Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Mississippi State University Foundation is announcing six new and returning members each to its 46-seat board of directors.
Helping guide the 130-year-old, land-grant institution's fundraising arm for the next three years are new leaders Hollis C. Cheek of Kosciusko; Richard Puckett of Jackson; W.A. "Lex" Taylor III of Louisville; and William B. Berry, Douglas Terreson, and Paul B. Murphy Jr., all of Houston, Texas. Their terms officially began Jan. 1.
Incorporated in 1962, the MSU Foundation works to solicit funding from private sources to supplement annual state legislative appropriations. The organization also administers the institution's academic fundraising activities and endowment funds, which currently total more than $280 million.
The foundation currently is targeting private support for Mississippi State's long-range strategic plan known as "Reach for Excellence." This latest effort seeks at least $100 million in private funds for priority areas identified in the FutureSTATE 2015 report.
All new board members are MSU alumni. Cheek, president of Cheek Inc., is a 1970 landscape architecture graduate; Puckett, president of Puckett Machinery Co., and Taylor, president of Taylor Machine Works Inc., both are 1977 general business administration graduates; Berry, a 1974 and 1976 petroleum engineering graduate, a retired executive vice president of ConocoPhillips; Murphy, a 1981 banking and finance graduate, chief executive officer of Amegy Bank; and Terreson, a 1984 petroleum engineering graduate, managing director of Morgan Stanley.
Returning members include: Jan Gwin of Memphis, Tenn.; Mark S. Jordan of Madison; Hal Parker Jr. of Bolton; Dr. Allen K. Sills Jr. of Collierville, Tenn.; Dr. John "Walt" Starr of Columbus; and Skip Wyatt of Jackson. Board members may be reappointed after leaving the board for a year after their three-year terms expire.
Gwin, a 1971 banking and finance graduate, is managing director of Morgan Keegan Co.; Jordan, a 1976 landscape architecture graduate, owner of Mark S. Jordan Cos.; Parker, a 1969 general business administration graduate, president of Sunbelt Wholesale Supply; Sills, a 1986 biological engineering graduate, a Semmes-Murphy Clinic neurosurgeon; and Starr, a 1980 general science graduate, a Golden Triangle Periodontal Center periodontist.
Wyatt, a principal of the Foil-Wyatt Architects firm and a longtime friend of the university, rounds out the returning members.
In addition to board members, the MSU Foundation re-elected its 2007 officers to serve another one-year term. They include:
--President Richard C. Adkerson of New Orleans, a 1969 accounting graduate who completed a master's in business administration the following year. He is president and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. and co-chairman of McMoRan Exploration Co., an international oil and gas exploration and production company.
--Vice president James J. Rouse of Houston, Texas, a retired vice president of ExxonMobil and 1962 management graduate.
--Treasurer Hunter W. Henry Jr. of San Marcos, Texas, retired president of Dow Chemical USA and a 1950 chemical engineering graduate.
John P. Rush, MSU vice president for development and alumni, is the foundation board's CEO; David Easley, executive director of finance, the chief financial officer; and Bo Hemphill, executive director of development, the board secretary. They, too, are MSU graduates.
For more information about the MSU Foundation, visit www.msufoundation.com.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.