Contact: Sammy McDavid
The Mississippi State Foundation is announcing five new members of its board of directors.
New leaders whose terms began Jan. 1 include: Dr. John Elliott of Tupelo, Larry E. Homan of Fulton, Ronald W. Parker of The Colony, Texas, Floyd D. Wade Jr. of Newton, and Dr. Billy Ward of Katy, Texas.
Incorporated in 1962 and currently maintaining an endowment of more than $150 million, the organization works to solicit funding from private sources to supplement the school's legislative appropriations. More than $74 million in private gifts and pledges of future support was raised during fiscal year 2002--the highest year recorded in MSU fund-raising history.
Four of the five new board members are MSU alumni, while the fifth is a former senior administrator at the Starkville school. Elliott, a retired urologist, is a 1966 pre-medicine graduate; Homan, owner of Tri-States Lumber Co., a 1967 industrial arts graduate; Parker, president and chief executive officer of Pizza Inn Inc., a 1972 accounting graduate.
Wade, owner of Wade Properties, attended Mississippi State, while Ward is a former dean of veterinary medicine and retired vice president for advancement. Ward directs the Texas-based Swalm Foundation.
Returning board members include Johnny Crane of Fulton, Hunter W. Henry Jr. of San Marcos, Texas, Louis A. Hurst Jr. of Houston, Texas, Don E. Mason of Gulfport, and C.R. "Bob" Montgomery of Canton.
Crane is CEO of F.L. Crane and Sons Construction Co., while Henry, retired president of Dow Chemical USA, is a 1950 MSU engineering graduate who is among a select few holding an honorary doctor of science degree from his alma mater.
Hurst, a retired Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. executive and 1949 business graduate, was recently named the College of Business and Industry's Alumnus of the Year.
Mason, vice president of Mississippi Power Co., received a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1964 and master's in business administration the following year.
Montgomery, a 1961 marketing graduate, is partner with the Canton law firm of Montgomery McGraw Collins Jones.
Members may be reappointed after leaving the board for a year after their terms expire. The 2002 board officers re-elected to another one-year term include President Leo W. Seal Jr. of Bay St. Louis, a 1949 banking and finance graduate and chairman and CEO of the Hancock Bank; vice president Roderick A. "Rod" Moore, of Brandon, a 1967 accounting graduate now vice president and chief financial officer of the Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co.; and treasurer Richard C. Adkerson of New Orleans, La., president and chief financial officer of the mining ventures company Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, a 1969 accounting graduate who completed a master's in business administration the following year.
MSU vice president for external affairs Dennis Prescott, foundation CFO David Easley and foundation executive director Richard Armstrong make up the remaining board officers. Armstrong serves as secretary.