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COB Alumnus of the Year
College of Business Executive Advisory Board member R.L. Qualls was selected as MSU’s 2018 National Alumnus of the Year. A Little Rock, AR, resident, Qualls is the retired President and CEO of Baldor Electric Company. He presently serves as Co-chairman of Taylor Companies of Washington, DC, and recently retired as Presiding Independent Director of Bank of the Ozarks Inc. Qualls was a cabinet member in Bill Clinton’s first gubernatorial administration. He has also served as a faculty member or research fellow at Rutgers University, Louisiana State University, Southern Methodist University and Vanderbilt University. Qualls holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics from MSU and a doctorate from LSU. He has published a number of books and articles.
Paul Karre was named the 2018 Alumnus of the Year for the College of Business. Karre is the former Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Communications for International Paper (IP). The 1974 alumnus began his 41-year career as an Industrial Relations Specialist at IP’s Georgetown, SC, mill. Karre served in a variety of business and corporate roles and in 2000 was appointed an officer of IP. In 2009, he was elected to the Senior Vice President position, which he held until retirement in 2015. Karre is a member and past President of the COB Executive Advisory Board, a Top 100 COB Alumnus, the 2012 COB Alumni Fellow and an MSU Foundation board member. He and wife Mary Jo have graciously endowed both a faculty fellowship and a professorship in the College of Business.
COB Alumni Fellow Thomas G. “Tom” Hixon, Sr. was selected as the 2018 Alumni Fellow for the College of Business. Hixon, a 1967 accounting graduate, is chairman of Phoenix Development Company LLC. After college, he worked for the U.S. Army and Air Force Exchange Service, dealing with retail stores and distribution in the annex of the Pentagon. He later became CFO and Director of Operations for Valley Food Service. Next, he held several roles for Forestry Suppliers Inc., among them co-owner, CFO, President and General Manager. Following his time there, Hixon helped found Gulf South Medical Supply, achieving success before the company merged with First Choice Medical Supply, for which he was founder, co-owner and Chairman. The Ridgeland, MS, resident serves on the boards of the MSU Foundation and the Bulldog Club.
M I S S I S S I P P I STAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
MSU National Alumnus of the Year
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