MMSA Announces 2009 Board of Directors
11.10.2008
JACKSON, Miss. November 6, 2008 - The Mississippi Main Street Association's 2009 Board of Directors met in the capital city of Jackson October 28-30 to finalize the association's strategic plans for 2009.The 2009 Board officer slate is as follows: Chuck Ueltschey, Mississippi Power Company, is Board President; Randy Burchfield, Bancorp South, is Board President-elect and Treasurer; and Suzanne Smith, Renasant Bank, is Chairman and immediate Past President.
The 2009 Board of Directors are as follows: Steve Kelly, Entergy; Bill Andrews, Viking Corporation; Jimmy Heidel, Department of Planning and Development for the City of Jackson; H.T. Holmes, Mississippi Department of Archives and History; Kay Miller, Biloxi Main Street; Hibbett Neel, Neel-Schaffer; Barry Plunkett, Real Estate Developer; Leland Speed, Eastgroup/Parkway Properties; Gray Swoope, Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority; Jim West of the College of Architecture, Art and Design at Mississippi State University; and Billy Wiseman, Retired. Bill Scruggs of St. Dominic Health Services is a new Board Member.
Designated representatives to the Board include Joy Foy, Mississippi Development Authority; Ken P'Pool, Mississippi Department of Archives and History; and John Poros, The Carl Small Town Center at Mississippi State University. Ex Officio members are Alex Thomas, Mississippi Development Authority; and Stella Gray Sykes, Mississippi Advisor to the National Trust.
The retreat was based in Jackson at the Old Capitol Inn and included a trolley tour of downtown Jackson, led by Downtown Jackson Partners President Ben Allen, the City View Project, led by MMSA Board Member Barry Plunkett, and the Belhaven/Fortification Street Project, led by Virgi Lindsay, Director of the Greater Belhaven/Main Street Neighborhood Association. The tour included stops in the Main Street urban neighborhoods of Belhaven and Fondren as well as the historic Farish Street distict. Dinner followed at Sal and Mookie's Restaurant in Fondren.
"We were excited to show the statewide MMSA Board of Directors our urban Main Street programs as well as the progress being made in our capital city," said Bob Wilson, Executive Director of the Mississippi Main Street Association. "I look forward to working with our distinguished Board line-up who are all dedicated to continuing the Main Street mission to develop Mississippi's downtowns."
The Mississippi Main Street program is an economic development program based in historic preservation focused on developing Mississippi's downtowns through a four point approach: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring. MMSA leads the nation in program success and is a designated partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Mississippi Development Authority.
