pay that kind of money all of a sudden. I don’t care if you give them five years to pay.”

The Coast also is facing windpool increases, Sneed said.

Charles Porter, CEO of the South Central Region of Regions Insurance Group, said the Affordable Care Act “probably will be the largest change in health insurance that there ever has been.”

Porter said finding insurance in Mississippi isn’t a problem. “There are plenty of carriers in the marketplace for the state of Mississippi,: he said. “Including all the national companies that advertise heavily on television such as Travelers and State Farm as well as some

very good regional companies.”

The robust marketplace “creates competition and competition drives costs down,” he said.

Porter said banks getting into the insurance business is a fairly recent phenomenon “going back 15 years ago or so.” He said the banks saw a good opportunity for cross sales. “An individual can do their banking and insurance business all in one entity,” he said.

Porter said Regions is seeing how the weak job market is affecting job seekers, in particular young college graduates.

See

WORK, Page 14

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INSURANCE & EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

14 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013

WORK

Like most companies, Porter said, the recession from 2008 to 2010 “impacted us negatively. Most of our customers were getting smaller and we had many businesses that for whatever reason went out of business.�

But now things are looking up, Porter said, and he describes himself as bullish on the economy. “I personally think the economy is going to do well. It is doing well and is going to do better as long as the government doesn’t get in the way,� he said.

Continued from Page 13

“A lot of young people are looking for jobs right now and we see a large number of college graduates across the state not just with college degrees but with graduate degrees as well as others. They are having as hard a time finding jobs as I’ve seen in my career.�

Porter said Regions Insurance is having “a good year,� and 2012 was a good year, too.

Mississippi Insurance Alliance celebrates 10th anniversary Special to the MBJ

SIAA, Inc. — the largest Alliance of Independent Property & Casualty Insurance Agencies in the country – is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Mississippi Insur-

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ance Alliance of Jackson as an SIAA Master Agency.

According to SIAA chairman & CEO Jim Masiello, “With a decade of successful growth, Mississippi Insurance Alliance has achieved a significant milestone for which our Master Agencies strive. “Their longevity affirms SIAA’s standing as the premiere alliance of independent insurance agencies across the country.

Our model has worked for over 30 years now — through soft and hard markets, economic downturns, extreme competition — virtually all conditions.� “Our alliance is designed to help insurance agents at all stages.� said MIA manager Ladd Bratcher. “Our retail agency, The Insurance Mart, is celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. Sharing that agency development expertise as an SIAA Master Agency was a natural extension of our tradition. Our members gain access to competitive insurance companies, the opportunity to earn profit sharing, and avail themselves of vendor discounts and marketing tools.�

Mississippi Insurance Alliance continues to grow by working “from the inside out� with its members to help them maximize their efforts.

They have been a Master Agency partner of SIAA since 2003.

With a territory spanning the entire state of Mississippi, they are one of the most significant independent agency groups in the region. Get more information about Mississippi Insurance Alliance, at www.msinsalliance.com.

The SIAA (Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance) concept originated in New England in 1983 where many local insurance agencies were finding it difficult to receive carrier appointments, start new insurance agencies, compete against larger insurance agencies, and receive profit sharing.

SIAA is a national alliance with billions in combined profitable premium. SIAA utilizes its stability and strength through traditional and alternative market channels for the purpose of providing insurance consumers with competitive choices in addition to providing significant profit and equity appreciation opportunities for SIAA Member Agencies.

This national alliance of insurance agencies has engaged more than 4,500 members. For additional information about SIAA, visit www.siaa.net.

INSURANCE & EMPLOYEE BENEFITS APP

Continued from Page 11

physical therapists, home health nurses, athletic trainers, and anyone else who interacts with patients. “This could be the wave of the future,�

Jones said. “It is so common sense it is hard to believe we haven’t done it before. There are so many opportunities to help patients and our own efficiency and doctor referrals.�

The big thing in software and in business right now is mobile applications. People love the convenience of taking care of business and even keeping up with social media like Facebook. “These mobile applications are just taking over everything,� Jones said. “If people have five minutes to get something done, they would rather use their smartphone to do it immediately instead of waiting until they get home. “With the growth in mobile applications, we wanted to make it easier for anyone who interacts with us or our patients. This provides direct access to contact our office for anything from scheduling surgery to checking on insurance. “You have direct access straight into the clinic with no wait.�

The clinic has a sophisticated electronic medical record system. The app can be used for patients to access their own records, and for providers to share information with other members of the treatment team. “If you have an appointment today for a MRI scan, you can get on the app and see results,� Jones said. “It is your information, and you can view it. “So there are just countless ways this is convenient to our patients. You can contact a nurse to ask a question about your medicine without getting on phone, and without waiting.�

The app also helps tremendously with office efficiency.

When the clinic recently installed a sophisticated fiber optic system a few months ago, they got 100 calls in five minutes. They had to get an automatic operator to sort calls.

This app will allow people to go straight in and access anyone at the clinic without going through the telephone.

Another advantage is the ease of record keeping. An example is if patient calls in and leaves a message that a medicine is making him itch, and another medicine is requested. The nurse answers the message, logs it into the patient chart, and then explains what is going to be done to resolve the problem. It cuts down on the amount of time needed for information to be put in the medical records. “We can do it faster,� Jones said. “We are making more efficient use of our time and your time. If you are a patient wanting a first time appointment, you can use this app to put in your information, and when you get in to the office, your chart is waiting for you. Anything we

do to respect your time is going to help our customer satisfaction, and that is what it is all about. It also could absolutely cut down on inaccuracies.�

If there is a problem with an incision or swelling, there is an app where the therapist, trainer or home health nurse can take pictures of the problem, and shoot a picture straight to the chart and the physician. It makes it efficient reporting a problem with a patient.

The app even has a GPS function to give you directions to the clinic or other treat-

September 20, 2013

ment centers.

There is also a special page for worker’s compensation patients and caseworkers that can be very useful.

It also allows physicians to communicate with their patients.

For example, if Jones wants to send out information about a free sports physical day, he can send out a message to everyone on his list. “It allows social media advertising to my followers for free,� he said. “It saves me having to rent a billboard.�

I

Mississippi Business Journal

15

How many people have smart phones? It is a huge number, and increasing every day.

People without smartphones can get access through their home computer or the old fashioned way through the telephone. “We have a phone line for those who don’t have a smartphone, but more and more people want to live this way,� Jones said. “It is easy, seamless, respects their time better, and doesn’t cost a dime. We want people to walk out a satisfied customer.

That is how we run our business and that is how we grow.�

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16 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013

INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENCIES

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INCORPORATIONS

18 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013 July 2013 Incorporations

Mississippi Charter Schools Association NP 7/30/13 125 S. Congress Street, Suite 1508 39201

This is the July 2013 list of the state’s newly incorporated businesses from the Secretary of State’s Office. Listed are towns from Jackson to Yazoo City. Listings include business name, type, date formed and location. Addresses reflect legal entity for service of process, not necessarily the new business entities’ operating address.

Jackson cont’d Johnny’s Markhat LLC LLC 7/16/13 623 E Court Street Jordan’s Marketing DBA OTH 7/8/13 3926 Bishop Ave JRA Painting & Remodeling LLC LLC 7/9/13 4212 El Paso St JSU Hair Studio LLC LLC 7/17/13 1400 Jr Lynch St Jump at the Sun-Youth Community Foundation NP 7/9/13 3600 Old Jackson Road Terry 39170 Juventio, LLC LLC 7/11/13 506 South President Street Karen K Whitworth Properties, LLCLLC 7/11/13 4450 Old Canton Road, Suite 200 (39211) Keith Enterprises LLC LLC 7/22/13 1985 South McRaven Rd KHS USA, Inc. BUS 7/19/13 506 South President Street KHSA Cargo and Development Group LLCLLC

7/15/13 506 South President Street KJ & Associates Inc. BUS 7/10/13 2025 West Capitol St KR&S Properties II, LLC LLC 7/15/13 385 Edgewood Terrace Drive Lamar Resources, LLC LLC 7/22/13 4120 Eastover Drive (39211) Lavish Musik Studio & Photography LLC LLC

7/8/13 2460 Terry Rd #400 Lee Benson DBA OTH 7/11/13 125 Woodland Lane LifeShield LLC LLC 7/15/13 506 South President Street Lindsey Real Estate Company LLC LLC 7/30/13 262 Sundown Trail Livevox Inc BUS 7/10/13 506 South President Street LV Bowstring LLC LLC 7/17/131400 Meadowbrook Road, Suite 102 LV Marion LLC LLC 7/17/131400 Meadowbrook Road, Suite 102 LV Plantain LLC LLC 7/17/131400 Meadowbrook Road, Suite 102 LV Solicito LLC LLC 7/17/131400 Meadowbrook Road, Suite 102 M&G Productions LLC LLC 7/10/13 506 South President Street MaLamar Construction and Moving Consultants LLC LLC 7/2/13 4342 Lake Vista Dr MaMa’s Kitchen DBA OTH 7/11/13 125 Woodland Lane Manning Plumbing & Construction LLC LLC

7/29/13 152 Thousand Oaks Circle March Home Repair LLC LLC 7/30/13 20 Matt Circle of Jackson, Ms 39212 Mark Metcalf Realty, LLC LLC 7/8/13 5553 Marblehead Drive Marrs Electric, Inc of Arkansas BUS 7/25/13 405 Briarwood DR STE 103A McGee Corporation of MS BUS 7/24/13 1625 E. County Line Rd. #200-127 ME & U LLC LLC 7/26/13 820 Cooper Rd Jackson, Ms 39213 Meek’s Creations LLC LLC 7/30/13 820 Cooper Rd St I Memory Lanes LLC LLC 7/19/13 1358 Deerfield Ln Michelle Cleveland Designs LLC LLC 7/31/13 5339 Ridgewood Road Midland Professional Services, Inc.

BUS

7/8/13 506 South President Street Mike Turner Construction LLC LLC 7/16/13 125 S Congress Street Suite 1240 Millside LLC LLC 7/30/13 1200 Meadowbrook Road, Unit #27 Mind - Right Motivation Limited Liability Company LLC 7/11/13 2630 Hemingway Circle Minn Miss Housing Associates LLC LLC 7/24/13 2458 Wild Valley Drive Mirror Mirror Designer Resale, LLCLLC 7/26/13 1491 Canton Mart Suite #7 Mississippi Book Festival NP 7/22/13 121 North State Street

Mississippi Urology Outpatient Surgery Center, LLC LLC 7/10/13 4268 I-55 N, Meadowbrook Office Park My Own-Health Resources, LLC LLC 7/3/13 506 South President Street N & S Cleaners Inc. BUS 7/16/13 3814 Bailey Ave Nadler and Associates, P.C. PA 7/18/13 2625 Ridgewood Road, Suite 202 Nations Equipment Finance Funding I, LLCLLC

7/3/13 506 South President Street Never Satisfied Customs LLC LLC 7/19/13 2914 Oakmont Dr New Horizon Ventures LLC LLC 7/25/13 4270 I-55 North Nextep Business Solutions VII Inc BUS 7/15/13 248 East Capitol Street, Suite 840 Nhancement for U LLC LLC 7/2/13 509 Kirkley Dr Northgate Homeowners Association of Jackson NP 7/9/13 285 Somerset Drive NU P.A.S.S.A.G.E. “People Achieving Soul Sight Accountability Growth Excellence” NP

7/19/13 931 Arbor Vista Blvd Omega Tau Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated NP 7/11/13 230 Valley Ridge Dr Open Solutions, LLC LLC 7/31/13 506 South President Street Oppex Media & Industries LLC LLC 7/10/13 506 South President Street Optimal One Solutions, LLC LLC 7/16/13 352 Hillandale Drive Orion Systems Group LLC LLC 7/26/13 405 Briarwood Dr Ste 103 A Orion-Energy Efficiency LLC LLC 7/31/13 1401 Fourth Ave Osco Facilities Management, Inc. BUS 7/29/13 506 South President Street Outback Barbeque, Inc BUS 7/24/13 528 Willaman St. P. Bateman Holdings, LLC LLC 7/1/13 103 Saint Andrews Drive PBM Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BUS 7/31/13 506 South President Street Peachtree Southern Holdings, LLC LLC 7/15/13 C/o Watkins & Eager Pllc Peggy Blake Enterprises LLC LLC 7/31/13 809 North State St Suite 516 Perk-N LLC LLC 7/31/13 1059 Voorhees PermaPlate Company LLC LLC 7/15/13 4268 I-55 North Phenomenal Gifts LLC LLC 7/15/13 3737 Timbercrest Dr Pinnacle Rehabilitation LLC LLC 7/19/13 506 South President Street Plasma Biological Services, LLC LLC 7/17/13 3505 Terry Rd., Suite 204 Poynor Auto, LLC LLC 7/3/13 506 South President Street Precision Erection Company, Inc BUS 7/8/13 506 South President Street Prestige Employee Administrators, Inc. BUS

7/22/13 506 South President Street Providigm, LLC LLC 7/25/13 506 South President Street Pure Momentum LLC LLC 7/15/13 1428 Wooddell Dr Purely Sophisticated, LLC LLC 7/9/13 1636 Raymond Rd Apt 2B Quality Communications, Inc. BUS 7/8/13 912 North West Street Quan Am Tinh Vien NP 7/30/13 1757 University Blvd Ste 6 Ratliff Farms, LLC LLC 7/19/13 7774 Clinton Tinnin Road Ravago Americas LLC LLC 7/18/13 506 South President Street Rebasco Decorators, Inc. BUS 7/19/13 405 Briarwood Drive, Ste 103a RecordMax Baton Rouge, LLC LLC 7/22/13 40 Northtown Dr Rhea & Esha Management & Investment, LLC LLC 7/3/13 4270 I-55 North Royal Gulf Manager, LLC LLC 7/19/13 506 South President Street Sanford Select Motors LLC LLC 7/2/13 160 Office Park Plaza Santa Margherita USA, Inc BUS 7/30/13 506 South President Street Scariano Brothers, L.L.C. LLC 7/9/13 840 Trustmark Blvd, 248 E Capital St #840 Seaone Pascagoula, LLC LLC 7/24/13 506 South President Street ShareLink, Inc. BUS 7/30/13 1701 N State St

Shun and Johns Inc BUS 7/15/13 1750 Ellis Ave Suite E SI Group LLC LLC 7/16/13 2718 Utah St Siney Creative LLC LLC 7/17/13 501 Marshall Street #406 SL-Pearl, MS-1-UT, LLC LLC 7/17/13 840 Trustmark Building Southern Cable Services LLC LLC 7/17/13 506 S President St Specialty Party Rentals LLC LLC 7/22/13 446 Knobhill Dr St. Augustine School NP 7/1/13 4056 Redwing Ave State Street Food Mart Inc BUS 7/10/13 4145 North State Street Stephannie Welsh Design, LLC LLC 7/31/13 1444 Belle Glade Street StoMaxice, LLC LLC 7/29/13 40 Northtown Dr Sullivan Real Estate Investments LLC

LLC

7/19/13 1611 Countrywood Dr (39213) Sun Rise Properties LLC LLC 7/10/13 3855 Azelia Drive Superior Environmental Corp.

BUS 7/31/13 248 E CAPITOL ST #840 Surdex Corporation BUS 7/30/13 840 Trustmark Building T & L Development LLC LLC 7/15/13 4152 Ridgewood Road T. Matthew Jones, MD, PLLC PLLC 7/22/13 190 E. Capitol Street, Suite 100 Taste Boutique, LLC LLC 7/16/13 4107 Northview Drive Ste B-8 TCepnioLaxCamps LLC LLC 7/22/13 1319 Hazel Street TCP Block 1 North Manager Corp BUS 7/11/13 953 Highway 51, Suite D (Madison 39110) Terex Utilities Inc BUS 7/10/13 506 South President Street Terry Seafood & Hot Wings DBA OTH 7/23/13 3356 Fleetwood Dr The Ivy Venue LLC LLC 7/9/13 1422 Highland Park The Ivy, LLC LLC 7/9/13 1422 Highland Park The K9 Unit LLC LLC 7/26/13 5342 Dogwood Trial The Leavitt Insurance Group of Atlanta, Inc. BUS 7/19/13 506 South President Street The Little Clinic of Mississippi LLC LLC 7/19/13 506 South President Street Thessalonia McKinney Bingham DBA

OTH

7/30/13 128 Queen Joanna Lane Thompson and Thompson Construction LLC LLC 7/16/13 921 N Congress St Three Sisters Real Estate, LLC LLC 7/26/13 1437 Old Square Road Suite # 202 Thuy Thi Van LLC LLC 7/24/13 2106 Raymond Rd Tickled PINK Communications & Entertainment, LLC LLC 7/30/13 6193 Floral Drive TJC Products Enterprises LLC LLC 7/19/13 2460 Terry Rd #700 Transcend Laud Notary Agent LLC LLC 7/9/13 226 Queen Victoria Ln (39209) Transcend Laud Store LLC LLC 7/9/13 226 Queen Victoria Ln Trim Salon, LLC LLC 7/8/13 419 Mitchell Avenue TrueAccord Corp.

BUS 7/3/13 506 South President Street Tung Van Duong DBA OTH 7/23/13 3356 Fleetwood Dr Vaughey Investments VBV&SK, LLC

LLC

7/2/13 190 East Capitol Street Suite 100 Veal Printing Impressions LLC LLC 7/11/13 2440 Morton Ave. Ste a Viasant LLC LLC 7/25/13 506 South President Street Wentworth-DeAngelis, Inc. BUS 7/1/13 506 South President Street WF-FD Master Lease I, LLC LLC 7/31/13 506 South President Street Workforce Solutions LLC 7/24/13 126 E. Amite Street X-IT Strategy, Inc BUS 7/17/13 5965 Hwy 18 Ste G Yahshua Transportation Service LLC

7/9/13

LLC

1944 Linda Lane

Kilmichael John Patrick White LP LP 7/10/13 420 Vaiden-Kilmichael Road

Kiln AMK, LLC 7/2/13

LLC 6116 Firetower Rd.

D & J Racing Stables Inc. BUS 7/26/13 1080 Road 377 JL Browne LLC LLC 7/11/13 6182 Shawnee Street Little Guy Farm LLC 7/24/13 17140 Bayou La Terre Road Little Guy Rentals, LLC LLC 7/24/13 17140 Bayou La Terre Road

Kokomo L & P Claim Service, LLC LLC 7/26/13 1171 Hwy 98 W

Kosciusko Thomas L. Bailey, LLC LLC 7/1/13 121 Shields Road Willie C. Anderson Foundation NP 7/23/13 2030 Damascus Church Rd

Waterfront Industries, LLC LLC 7/24/13 5 Earline Ct

Louisville Crosswalk Ministries NP 7/10/13 4166 Bond Road Susan F Watts LLC LLC 7/11/13 10258 Brooksville Road Turnipseed Recreational Park Inc NP 7/11/13 2783 Bethany Ebenezer Road

Lucedale Crossroads Christian Academy, Inc. NP 7/22/13 164 Shelby Rogers Road Crossroads United Pentecostal Church, Inc. NP 7/22/13 162 Shelby Rogers Road DH Knight Property Investments, LLC

LLC

Lake Cormorant

7/30/13 25809 Ramie Farm Raod Nulook Construction LLC LLC 7/24/13 216 Sanford Drive The Edge Ministries NP 7/10/13 87 Pine Street Triple L Holdings, Inc. BUS 7/18/13 138 Gay Pierce Road

United Car Carriers LLC LLC 7/2/13 5425 Church Rd

Lumberton

Lake T & S Transport, LLC LLC 7/23/13 635 Crosby Road

Abercrombie Underground Solutions LLCLLC

Lamar Circle G Tractor Corp 7/10/13

BUS 842 Hwy 72

Laurel 1278 Highway 98 E, LLC LLC 7/2/13 2905 Industrial Blvd C&B Equipment, LLC LLC 7/30/13 535 North 5th Avenue Calhoun Tire LLC LLC 7/18/13 5259 Highway 84 W Chad’s Lakeview LLC LLC 7/10/13 3222 N 5th Ave Eastview Baptist Church of Laurel NP 7/17/13 223 Victory Road FHW Investments, LLC LLC 7/23/13 926 West 15th Street HGM Consulting LLC LLC 7/17/13 5 Quail Run Lane JGW Oil Properties, LLC LLC 7/23/13 926 West 15th Street Joey Pitts Consultant LLC LLC 7/25/13 96 Davenport Rd Just Drive One LLC LLC 7/11/13 409 North 15th Ave Laurel Advanced Medical Equipment LLC LLC

7/2/13

1523 W 10th Street

Mississippi College Fund Planning LLC

LLC

7/8/13 2404 Audubon Dr Precision Lawn Management LLC LLC 7/3/13 254 Lower Myrick Rd Rasberry Producer Group, LLC LLC 7/22/13 312 Front Street San Marcos Distributors, LLC LLC 7/1/13 1500 N 5th Avenue South Mississippi Dyslexia School at Heidelberg Academy NP 7/23/13 414 West Oak Street

Leakesville Little S Lands LLC LLC 7/9/13 438 Main Street M.R. Investments, LLC LLC 7/23/13 504 Callas Court

Leland Chustz Landforming Inc BUS 7/10/13 309 Sycamore St Telecommunications Management LLC LLC

7/29/13 101 South Deer Creek Drive The Leland Cafe, LLC LLC 7/3/13 117 E 3rd St

Liberty Jones Law Group, P.A. PA 7/2/13 147 S. Holmes Street

Long Beach M & J’s LLC LLC 7/23/13 18308 C Commission Rd Nancy’s Medical Billing, LLC LLC 7/29/13 112 N Seashore Ave Spine Institute of Mississippi, Inc.BUS 7/8/13 20144 Pineville Road Suite E The Fueling Station LLC LLC 7/8/13 5043 Beatline Rd VT Holdings LLC LLC 7/29/13 21408 Prattwood Lane

7/11/13 Fireproof Panthers 7/11/13 Health Protect PC 7/12/13 R. J. Silvia LLC 7/12/13

6 Small Street NP 404 E Cobb Ave PA 7985 Highway 11 LLC 77 Ed Ladner Rd

Lyon Colt Cradle, Inc. 7/2/13

NP 500 Killebrew

Maben J. E. Shurden Construction LLC LLC 7/26/13 4087 Highway 82 West

Macon South Sea Trading LLC LLC 7/29/13 69 Jack Tate Rd

Madison A & N Enterprises LLC LLC 7/19/13 106 Whisper Lake Blvd Ageless Max, LLC LLC 7/22/13 140 Wind Dance Drive ASH Healthcare Consulting LLC LLC 7/25/13 129 Hampton Way BCE Inc. BUS 7/18/13 1888 Main St. #c197 Black River ATV, LLC LLC 7/2/13 108 Lexington Drive Brown Genetics LLC LLC 7/17/13 176 Lake Mannsdale CEC Electrical, Inc. BUS 7/19/13 124 One Madison Plaza, Suite 1100 CFFG, Inc BUS 7/30/13 456 Annandale Parkway Chaney-Wynne, LLC LLC 7/3/13 212 Key Drive Ste 2e Cliburn Properties LLC LLC 7/29/13 517 Cobblestone Court, Suite 1 DBC Holdings, LLC LLC 7/30/13 228 Industrial Drive North DC Burgers, LLC LLC 7/11/13 134 Weisenberger Road Desoto Estates, LLC LLC 7/30/13124 One Madison Plaza, Suite 1500 Devon Technologies, LLC LLC 7/29/13 10 Foxcroft Court Distinctive Homes of MS, LLC LLC 7/17/13 113 Rosedowne Bend DLD Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/3/13 105 Brisage Drive (39110) ELA Mission LLC LLC 7/10/13 500 Cobblestone Ct Gamblin Real Estate LLC LLC 7/12/13 421 Kingsbridge Road God and My Girlfriends NP 7/2/13 710 Wood Gate Drive GOSH, LLC LLC 7/25/13 732 Magnolia Street Highland Colony Pkway-Block-1, LLC

LLC

7/24/13 953 Highway 51 North, Suite 2 N IBC Government Services Inc BUS 7/10/13 1888 Main St. Ste C148 Income Tax Services of Ridgeland Inc

BUS

7/9/13 265 Hawthorne Drive Insurance Direct RMG LLC LLC 7/30/13 168 Eastpointe Cr. (39110)

Jolly-Lewis Enterprises Inc BUS 7/30/13 104 Ashbrook Trail JST Construction, LLC LLC 7/18/13 127 Greenridge Dr Lowe Resources LLC LLC 7/24/13 352 Long Cove Dr. Mansfield Partners LP LP 7/30/13124 One Madison Plaza, Suite 1500 McCain Enterprises LLC LLC 7/8/13 620 Johnstone Dr Metamorphosis Inc BUS 7/30/13 312 Sonoma Cove MS Electrical Service LLC LLC 7/16/13 108 Chatterly Cove N3 Holdings LLC LLC 7/10/13 961 Madison Avenue 39110 Petroleum Tower Group, L.P. LP 7/25/13 102 First Choice Drive Professional Therapy Solutions LLC

LLC

7/16/13 7712 Old Canton Rd Ste A Roots Run Deep LLC LLC 7/16/13 104 Lone Wolf Drive Saif Exports LLC LLC 7/16/13 109 Sycamore Ridge Saltillo Tree Farm LLC LLC 7/15/13 C/o Pinnacle Trust Co Sandhu Spirits LLC LLC 7/8/13 475 Fairfield Drive South Stone Construction LLC LLC 7/12/13 141 Ashbrooke Trail Spirit and Soul of a Woman Transitional Center Inc NP 7/15/13 655 Boxwood Place Strategic Energy Management LLCLLC 7/17/13 113 Fairfield Circle TEDbrains Inc BUS 7/1/13 428 Pine Ridge Drive Three’s Company, LLC LLC 7/3/13 167 Wright’s Mill Drive W B Taylor LLC LLC 7/10/13 132 Park Avenue We Care for All, LLC LLC 7/19/13 6345 Woodstock Dr Jackson, Ms 39206 Whittington, LLC LLC 7/8/13 729 Danforth Dr Worth Waiting For, Inc. NP 7/29/13 225 Kingsbridge Rd

Magee Ace Boon Farms LLC LLC 7/16/13 360 Simpson Highway 149 Ste 220 Weston Auto Sales, LLC LLC 7/26/13 1100 Hwy 49 North

Magnolia Cajun Longhorn Farms, LLC LLC 7/17/13 2432 McClendon Road

Mantachie Soundscape Marketing LLC LLC 7/9/13 516 Shiloh Mantachie Rd

Marion Holistic Geriatric Care LLC LLC 7/8/13 10026 Lizelia Road (Meridian 39305) PharmaGene, LLC LLC 7/9/13 894 Lamar Street

McComb C. Freeman, LLC LLC 7/8/13 412 West Michigan Ave. Community of Believers Cultural Fellowship NP 7/1/13 2156 Highway 98 East Harlan Properties, LLC LLC 7/2/13 111 Burke Avenue Jaymes Gilmore III, LLC LLC 7/2/13 218 North Broadway Street McNeil Land and Timber, LLC LLC 7/25/13 1160 Chester Reeves Road Muzik 4 You Entertainment LLC LLC 7/18/13 1104 Venable Street Ronald Morse Construction Inc BUS 7/25/13 912 White Boulevard Taps Service Center LLC LLC 7/12/13 1703 Christine Dr The Priceless Pricelets, LLC LLC 7/29/13 116 7Th Street Us Freight Broker LLC LLC 7/3/13 403 Delaware Ave VIP Supermarket LLC LLC 7/23/13 2171 Martin Luther King

McLain Freedom of Spirit Ministry NP 7/17/13 2951 Merritt Rd Lakesville, Ms 39451

Meadville BassCatcher LLC LLC 7/22/13 652 Low Water Bridge Rd County Line One Stop LLC LLC 7/17/13 7139 Ms Highway 567 Verucchi Farms, LLC LLC 7/31/13 26 South First Street Wentworth Rental Properties, LLC LLC 7/19/13 120 West Main

Mendenhall Burger Wagon, LLC LLC 7/16/13 1588B Simpson Highway 149 McGuffee Farms, LLC LLC 7/31/13 102 North Main Street Skeeter Logistics LLC LLC 7/2/13 604 Moody Wallace Road U Nailed It LLC LLC 7/26/13 1847 Simpson Hwy 149

Meridian 2300 Front Street LLC LLC 7/8/13 3819 Grandview Ave 5300 5th Street Stonecrest Property, LLC LLC

7/24/13 2329 Poplar Springs Dr A & J Services Inc. BUS 7/11/13 2138 Knox Rd A. A. W. Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/25/13 5615 Thornberry Place ABW Rentals, LLC LLC 7/23/13 4320 19Th Street Alter Ego, LLC LLC 7/18/13 5215 Stonebriar Drive Bhakti Om 2 LLC LLC 7/24/13 2122 24Th Avenue Brown Capital LLC LLC 7/16/13 2240 Hillcrest Dr Meridian, Ms 39301 Buckley Nicholson, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North Burwell East, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North Burwell West, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North C & L Leasing, LLC LLC 7/26/13 4315 Hwy 39 N 2-J Cameron’s Diner Inc BUS 7/12/13 2101 5Th Street Crimson Coffee House LLC LLC 7/10/13 6821 Timber Cove Cromwell, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North DeCarlus RheaSean Co. LLC LLC 7/9/13 1733 46Th Avenue Elevation Endo PA PA 7/10/13 4940 Skyview Drive Galyean Equipment, LLC LLC 7/8/13 5605 Hwy 145 Goldman Properties LLC LLC 7/12/13 1500 Roebuck Drive Kelco Chains LLC LLC 7/30/13 1078 Wile Rd Lee & Diane Allen Properties, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North Luke Investigations, L.L.C. LLC 7/8/13 2101 Fifth Street Magnolia Auto Repair & Towing L.L.C.

LLC

7/11/13 107 20Th Ave South Meridian Christian Home EducatorsNP 7/30/13 2415 46Th Street Meridian Islamic Center, Inc. NP 7/8/13 4024 50 Street Money Now MS Online LLC LLC 7/30/13 1500 Roebuck Drive Newton North, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North Newton South, LLC LLC 7/18/13 1210 Highway 39 North NUBBIN, LLC LLC 7/2/13 7591 Lake Cove Drive Oakwood Oxford Properties LLC LLC 7/22/13 2935 Old Highway 19 Southeast Parks Mill, L.L.C. LLC 7/9/13 2101 Fifth Street The Word Ignited NP 7/26/13 3818 29Th St

Michigan City CV Stable, LLC 7/31/13 .

LLC 473 Wilburn Rd

Mize Fast Cooling & Heating LLC LLC 7/1/13 185 Scr 59a

Monticello Lambert Consulting INC. BUS 7/30/13 1450 Barnes Circle

INCORPORATIONS Mike McKennon State Farm Agent Incorporated BUS 7/22/13 171 Green St Monticello Volunteer Fire Department

7/11/13

NP

809 Broad St

7/19/13 70 Smithland Plantation Rd West Gate Funeral Home, LLC LLC 7/9/13 409 N Dr M L King Street Willex LLC LLC 7/16/13 669 Selma Estates Rd

Mooreville

Nesbit

Prestige Properties Maintenance & Management, LLC LLC 7/25/13 843 Hwy 371 The Hair Corrall LLC LLC 7/15/13 3219 Hwy 178

HWC, INC. BUS 7/25/13 2655 Nesbit Road Inside Seam DBA OTH 7/1/13 4851 Victoria Dr JRJ Investments & Property Management, LLC LLC 7/19/13 3259 Nikki Ridge Dr Marian Overton Beck DBA OTH 7/1/13 4851 Victoria Dr Precision Ironworks & Construction OTH 7/12/13 4010 Los Padres Dr

Morton Adventure Jumps of Mississippi, LLC

LLC

7/30/13 1307 Hwy 481S H & P Farms LLC LLC 7/17/13 4261 Cowardtown Rd

Moselle

Woods and Water Land Management, LLC LLC

7/29/13

1880 Malone Road

Exterior Services LLC LLC 7/10/13 104 Rayner Road

Nettleton

Moss Point

Nettleton Storage LLC 7/8/13

Bayou Venture Group, LLC LLC 7/30/13 3830 Bellview St FIC-Texas, LLC LLC 7/3/13 4401 Wilson Springs Rd Floore Industrial-Texas, LLC LLC 7/3/13 4401 Wilson Springs Rd Godfrey Therapy Services, Llc. LLC 7/31/13 1701 Bertis Goff Rd Knight Timber Company LLC LLC 7/18/13 4500 Shattles Rd LBS Braces LLC LLC 7/29/13 8105 Dap Road P & D Travel Agency LLC LLC 7/2/13 10736 Hwy 613 Public Assistance Consulting, LLC LLC 7/1/13 5412 Beardslee Street Southern Guns & Ammo LLC LLC 7/1/13 3422 Main Street The Church House NP 7/25/13 2140 Jim Waltman Rd

Mound Bayou Big Daddy’s Fast Foods Inc BUS 7/16/13 102 South Edwards Street/Avenue Nevaeh Hospice LLC LLC 7/18/13 404 Holt Street

LLC 30081 Hwy 6

New Albany B C Wrecker & Salvage LLC LLC 7/8/13 1067 CR 59 Companions Professional Sitting and Geriatric Care Management Services LLC LLC

7/11/13 814 Moss Hill Dr DM&R Properties LLC LLC 7/17/13 1009 County Road 65 SeLaV Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/2/13 1552 County Road 101

LLC

7/30/13 6311 Mossy Oak Dr R. E. Hicks Group LLC LLC 7/19/13 2953 Bienville Blvd #201 Shoreline Auto Sales LLC LLC 7/16/13 4098 Groveland Rd Sweet Stuff Cake Boutique, LLC LLC 7/31/13 13201 Rosemont Street Tchoutacabouffa Runner, LLC LLC 7/2/13 9217 Gray Ave. The Flying Irishmen LLC LLC 7/30/13 1518 Bienville Boulevard Tiger Tech, LLC LLC 7/11/13 10520 Dogwood St Twenty-One D Enterprises Inc BUS 7/2/13 6520 Sunplex Drive Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw Corporation NP 7/1/13 424 Washington Avenue Vision Holdings LLC LLC 7/2/13 10 Sauvolle Court Vision Tactical, LLC LLC 7/2/13 10 Sauvolle Court

Okolona Mississippi Miniority Farmers Alliance 7/25/13 30122 Okolona Road Mississippi Miniority Farmers Alliance

NP

New Hebron

Olive Branch

New Hebron Flea Market, LLC LLC 7/25/13 213 Jones St Utopi Enterprises LLC LLC 7/11/13 160 George Riley Road

CGC Home Renovations, LLC LLC 7/18/13 10284 Loftin Drive Christmas Decor & More Inc BUS 7/24/13 9221 Old Highway 78 Clarion Security LLC LLC 7/29/13 9077 Rue Orleans Lane Connect Hope, Inc. NP 7/17/13 9096 Belle Maison Boulevard Cricket Equipment, LLC LLC 7/16/13 8560 Byhalia Rd Don’t Miss Out NP 7/16/13 5720 Lancaster Dr Douglas Transportation Inc BUS 7/8/13 7111 Creekside Drive Five J’s Trucking LLC LLC 7/16/13 10848 Ridgefield Dr Iraena Ministries LLC LLC 7/18/13 12632 River Bend Dr Maintenance Plus Now LLC LLC 7/11/13 10140 Victor Dr MC Investment Group, LLC LLC 7/17/13 14409 Santa Fe Dr Mid South Creative Minds LLC LLC 7/3/13 9203 Conrad Dr Mimosa Tree Publishing Company BUS 7/22/13 6541 Kay Drive

Newton

Natchez

Ocean Springs

A Blooming Lotus, LLC LLC 7/3/13 23 Holstead Road Assist-U Inc BUS 7/11/13 37 Greenwood Plantation Road

Adamson Home Care, LLC LLC 7/11/13 3840 Chaumont Circle Barry Agency LLC LLC 7/3/13 2746 Bienville Blvd Bennett Acquisitions LLC LLC 7/31/13 12013 Sugar Maple Drive C-Marine Services, LLC LLC 7/10/13 4105 Yosemite Dr C3, LLC LLC 7/16/13 623 Washington Avenue Capstone Realty, LLC LLC 7/10/13 5905 Chicopee Trace Casa Blu Designs, LLC LLC 7/25/13 608 Azalea Lane CDC Trucking, LLC LLC 7/17/13 1201 Washington Ave Edwards Express Freight “L.L.C.” LLC 7/25/13 6911 Pinehurst Dr Family Auto Sales LLC LLC 7/31/13 2410 Government Street Fast Choice Transportation Inc BUS 7/29/13 2520 N. 12th St

7/16/13 319 Market Street Elladale, LLC LLC 7/2/13 5 Sparetime Drive Glo Chelle, LLC LLC 7/31/13 23 Melanie Road Huntington Cove LLC LLC 7/11/13 319 Market St JBC Management LLC LLC 7/2/13 500 Hwy 61 North JK Smith, LLC LLC 7/29/13 307 Park Place MYBD Properties LLC LLC 7/11/13 319 Market St Nexus Therapy Management LLC LLC 7/12/13 123 South Commerce St Noel School of Dance & Performing Arts LLC LLC 7/8/13 798 Hwy 61 N OMD OPERATING COMPANY, LLC LLC 7/29/13 468 Hutchins Landing Road Power Lift Foundation Repair Inc BUS 7/3/13 319 Market Street RGB Land Company, LLC LLC 7/25/13 139 Auburn Avenue RJM Security LLC LLC 7/31/13 14 Fatherland Rd Rockin M Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/8/13 9 Primrose Lane Sai Dhan, Inc. BUS 7/9/13 220 Main Street Sara Lane, L.L.C. LLC 7/9/13 220 Main Street Snapdragons, LLC LLC 7/18/13 509 Duncan Avenue Tarver Repair Service, LLC LLC

Posh Paws, A Puppy Boutique, L.L.C.

Breland Enterprise, LLC LLC 7/3/13 105 E Highway 98

New Augusta

Music & Arts Village NP 7/9/13 109 Dogwood Drive

Brown Land and Farm Management, LLC LLC

7/1/13 9301 Dogwood Ave. ManCor Brands Inc. BUS 7/24/13 407 Rue Chateauguay Mandt Bros. Productions, LLC LLC 7/18/13 C/o Brooke Lewis Marine Safety LLC LLC 7/24/13 13700 Paraiso Road Nguyen-Margherio LLC LLC 7/17/13 1612 Bienville Blvd #7

7/25/13 30122 Okolona Road Okolona Farms, LLC LLC 7/30/13 2724 Highway 32 West Patterson Farm LLC LLC 7/16/13 327 WEST MAIN STREET

Garris & Wilson Entertainment Services, LLC 7/29/13 1025 Martin Luther King Jr Dr Garris & Wilson Entertainment Services, LLC LLC 7/30/13 1025 Martin Luther King Jr Dr

Miss. State

September 20, 2013

Gemini Construction & Development LLC LLC

7/11/13 1408 Sussex Dr 39564 Guaranteed Investments, LLC LLC 7/3/13 502 Magnolia Drive Hollins Customized Security Service LLC LLC

7/26/13 6503 Mayfair Street Innovative Laboratories, LLC LLC 7/3/13 996 N. Halstead Road Is That Velvet Cupcakes LLC LLC 7/2/13 206 Wheaton Court JAA Properties, LLC LLC 7/26/13 22 Sweetgrass Lane Jacqueline Loper DBA OTH 7/17/13 7105 Pinehurst Dr Jacqueline Loper Photography DBA

OTH

7/17/13 7105 Pinehurst Dr JC Cornerstone LLC LLC 7/15/13 1000 Government Street LLB Investments and Trading, LLC LLC

Oishi Japanese Express Sushi & Grill, Inc.BUS

7/2/13 8110 Camp Creek Blvd Ste 111 PAK LAW FIRM, PLLC PLLC 7/23/13 5600 Goodman Rd Ste B Preferred Title & Escrow, LLC LLC 7/25/13 6439 Cody Cove Pro Fleetwash LLC LLC 7/8/13 9250 Plantation Oaks Drive Tage Properties LLC LLC 7/12/13 5540 Blocker St

Osyka Geaux Tiger Sales LLC LLC 7/26/13 1133 Centerville Road Guru Wholesale LLC LLC 7/8/13 212 Liberty St E

Oxford 319 Turnberry, LLC LLC 7/24/13 2100 Old Taylor Road, Unit 319 Angle Incorporated BUS 7/22/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Apple Cakes - Appliques & Embroidery DBA OTH 7/25/13 94 County Road 405 Avery Enterprises, Inc. BUS 7/9/13 538 A Rock Springs Drive BC Ranch, LLC LLC

7/18/13

LLC

7/16/13 172 County Road 143 Blingy Girl Things LLC LLC 7/10/13 3016 Hillmont Dr Brad Morris Law Firm PLLC PLLC 7/26/13 1603 University Avenue Building Blocks Therapy of Oxford, PLLC PLLC 7/22/13 21006 Wills Trace Bureaus Investment Group Portfolio No. 15, LLC LLC 7/25/13 405 Galleria Lane Suite C Camarena Properties of Cleveland, LLC LLC

7/1/13 2084B Old Taylor Rd Carbon Brothers Studio LLC LLC 7/18/13 204 Bramlett Blvd Center for Children’s Law and Policy, Inc. NP

7/22/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Cherokee Industrial Supply LLC LLC 7/22/13 405 Galleria Lane Suite C Cumberland Apartments, L.P. LP 7/19/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Diversified Machine Systems, LLC LLC 7/2/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C EGRI Holdings, LLC LLC 7/15/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Falvey Cargo Underwriting, Ltd. BUS 7/18/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Finz Up Sports Apparel “LLC” LLC 7/22/13 1740 Jackson Ave East Unit 3 Fireplace Shop, LLC LLC 7/22/13 2507 University Ave Freight Haulers Home Inc BUS 7/2/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Gulf States Junk Removal, LLC LLC 7/3/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Hammer Construction LLC LLC 7/10/13 299 South 9th Street Suite 101 Harris Squared, LLC LLC 7/16/13 829 North Lamar Blvd., Ste 1 Healthy Concepts Counseling and Consulting Services, LLC LLC 7/15/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Huntington Place Properties LLC LLC 7/12/13 81 Cr 231 i-banco Corp.

BUS 7/1/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Kelly Brown Houston DBA OTH 7/25/13 94 County Road 405 Kennedy and Coe LLC LLC 7/15/13 1308 N. Lamar, Suite 5 King’s Farm, LLC LLC 7/9/13 114 Hwy 30 E Klimetz Properties LLC LLC 7/18/13 204 Bramlett Blvd LOU Homeless Initiative, Inc. NP 7/30/13 324 Jackson Avenue East, Suite A Magnolia Land and Investments Inc

BUS

7/8/13 2084 Old Taylor Road Suite 107 Mississippi Hill Country Heritage Tours LLC LLC 7/2/13 106 Victory Hill Lane Mississippi MT Investments, LLC LLC 7/8/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Mosley Market, LLC LLC 7/11/13 124 Wishing Tree Lane National Recovery Association, LLCLLC 7/17/13 405 Galleria Lane Suite C New Green Solar & Energy Co. BUS 7/2/13 405 Galleria Lane, Ste.C North Mississippi Surveying, LLC LLC 7/8/13 147 County Road 415 NRP, Inc BUS 7/8/13 2084 Old Taylor Road Suite 107 ODES UTVS LLC LLC 7/22/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Oxford Ammo LLC LLC 7/19/13 28 County Road 403 Oxford Commons I, LLC LLC 7/19/13 2088 Old Taylor Rd Oxford Pools, LLC LLC 7/30/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Paladin Collections LLC LLC 7/2/13 1205 Office Park Dr Ste B Professional Resort Solutions DBA

7/2/13

BUS

405 Galleria Lane, Suite C

Residential Warranty Services, Inc.

BUS

7/1/13 405 Galleria Lane Suite C Selectel, Inc. BUS 7/26/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Sid Coleman Construction LLC LLC 7/19/13 56 County Road 202 Southern Sun, LLC LLC 7/30/13 829 North Lamar Boulevard, Suite 2 Starbuzz Tobacco, Inc. BUS 7/25/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Studio E LLC LLC 7/24/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C TEKWANI LLC LLC 7/16/13 226 Karen Drive

Mississippi Business Journal

I

19

7/26/13 109 Chinkapin Loop United Advisors Corporation BUS 7/29/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Walt Flaschka, LLC LLC 7/30/13 123 LAKEWAY DR Warehouse Goods Inc BUS 7/26/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Whitfield Farms, LLC LLC 7/29/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Whitfield Pecans, LLC LLC 7/29/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C WIRING SYSTEMS EAST INC BUS 7/17/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Wit Company, LLC LLC 7/26/13 13 Cr 170 Z&M, LLC LLC 7/22/13 319 Lakes Drive North

7/3/13 341 St. Joe Blvd CIS Pearl, LLC LLC 7/15/13 4564 Lantern Cove D&J Transportation LLC LLC 7/1/13 105 Hazel Ln. Florence, Ms 39073

7/30/13 2309 Napoleon Ave Tempered Resources LLC LLC 7/23/13 164 Hickory Hill Cove The Vapors Nest, LLC LLC 7/22/13 496 East Petros Road Vernamonti Events LLC LLC 7/31/13 2037 Oak Ridge Dr

7/12/13 166 Cliff Mitchell Rd #c Gulf States Claim Consultants LLC LLC 7/15/13 166 Cliff Mitchell Rd #c Hammond Investments, LLC LLC 7/8/13 1103 Douglas Street Hendrix Performance, LLC LLC 7/23/13 310 Memorial Blvd.

HL&C - The Ole Burks Place LLC LLC 7/30/13 2001 Hwy 11 North HL&C - Wolf Ridge LLC LLC 7/16/13 2001 Hwy 11 North HS3 Investments LLC LLC 7/18/13 43 Lw Stockstill Rd K & M Party Inflatables DBA LLC 7/8/13 1103 Douglas Street Panther Helicopters, Inc. BUS 7/12/13 148 Runway Road, Hangar C Powell Heavy Equipment LLC LLC 7/12/13 228 Davis Rd The Learning House LLC LLC 7/22/13 34 Huppo Road Tran Auto Sales LLC LLC 7/25/13 101 South Beech Street

Pachuta

Pelahatchie

Pickens

7/25/13

1420 N Lamar Blvd

Blackbourn Business Enterprises LLC

I

The Barnabas Group LLC LLC 7/29/13 307 Heritage Drive The Cure Company Inc BUS 7/2/13 405 Galleria Lane, Suite C Total Property Solutions of Oxford, LLC LLC

Omni Express LLC 7/17/13 Timber Quest LLC 7/15/13

LLC 98 County Rd 289 LLC 309 Pine Lane

Pascagoula Algos Clinical Development LLC LLC 7/18/13 4105 Hospital St., Ste. 112A Baber Strunk Enterprises LLC LLC 7/22/13 3436 Main Street Good Neighbor Produce, LLC LLC 7/29/13 1407 Jackson Ave, Suite 2 Me Too Band, LLC LLC 7/31/13 734 Delmas Avenue Talley Land Services, LLC LLC 7/22/13 1711 Prospect Ave Taylor & Associates Judgment Recovery Firm LLC LLC 7/23/13 3537 Denny Ave. #305 Thickwoods Property Management, LLC LLC

7/1/13 2112 Polk Avenue Tina Quach LLC LLC 7/3/13 3410 Chicot Rd Treasure Value Inc BUS 7/2/13 2721 Eden St Unreel Hooks, LLC LLC 7/23/13 6000 Old Mobile Avenue Watson Legal, PLLC PLLC 7/3/13 5402 Hilltop Street Wixon Management Company Inc BUS 7/12/13 3515 Bramblewood Cir.

Pass Christian Cajun Food Mart, LLC LLC 7/2/13 22217 Derrick Road Canine Realty, LLC LLC 7/9/13 16417 Bell Creek Rd CBC Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane Conahan, LLC LLC 7/23/13 227 Fernwood Drive E-Z1 Auto LLC LLC 7/1/13 16800 Kapalama Dr Forge Fitness LLC LLC 7/15/13 102 Fairway Drive GRB Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane JMS Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane Lock n’ Load Luttrell, LLC LLC 7/18/13 115 Palmwood Dr Matthews Sub Pump, LLC LLC 7/10/13 455 Fleitas Avenue MM&I LLC LLC 7/11/13 115 Palmwood Dr NVB Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane PPB Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane RNS Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane SAB Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane SPB Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane Stanbee Company Inc BUS 7/1/13 7035 Greenview Cove SWC #2 Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane SWC Madison LLC LLC 7/15/13 4443 Garland Lane TerraPro, LLC LLC 7/11/13 4358 Menge Avenue The Sweet Escape LLC LLC

11680 Firetower Road

Pearl As One Marketing Group, LLC LLC 7/1/13 241 Oak Grove Church Rd Assertive Property Management LLC

Flowood Ravens Athletic Association

LLC

NP

7/11/13 5981 Henderson Rd J and C Housing LLC LLC 7/9/13 416 Walnut Grove Dr Royal Ambassadors Christian School LLC LLC

AKSHAR1 LLC 7/16/13

LLC 613 2Nd Street

Perkinson Shady’s Small Engine Repair Limited Liability Company LLC 7/11/13 28490 Hwy 603 Double C Towing & Auto Repair, LLC

LLC

7/24/13 32235 Crane Creek Road Ladner Contracting LLC LLC 7/2/13 5318 Wendall Lander Rd Region 23 NP 7/24/13 51 Main Street

Petal D & C Enterprises of MS, LLC LLC 7/29/13 104 Third Avenue Danny Court LLC LLC 7/22/13 16 Pin Oak Point Davis Road Lot Owners AssociationNP 7/29/13 394 Davis Road E. J. Harrington Properties, LLC LLC 7/31/13 48 Country Park Circle East Hardy Magnolia, LLC LLC 7/22/13 16 Pin Oak Point East Hardy Seafood LLC LLC 7/22/13 16 Pin Oak Point Gandy Farms LLC LLC 7/23/13 4913 Highway 29 Gary Hall Inc BUS 7/23/13 38 Trystan Dr Hawkins Law Firm, PLLC PLLC 7/16/13 3 Doc Johnson Loop Jarrell Rental Properties, LLC LLC 7/29/13 34 Broken Arrow Trail Old Place Quick Stop LLC LLC 7/23/13 546 Eastobuchie Rd Photo Harbor, LLC LLC 7/19/13 467 Corinth Road RJ Enterprises of MS Inc. BUS 7/24/13 1872 Hwy 72 Ronnie’s Towing & Recovery, LLC LLC 7/2/13 99 Daughtry Hill Swindoll Custom Drums LLC LLC 7/16/13 110 Sherry Lynn Dr

Pickens One Stop LLC LLC 7/11/13 334 Old Hwy 51 Road

Plantersville J & L Janitorial Service Inc BUS 7/16/13 2697 Main St

Pontotoc Boatwright Holdings LLC LLC 7/10/13 171 Aviation Lane D & D Land Company, LLC LLC 7/29/13 306 Earl Street Dynasty Wood Design LLC LLC 7/18/13 163 Coffee St Russell’s Body Works, LLC LLC 7/16/13 177 Old Airport Road S Williamson Sales LLC LLC 7/16/13 31 Hunters Run

Pope C.I.&J. Concrete LLC LLC 7/16/13 8653 Pope Water Valley Rd

Poplarville Burris and Associates Inc 7/9/13 68 Ravin Ln CM Investments LLC LLC 7/9/13 347 Holliday Drive CRW Properties, LLC LLC 7/10/13 4692 Hwy 53 Poplarville Grocery Company BUS 7/16/13 229 Hwy 11

Potts Camp Chichi Boutique LLC LLC 7/2/13 45 East Front Street

Prentiss D G Williamson, Inc. BUS 7/9/13 2605 Pearl Avenue

Toby Bryant Ministries International Inc NP

Puckett

7/19/13 2 Clay Drive Tynes Consulting Services LLC LLC 7/26/13 174 Cherry Oak Trail

Dabbs & Co. LLC LLC 7/23/13 6571 Hwy 18 ( Brandon 39042)

Pulaski

Philadelphia Corks LLC LLC 7/2/1310180 Hwy 19 North Collinsville, Ms 39325 H K Chen Inc BUS 7/11/13 914 West Beacon Street, Suite 1 New Zion United Pentecostal Church

NP

7/11/13 11372 Road 387 OBC Gym Floor Refinishing, Inc. BUS 7/30/13 1102 Tank St ON2 Percussion LLC LLC 7/2/13 520 East Main Street Sips & Nips LLC LLC 7/19/13 1030 Road 1527 Yates Canada LLC LLC 7/2/13 1 Gully Avenue Yates Industrial, LLC LLC 7/10/13 104 Gully Ave

Picayune Donald’s Hauling LLC LLC 7/15/13 625 Ceasar Rd Empire Express LLC LLC 7/10/13 223 Hilltop Drive ( Carriere 39426) Gulf States Claim Consultants LLC

Hutchinson Construction LLC LLC 7/9/13 324 Scr 3513

Purvis Biloxi Marine, LLC LLC 7/30/13 664 Tatum Camp Road David Reynolds Anesthesia PLLC PLLC 7/31/13 1014 S. King Road Humphries Holdings LLC LLC 7/8/13 40 Deep South Lane Humphries Napa, LLC LLC 7/8/13 40 Deep South Lane Pecan Orchard RV Park, LLC LLC 7/2/13 120 Shelby Speights Pride Cleaners, LLC LLC 7/9/13 316 Hardy Street ( Hattiesburg 39401) Root2 Optical Systems, LLC LLC 7/29/13 321 McMahon Road Southern Chaos Softball, LLC LLC 7/19/13 165 Slade Rd The Grumpy Man LLC LLC 7/2/13 25 Pine Crest Rd

INCORPORATIONS

20 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013 Quitman Escatawpa Knollwood Village LLC LLC 7/22/13 430 County Road 6752 Grace Law Firm, PLLC PLLC 7/12/13 107 East Church Street

Raleigh Kleen-Pro LLC 7/31/13

LLC 408 Bowling St.

Randolph SSC & Ward Distribution, LLC LLC 7/8/13 72 Lindsey Loop

Raymond 10 Penny Technologies, LLC LLC 7/26/13 8195 Midway Rd Biomedical Support Services LLC LLC 7/26/13 15196 Old Port Gibson Road NuYou LLC LLC 7/2/13 2475 Ratliff Rd TorqueWorks, LLC LLC 7/22/13 211 Emily Way Drive

Red Banks Motion Precision, LLC 7/8/13 d

LLC 1763 Taska R

Richland Hibachi Buffet & Sushi LLC LLC 7/30/13 190 Market Place Ste B Loving Health In-Home Respite Care LLC LLC

7/10/13

627 Hwy 49 S, Suite A

Ridgeland Above and Beyond Lawn Care Services, LLC LLC 7/24/13 723 Esplanade Dr Amanda Lunsford LLC LLC 7/25/13 403 Bayberry Court Bayou Petroleum, LLC LLC 7/30/13 381 Red Eagle Circle BNB Healthcare LLC LLC 7/10/13 1076 Highland Colony Parkway, 600 Concourse, Suite 100 Butler Drive Maintenance Association Inc.NP

7/18/13 157 Richardson Road Caelin Hanna, LLC LLC 7/24/13 199 Charmant Place, Suite 3 Central MS CNA Institute LLC LLC 7/9/13 875 William Blvd Apt 1109 Cress Land Exchange LLC LLC 7/18/13 613 Crescent Office Park, Ste 200, Ridgeland 39157 Cross My Heart Impressions LLC LLC 7/29/13 879 William Blvd Apt. 5h Doty Real Estate, LLC LLC 7/26/13 308 Culley’s Stand Madison, Ms 39110 Final Touch Productions Photography and Printing Inc BUS 7/30/13 609 Bryceland Boulevard 39157 Fox Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/10/13 300 Concourse Blvd Suite 300 39157 Get Yo Shine on Entertainment LLCLLC 7/29/13 580 Pear Orchard Road #1220 GHS Benefit Solutions LLC LLC 7/11/13 7 Ashton Gardens Dr. Jackson, Ms 39211 Global Inspiration Inc BUS 7/19/134049 N. West St Apt #107, Jackson 39206 Hendrix & Blakely Holdings LLC LLC 7/11/13 571 Highway 51, Suite B J Express DBA OTH 7/22/13 305 Longmeadow Court N J R Cleaning & Maintenance Service LLC LLC

7/10/13 715 Towery Court J. B. Logistics, LLC LLC 7/29/13 711 Lake Harbour Drive #1052 James Phillips DBA OTH 7/22/13 305 Longmeadow Court N Main Street Medical, LLC LLC 1076 Highland Colony Pkwy., 600 7/19/13 Concourse Suite 100 (39157)

MiiHobby LLC LLC 7/2/13 340 Arbor Drive, Apt. 167 Modace Boutique, LLC LLC 7/22/13 305 Rouser Road My Tee Prints LLC LLC 7/12/13 318 Longmeadow Dr NSSP, LLC LLC 7/15/13 312 Feather Glen Precious Moments LLC LLC 7/15/13 125 Keltingham Court R3 Pharmaceuticals LLC LLC 7/15/13 587 Highland Colony Parkway Rival Technologies LLC LLC 7/3/13 510 Lakview Cove

Riverland Technologies LLC LLC 7/31/13 240 Trace Colony Park, Suite 100 Sage Salon & Color Bar, LLC LLC 7/23/13 795 Woodlands Parkway Suite 220 SDI of Gluckstadt, LLC LLC 7/30/13 425 Christine Drive Shea’s on Lake Harbour LLC LLC 7/31/13 810 Lake Harbour Drive Silver Leaf Properties, LLC LLC 7/11/13 1076 Highland Colony Parkway, 600 Concourse Suite 100

Simply Alluring Interiors, LLC LLC 7/25/13 618 Crescent Blvd, Suite 200 Skelton Homes LLC LLC 7/22/13 775 Lake Harbour Drive, Ste C Synchrogrid Limited LLC LLC 7/3/13 880 William Blvd. Apt. #802 Tau Rho Upsilon Fraternity, Inc NP 7/24/13 207 Waverly Pl The Brownstone Group, Inc. BUS 7/17/13 700 Avignon Drive, Suite C The Flower Girls, LLC LLC 7/30/13 319 Steeple Ridge The Landreneau Group, LLC LLC 7/2/13 116 Sunnycrest Drive The Trophy Case LLC LLC 7/29/13 425 Autumn Creek Dr Three Rivers Land Services, LLC LLC 7/15/13 714 Esplanade Dr

Ripley A&Y LLC LLC 7/10/13 105 City Ave HMH Properties, LLC LLC 7/29/13 612 City Ave S Kennamore Rentals Inc BUS 7/15/13 108 E Jefferson St Tippah Cattle Farm LLC LLC 7/12/13 876 Shady Grove Road

Robinsonville Harrell Realty Group LLC LLC 7/8/13 1241 Gallery Walk Drive

Rolling Fork Service Lumber Holding Corp.

BUS 7/9/13 20558 Highway 61 North

Rosedale Refuse Management Systems Incorporated BUS 7/19/13 1319 Victoria

Roxie Beach Tractor Services LLC LLC 7/29/13 70 Mississippi Street

Saltillo Holleys Restaurant LLC LLC 7/19/13 3337 Mossey Cup Drive JH Enterprises LLC LLC 7/2/13 842 Indian Oaks Drive Shannon Appliances, LLC LLC 7/1/13 140 Jean Circle Tyebrooke Inc. BUS 7/31/13 1452 Cr 885

San Antonio Operation Homefront, Inc. 7/10/13 8930 Fourwinds Dr Ste 340

Sarah Strayhorn Preschool and Daycare, LLC LLC 7/8/13 196 Egypt Creek Circle

Sardis High Ridge Roofing Co. LLC LLC 7/31/13 2183 Still Rd

Satartia Educational One 7/2/13

NP 602 Canal St

Saucier Splash of Fun Water Parks, L.L.C. LLC 7/23/13 13376 Byrnes Drive Tap Out Construction Limited BUS 7/18/13 23515 Central Drive

Seminary Booth Trucking LLC 7/11/13

LLC 34 Neal Dr

Contract Payroll LLC LLC 7/12/13 410 Cook Road Moselle, Ms 39459 McKenzie’s Company LLC LLC 7/26/13 103 Highway 535 Mississippi Charolais Association NP 7/29/13 443 Hwy 590 E

Senatobia 122 Dogwood Drive, LLC LLC 7/17/13 214 S. Ward Street BHK Commercial Properties LLC LLC 7/9/13 5204 Highway 51 North BHK Holdings LLC LLC 7/9/13 5204 Highway 51 North BHK Land Company, LLC LLC 7/9/13 5204 Highway 51 North Dwelling East, LLC LLC 7/9/13 304 North Heard Street Dwelling North, LLC LLC 7/9/13 304 North Heard Street Dwelling South LLC LLC 7/9/13 304 North Heard Street Dwelling West, LLC LLC 7/9/13 304 North Heard Street Jayden Interprize LLC LLC 7/30/13 4671 Hwy 51 N Lodge Cabin Decor, LLC LLC 7/19/13 2088 Yellowdog Rd Tate Crossing North, LLC LLC 7/9/13 5204 Highway 51 North Yesterday’s South Lake Owners Assoication NP 7/8/13 122 Waverly Circle

Shaw Preservers of Life Hospice LLC LLC 7/22/13 210 Hwy 61 South Ya Ya’s Yummys Inc BUS 7/12/13 933 Sandpit Rd

Shelby Delta Southern Properties LLC LLC 7/3/13 705 North Broadway

Sherman Acute Care & Family Clinic of Sherman LLCLLC

7/10/13

608 Hwy 178

Silver Creek Johnson’s Auto Collision Center LLC

LLC

7/9/13 1551 N.A. Sandifer Hwy JR’s Honky Tonk LLC LLC 7/24/13 2947 Hwy 43 A

7/19/13

PLLC

401 Southcrest Cir., Suite 201

Southern Customs Fences and Arbors LLCLLC

7/18/13 1836 Honey Jack Cove Summit One LLC LLC 7/30/13 5740 Getwell Road, Building 10-D TPS Hat, LLC LLC 7/26/13 2593 Getwell Road Vickerys Auto Repair LLC LLC 7/30/13 8465 Hamilton Drive YomII Goodman Inc BUS 7/26/13 5656 Pinetree Loop E

Star Harrison Hollow Designs LLC LLC 7/1/13 625 Harrison Hollow Road

Starkville

Southaven Bailey & Delali CPAs, LLC LLC 7/2/13 645 Chateau Pointe Blvd.

Bright Pink NFP NP 7/8/13 8301 Berkley Drive Bull Market 203 Inc BUS 7/8/13 187 E Stateline Rd Ste 4 Cajun Claws LLC LLC 7/2/13 1073 Wortington Dr Cardinal One Stop Inc BUS 7/25/13 187 Stateline Rd Ste 4 Christian Leadership High School NP 7/2/13 977 Valley Springs Dr Digital Genomics LLC LLC 7/30/13 2151 Dickens Place Drive Fund the Nations, LLC LLC 7/18/13 5779 Getwell Road, Suite C-1 Goodman Liquor Inc BUS 7/30/13 187 E Stateline Rd Ste 4 Goodman Restaurant LLC LLC 7/30/13 187 E Stateline Rd #4 GreenWay Freshstart for Domestic Violence Victims Inc NP 7/1/13 3044 John Michael Drive Ison Distributing LLC LLC 7/25/13 8425 Airways Blvd J & J Cable LLC LLC 7/9/13 5449 Kristy Ln Mid South Vapors LLC LLC 7/11/13 3038 Goodman Rd Ms HughesCorp, LLC LLC 7/15/13 88830 Centre St Ste 4 Murphy Land Company LLC LLC 7/18/13 5293 Getwell Road Northwest Church of Christ NP 7/10/13 1101 Atterbury Circle S Papas Food Mart Inc BUS 7/30/13 187 E Stateline Rd Ste 4

Utica

Waynesboro

A.R.K. Scapes LLC LLC 7/22/13 4445 Old Jackson Road Medallion Truckload LLC LLC 7/10/13 18349 Midway Road Premier Well Service of La, Inc BUS 7/23/13 18349 Midway Road Premier Well Service, Inc BUS 7/23/13 18349 Midway Road SMBH, Inc. BUS 7/1/13 18349 Midway Road Wilkinson County SWD, LLC LLC 7/17/13 18349 Midway Road

Shannon Allen Logging, LLC LLC 7/15/13 4435 Casey Road

PTL Fabricators, LLC LLC 7/15/13 6314 Hwy 84 R. Kasey Wells P.L.L.C. PLLC 7/8/13 607 Court Street

Toomsuba J&J Acres, LLC LLC 7/8/13 7525 Lauderdale Toomsuba Road

Tulsa

7/17/13 Bran-Walker, LLC 7/30/13

Oaktree Software, Inc. 7/18/13 1437 S Boulder Ste 300

336 Oakwood Dr LLC 444 Hwy 12 West

Brian Michael’s Catering Company Inc BUS

7/10/13 2458 Old West Point Road Capris Pharma LLC LLC 7/9/13 437 Kirk Cauldy Drive E. T. George Land Holdings, LLC LLC 7/23/13 102 South Jackson Street Fate of the Game, LLC LLC 7/9/13 111 Roberts CV Harrington & Family LLC LLC 7/26/13 311 Scales St Hemphill & Thompson LLC LLC 7/29/13 700 University Drive Suite 1 Magnolia Diesel LLC LLC 7/23/13 73 Lisa Ln Montgomery’s Enterprise LLC LLC 7/15/13 535 Lincoln Drive Sara McKinney LLC LLC 7/15/13 8428 MS Hwy 389 Steele Plantation Homeowners Association NP 7/22/13 68 Plantation Dr Style Revel, LLC LLC 7/23/13 122 Cole Street Unlimited Community Agricultural Cooperative, AAL INS 7/25/13 13890 HWY 182 Whiteapple Properties, LLC LLC 7/22/13 123-1/2 Main Street Winston Lakeview Properties, LLC LLC 7/23/13 224 East Main Street

State Line 7/9/13

LLC 3974 Nola Road

Terry

Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Inc. NP

Duckworth Drilling and Completion, LLC LLC

Sontag Jump-N-Jive, LLC 7/30/13

Shete Ear Nose & Throat Clinic PLLC

504 Miller Wicks Rd

Stonewall Violet H, LLC 7/22/13

LLC 1030 Highway 513

Sturgis 1st Choice Home Inspection LLC LLC 7/1/13 17 Reform Rd

Summit Joe’s Septic Tanks and Service LLC LLC 7/10/13 1031 Dirt Road

Sumner Sumner Grille, LLC LLC 7/2/13 412 East Court Street

Sumrall Arctic Ice, LLC LLC 7/8/13 21 Winding Brook Dr Circle J Enterprises of Oloh LLC LLC 7/9/13 14 Solo Christo Drive MAN Services Inc BUS 7/12/13 1114 Old Highway 24

Taylorsville E & J Construction, LLC LLC 7/22/13 11053 Hwy 37 JEWCO, LLC LLC 7/18/13 422 SCR 37-4 PharmacyRX LLC LLC 7/30/13 178 Peyton Graves Road

Tchula The Valley Athletic Club NP 7/11/134130 Rosebank Mt Olive Road Lexington 39095

Tunica Bull Gator, LLC LLC 7/19/13 986 Harris Street Delta Maid Services LLC LLC 7/29/13 817 School Street K & M Process Servers, LLC LLC 7/25/13 1245 Main Street M. Cody Harrell, P.C. PA 7/31/13 1245 Main Street

Tupelo 1307 Maxwell, LLC LLC 7/18/13 336 N. Green Street (38804) 341 Wholesale LLC LLC 7/15/13 1596 Cr 41 Bleau Rose Boutique LLC LLC 7/16/13 2103 Modennia Flutter & Co., LLC LLC 7/2/13 338 North Spring Street Graham Emergency Services, PLLC

PLLC

7/25/13 336 N. Green Street (38804) Gujrati Samaj of North MS NP 7/25/13 1020 North Gloster Street #102 Johns & Buskirk Farms LLC LLC 7/19/13 105 South Front Street Khera Petroleum LLC LLC 7/16/13 631 S Gloster St Tupelo, Ms 38804 L & C Properties, LLC LLC 7/30/13 2137 Deer Run Road Lidder LLC LLC 7/29/13 905 Palmetto Road Lil Leap Academy, Inc. BUS 7/30/13 109 Adams St 38804 Line X Inc BUS 7/2/13 30 Clark Magnolia Repicci’s Italian Ice, LLC LLC 7/10/13 109B S. Spring Street MD Revenue Management, LLC LLC 7/2/13 1108 Chickasaw Trl Moody’s Collision & Restoration LLC

LLC

7/2/13 956 Sims Gin Road MRainey Enterprises, LLC LLC 7/1/13 1668 North Gun Club Road (38801) Okolona Indians-1 NP 7/2/13 205 Hancock Dr PFLAG Tupelo NP 7/30/13 783 County Road 1253 Saltillo 38866 Platinum Motors LLC LLC 7/30/13 1506 West Main St Renasant Holdings Alabama LLC LLC 7/12/13 209 Troy Street Renasant Holdings LLC LLC 7/12/13 209 Troy Street Taval 12, LLC LLC 7/26/13 336 N. Green Street (38804) Twenty Five Thirty Five Ministries LLC

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Wiggins DataLynks Corporation 7/23/13 28 Blueberry Lane Industrial Contracting Services, LLC (ICS, LLC) LLC 7/2/13 122 Cavers Ave East L & T Welding LLC LLC 7/2/13 120 Noel Street

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September 20, 2013

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Mississippi Business Journal

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21

» MISSISSIPPI LEADERS by Martin Willoughby

Keeping the beat Moore uses music to lead

O

ne of my favorite thinkers on leadership is Max De Pree, former CEO of Herman Miller.

His bestselling book Leadership is an Art serves as a foundation for my own view of leadership.

He wrote a very interesting follow-up book titled Leadership Jazz, which I also believe is very informative for today’s leaders. He states in the book, “A jazz band is an expression of servant leadership. The leader of a jazz band has the beautiful opportunity to draw the best out of the other musicians. We have much to learn from jazz-band leaders, for jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredictability of the future with the gifts of individuals.” Jazz pianist and management scholar Frank Barrett in his book Yes to Mess makes a similar point when he states that leaders like jazz musicians must “interpret vague cues, face unstructured tasks, process incomplete knowledge and take action anyway.” He believes that jazz musicians and leaders must prepare themselves to be spontaneous.

Kelvin Moore, general manager of the Jackson Convention Complex, can relate to this thinking as he is a jazz percussionist and has been serving in leadership roles in the event management industry for over two decades. Moore grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and went to Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., where he majored in busi-

Up Close With ... Kelvin Moore Title: General manager, SMG/Jackson Convention Complex Favorite Books: Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven First Job: Grocery bagger at the Lackland Air Force base commissary Proudest Moment as a Leader: ”The things I appreciate most about my position are the ability to help mentor and develop other professionals and the opportunities to give back to the communities that I’ve had the privilege of working in.“ Hobbies/Interests: ”Live music, taking walks with my wife and sports”

ness management. During his high school years, he played sports and was in the band where he was a percussionist. He shared, “Going into my junior year I had to choose between sports and music. I decided to focus on music, which from that point on became my true passion.”

Early in his career, Moore was able to combine his love for music with his natural tendencies to organize and lead by going to work at Sea World of Texas. He supervised their sound and lighting op-

erations, concerts, special events and recording studio. He said, “Having lots of responsibility at such a young age helped cultivate the skills needed to eventually lead me to where I am today.”

Moore’s leadership skills have allowed him to enjoy a varied and fulfilling career in event management. During his career, he has served in leadership roles around the country including at facilities in Washington, Kansas, Virginia and Texas.

Moore explained, “This industry allows

“I decided to focus on music, which from that point on became my true passion.”

Kelvin Moore General manager, SMG/Jackson Convention Complex

me to remain close enough to the music industry while being able to utilize my strengths for a public good.”

Moore believes that the key to being an effective leader is Martin Willoughby the ability to clearly identify and articulate the vision of the organization. He noted, “I’ve found that if your team has a clear understanding of not just ‘what’ the vision is, but ‘why’ the vision is what it is, then it is so much easier to get their buy in. Getting buy in and commitment from the team is half the battle. The other half is all of the technical management aspects of developing a strategic plan, working the plan and measuring the results.” Moore further explained that his leadership philosophy is to “do all you can to surround yourself with the most talented people you can find whose skill set and natural disposition best matches vision of the organization you are tasked with leading.”

These days Moore is an active member of the leadership community in Jackson and applies his leadership skills to grow the Jackson Convention Center.

While we may not all have the gift of musical talent, we can learn how to grow in our leadership skills and prepare ourselves for spontaneity. In our fast-paced business world, this is rapidly becoming a key ingredient for success as a leader.

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.

The story behind the best investors you’ve never heard of

S

» The Davis Dynasty: 50 Years of Successful Investing on Wall Street

By John Rothchild Published by John Wiley & Sons $30.37 hardcover

helby Davis may not be a household name, compared, say, to one famous value investor from Omaha, but the story of his life — and his son’s and grandsons’ lives — makes for a fascinating read. The elder Davis started investing in stocks at age 38, and by the time of his death at 85, he’d turned an initial $50,000 investment into a fortune worth $900 million. Following the same principles, his son and grandsons also became successful market-beating investors, creating a remarkable three generations of Wall Street wonders.

The Davis Dynasty, which was published over a decade ago but still has great insights for investors today, reads partly like a biography of an interesting family, partly like a history of the U.S. economy in the 20th century and partly like a treatise on what

it takes to make money in the market over the long haul. Shelby Davis did so, in large part, by investing in insurance companies, and one chapter in the book briefly traces the history of modern insurance companies back to 4000 B.C. I found this interesting — you’ll never look at insurance the same way again!

“...the book offers up lots of useful lessons...”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Shelby Davis’s philosophy on spending money, versus making it, was that he wanted to do as little of it as possible. The book’s filled with tales of his legendary penny-pinching, including one anecdote from his grandson about the lecture he got on compounding returns when asked for $1 to buy a hotdog. His granddad pointed out that $1 invested wisely over 50 years would turn into $1,024, so was he really so hungry he’d eat a $1,000 hotdog?

For investors, the book offers up lots of useful lessons that remain as true in today’s market as when Davis bought his first stocks back in 1947. For example, “A few big winners are what count in a lifetime of investing, and these winners need many years to appreciate.” Shelby Davis and his son and grandsons believed in buying and holding for the long-term, and together they grew their family’s wealth over three generations. When considered against the current trends of minute-by-minute trading and the overabundance of short-term thinking on Wall Street, what they accomplished is even more impressive and inspiring.

— LouAnn Lofton, mbj@msbusiness.com

22 I Mississippi Business Journal I September 20, 2013

HOSPITALITY

Nature tourism back on the table » People spend $2 billion every year in Mississippi on wildlife tourism

By LISA MONTI mbj@msbusiness.com

It’s been several post-Katrina years since the groups involved in ecotourism gathered to inventory natural resources and talk about how to spread the word to birdwatchers, kayakers, hunters, hikers and others.

In fact it’s been so long that ecotourism is known by a new name: nature tourism.

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources hosted a Nature Tourism Summit recently in Biloxi to discuss the Coast’s unique offerings and to find ways to boost that segment of the tourism industry.

About 60 people attended, representing businesses involved in nature tourism, tourism destinations and tourism officials.

Consultants Cynthia Ramseur and Leah

Bray of Natural Capital Development helped pull the meeting together “to revive the conversation” about nature tourism, Ramseur said.

“There was no real agenda other than to bring people together and have a discussion and see what was needed,” she said.

The long list of resources include Gulf Islands National Seashore’s barrier islands, the DeSoto National Forest and the greenways and blueways connecting them. Collectively, Ramseur said, “all of that represents a tremendous natural resource

off putting to tourists because there’s not one place to find information about all the other outdoor diversions.

“Someone could spend five, 10 or 15 days in South Mississippi to see all the natural areas and wonderful things to do. But people don’t readily do that. They come and do one

we be the go-to place on the Gulf of Mexico for nature tourists?”

Participants are working on that as a follow up to the summit, where two major issues “kept popping up,” she said.

“One is what kind of organizational structure could service this diverse group across the Coast,” she said.

— Melissa Scallon “And there are so many things to talk about, so many diverse places to visit. How thing. We have a suite of activities to keep do you tell that story?” people here for days but don’t tell the story A task force was formed to come up with as a whole.” some recommendations for the next meetCoordinating all those assets could boost ing Nov. 1. the amount of money being spent already Gary Benson, manager of sports marin nature tourism. keting for the Mississippi Gulf Coast ConMelissa Scallan, spokesperson for the vention and Visitors Bureau, is a member DMR, said Datu Research released a re- of the task force. port titled “Wildlife Tourism and the Gulf He said he was surprised to learn about Coast Economy” in July. Researchers all the nature tourism offerings beyond looked at Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Al- charter fishing, kayaking and bird watchabama and Florida and found that wildlife ing. “I didn’t know this niche tourism martourism generates more than $19 billion ket,” he said, “but I realized we better start annually in spending in those five states. It learning. We promote golf, charter fishing, generates more than $5 billion annually in amateur team sports and we’re going after federal, state and local tax revenues. the convention business but as far as this, “In Mississippi, people spend nearly $2 we’re just kind of breaking into it. We’ve billion each year on wildlife tourism. This got to figure out what our story is and how includes hunting, fishing and wildlife we’re going to fund it.” watching. The state gets $209,405,946 in He said the CVB will help to promote state and local tax revenue each year. Just the Mississippi Coast as a destination for an FYI — this is enough to pay the salaries the nature enthusiast through social media, of 5,154 police officers,” Scallan said. maps and the Fun Times Guide to get the The question to be answered is how to word out. grow that share, Ramseur said. “How can

“The state gets $209,405,946 in state and local tax revenue each year (from wildlife tourism). Just an FYI — this is enough to pay the salaries of 5,154 police officers.” base in a small area.”

But the diversity of the resources can be

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EDUCATION

Five finalists set for state superintendent’s post JACKSON — The state Board of Education has cut the field of possible state superintendents to five.

The board made the cut in a closed session Wednesday. The state Department of Education said in a statement that the board reviewed 11 applicants suggested by search firm Ray and Associates, which the firm had narrowed down from 64.

Board member Hal Gage, who's leading the search, says at least one of the finalists now lives in Mississippi.

Gage says the board isn't releasing names of finalists. Members plan to interview the finalists on Sept. 24, with hopes of naming a new leader of the state Department of Education in October.

Interim Superintendent Lynn House has served since Tom Burnham resigned last year. She has said she isn't a candidate for the permanent post.

— from staff and MBJ wire services

September 20, 2013

CONSTRUCTION / EDUCATION

HIGH DEMAND » SkillsUSA state championship expanding

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

Justahandfulofmonthsoutfromthestartof the2014SkillsUSAMississippiStateChampionship and the Mississippi Construction Education Foundation (MCEF), Mississippi Department of Education and other event partners are having to tweak their plans and overcome some late-in-the-game challenges.

And, they couldn’t be more pleased.

“One of the things we learned from last year is we need more space,” said Mike Barkett, president of MCEF. “Now, the program has grown and we need even more space. It has just taken off, and we’ve had to regroup.”

An Olympics-style event focused on skilled construction trades, high school, community college and skilled crafts persons enrolled in MCEF’s apprentice program will compete at the 2014 SkillsUSA Mississippi State Championship, which will be held Feb. 25-26, 2014, at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds. Competition will be held in 11 construction craft areas, with winners in each category going on to the national championship.

While the competitors take center stage during the event, organizers also use the program to showcase the career opportunities construction offers. To that end, organizers invite students, educators and guidance coun-

AUTO

Continued from Page 1

They include Peter Ricchiuti, founder and director of Burkenroad Reports at Tulane University who is the featured speaker at the opening session, and Thomas Klier, senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who is on the panel discussing the state of the Southern Automotive Corridor.

A panel session on energy’s impact on manufacturing and consumer demand includes Thomas Fanning, president and CEO of Southern Company, and William Johnson, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Gov. Phil Bryant also is on the agenda for a luncheon presentation and MAMA will present its award of excellence as part of that event.

McDaniel is part of a panel discussion on corporate responsibility to people, communities and the environment. “It’s a really diverse program from beginning to end,” she said. The final session is a roundtable update on the industry including Toyota’s and Nissan’s Mississippi plants.

McDaniel said Mississippi’s auto manufacturing industry “is very strong and getting stronger.”

The Nissan plant became the first automotive assembly facility in the state when it opened in 2003 in Canton. This year the company announced the addition of the Murano to its production, joining seven other models produced in the plant.

Toyota announced its Blue Springs production facility

selors as well as public officials and business leaders to the event with the aim of recruiting much-needed young skilled craftsmen into the construction industry.

The 2013 version of the competition was vastly expanded. While MCEF has offered the championship each year since its inception in 1996, 2013 marked the first time MCEF showcased under one roof the progression of construction training from high school to community college to apprenticeship to careers in construction.

Last year’s event exceeded expectations — and capacity. The competition is held in the Mississippi Trademart at the State Fairgrounds.

“We are having to utilize the full Trademart, not just the central and east bays like last year,” Barkett said. “With the added competition as well as our luncheon and everything else, we decided to use the west bay, too.”

One of the factors in the need for more space is that, for the first time, eighth-graders will be invited to the event. Organizers wanted to reach this group because as ninthgraders, the students must declare a career path. Organizers are hoping that viewing the competition will steer some of these students toward skill trades.

With MDE’s backing, MCEF sent invitations to schools. Within the first several hours of the announcement, they had heard from schools promising to bring 300 stu-

in February 2007, and today the plant’s 2,000 employees manufacture the Corolla. The plant has attracted eight Tier-1 suppliers to support its operations that have a total of about 1,500 employees.

McDaniel said the state’s workforce helped attract Toyota to Blue Springs. “From our experience, one of the most appealing factors was the availability of a hard working, dedicated workforce in that area,” she said.

Blue Springs and Union County were a longtime furniture manufacturing center, and she said, “Those folks worked very hard and they’re proud of what they do. That’s the kind of person that Toyota looks for when we’re hiring to build what we think are the world’s best cars. So we’ve had a very good experience.”

The MAMA has what McDaniel described as a broad membership, including associate members not directly with the auto industry but who have an interested is making contacts with the industry, including engineering firms, law firms, accountants and banks. Many are expected to participate in the Biloxi conference. The meeting rotates among Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee and this will be just the second time Mississippi will serve as host.

“We are fully expecting a minimum of 400,” McDaniel said. “I would be surprised if it doesn’t go over 400.”

The association provides networking opportunities for members “to get together to talk about best practices and to advance the auto industry within the state,” McDaniel said. MAMA also awards annual scholarships for those pursuing education in an auto

dents. In total, some 600 eighth-graders are expected to attend.

The vendor list has expanded to 26, and will feature new technology, MMC Materials’ cement trucks that have been converted to run on natural gas, virtual machines simulating welding and forklift work, the asphalt industry and more.

The field of competitors has also grown.

Last year, 12 teams of four competed in each category. This year, 20 teams will be on hand.

Returning this year, but with a broader theme of workforce development, will be event workshops, which target school counselors, giving them a chance to hear from construction professionals about the career opportunities in skilled trades.

This will include a new push is to recruit more females into the construction industry.

Organizers hope to get more grade-school girls to consider the building industry, and have invited Mittie Cannon, an African American woman who started in construction as a skilled craftswoman and today is director of workforce development at the Birmingham, Ala.-based firm Robins & Morton, to speak.

“I wanted to find out what it would be like to go out on a jobsite and be a crafts worker,” Cannon said. “I put the boots on, put the tools on, and got involved.

“You don’t see African American women working in construction every day. So, I think it’s very important for (females) to see me as a role model.”

With all of the new and expanded offerings, organizers are convinced the 2014 SkillsUSA Mississippi State Championship will be the most successful to date.

“Lastyearwentreallywell,”saidBarkett,“and it is building momentum for the 2014 event.”

For more on the MCEF and the championship, visit mcef.net.

related field.

McDaniel praised the work of the Mississippi Development Authority and the Mississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems for organizing and supporting the conference. The agenda, she said, is a great drawing card for attendees.

Exhibit space has sold out to 76 exhibitors and there are 30 more on a waiting list. “People really

Application and job information is available online at: www.mhatoday.org

Mississippi Business Journal

I

23

MANUFACTURING

Alabama mattress company to open in Plantersville Northeast Mississippi got some good economic development news Tuesday that should help soften the blow at least slightly from the loss of 1,400 jobs from the impending closure of Lane Furniture operations in Belden, Saltillo, Verona and Wren.

Posturecraft Mattress Co. says it is locating a bedding manufacturing operation in a closed mattress plant in Lee County’s Plantersville. The project represents a $1.75 million company investment and is creating more than 100 new jobs, the Mississippi Development Authority says.

A fire destroyed Posturecraft’s facility in Double Springs, Ala., in April, setting a motion a company location search that led Posturecraft owner Charles Jones to the existing mattress plant in Plantersville.

The MDA provided $100,000 in ACE funds for facility improvements and a $50,000 workforce training grant in support of the project.

Posturecraft Mattress makes bedding used in residential and medical facilities. The company has local customers, as well as more than 400 accounts nationwide.

Meanwhile, the region is hopeful a buyer will step forward for the Mississippi operations of bankrupt Furniture Brands, a St. Louis company that makes furniture under several brand names.

If not, layoffs could occur in mid-October.

Furniture Brands has said “several” parties have indicated interest in the Mississippi facilities.

— Ted Carter / MBJ staff

want to come to this event,” she said. “That speaks to the quality lineup from the program side. Anybody who has an interest at all in the auto industry wants to be at this.”

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I

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