The background of Brent Christensen, the new executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, stacks up well against his rivals around the South, a review of the professional biographies of the chief executives of several nearby states shows. One of those rivals, Florida’s Gray Swoope, is well known in Mississippi, having led the Mississippi Development [...] [...]
by Ted Carter Published: May 20,2012
Tags: Area Development Partnership, Brett Christenen, Chip Morgan, David Rumbarger, Delta Council, Duke University, Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, Gray Swoope, Jim Barksdale, Leland Speed, Mississippi Development Authority, Mississippi Partnership for Economic Development, University of South Florida
In Gray Swoope, Mississippi lost its last top economic development professional to Florida in the spring of 2011. Now Mississippi has reached into Florida to bring Brent Christensen, Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce chief, to the Magnolia State as a replacement. Christensen, a 10-year-year president and CEO of the Gainesville Chamber, will start work sometime [...] [...]
Upon announcing the appointment of Brent Christensen to the directorship of the Mississippi Development Authority, Gov. Phil Bryant recalled joking about the salary with current interim chief Jim Barksdale. “I told (Barksdale) I would double what Leland Speed was making,” Bryant said. “Leland was making a dollar a year.” The governor has an eye for [...] [...]
Gov. Phil Bryant received a bill late last week that would allow private money to supplement the salary of whoever is the next executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. Internet technology pioneer Jim Barksdale currently serves in that position on an interim basis, for the price of $1 a year. His predecessor, Leland Speed, [...] [...]
by Ted Carter Published: April 1,2012
Tags: Ashley Furniture, Boston Consulting Group, Caterpillar, China, Franklin Furniture Institute, furniture, La-Z-Boy, Leland Speed, manufacturing, Mexico, Mississippi Development Authority, Mississippi State Port Authority, Mississippi State University, Panama Canal, Port of Gulfport, reshoring
As director of Mississippi State University’s Franklin Furniture Institute, Bill Martin has an up-close familiarity with the American “reshoring” trend, especially its implications for furniture manufacturing in Mississippi. He’s not convinced the trend of factories leaving China to return to the United States has arrived in Mississippi, but change is under way and the Magnolia [...] [...]
While Parkway Properties is shifting its operations to Orlando and selling off nearly all its Jackson office properties, a company often incorrectly thought of as a cousin to Parkway — EastGroup Properties — is staying put in Mississippi’s capital. EastGroup CEO David H. Hoster II says the only reason his company and Parkway are believed [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: December 16,2011
Tags: audit, DeSoto County, education, FBI, federal government, Greg Davis, Haley Barbour, investigation, Leland Speed, manufacturing, misappropriation, Mississippi Development Authority, municipal government, Phil Bryant, Politics, Stacey Pickering, taxes, taxpayers
Receipts show Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008 on a family-values platform, charged the city $67 for a purchase at a gay sex shop in Canada. The Mississippi auditor on Nov. 2 demanded Davis pay back more than $170,000 for personal expenses billed to taxpayers. There are no [...] [...]
by MBJ Staff Published: September 30,2011
Tags: banking commissioner, Commercial Real Estate, convention center hotel, Digital edition, Hyundai, JACKSON, Jeff Seabold, John Allison, Kewanee, Leland Speed, MBJ, megasite, Meridian, Mississippi Business Journal, MSU director of architecture school
In this week’s MBJ, Clay Chandler examines whether there is a megasite available for a new Hyundai plant. The MDA’s Leland Speed says there are no sites available. However, the East Mississippi Business Development Corp. executive director Wade Jones says the 1,400-acre Kewanee site is still available for Hyundai or anyone else that wants it. [...] [...]
Things haven’t been going Leland Speed’s way in his court challenges to a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would curb Mississippi’s power to take private property for large economic development projects But don’t look for Speed, a real estate executive and interim Mississippi Development Authority chief, to walk away from the fight. “I’m [...] [...]
JACKSON — Parkway Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PKY) announced Friday that Steven G. Rogers has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and director effective December 31, 2011. Mr. Rogers will continue in his current roles until year end, and during this period will transition his leadership responsibilities to James R. Heistand, current Executive Chairman. Heistand will [...] [...]
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