Mississippi Business Journal

• Banking & Finance M S B U S I N E S S . C O M

| Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 | Vo. 42 • No.7 • 24 pages

{Section begins P12}

» Banks adapt their business model » State’s banking industry trying to recruit more young people » State economist sees recession here and elsewhere as COVID-19 fight continues » Making sense of Wall Street

• Women & Minorities in Business {Section begins P18}

» Mississippi ranks last in pay equality for women

• Tourism {Section begins P21}

» Tourism tumbles amid pandemic

Banks

adapting their business model to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic » Page 12

Pages 16-20

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Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

$35.7 million loss

Casinos offline means major loss to state over three months

By LYNN LOFTON mbj@msbusiness.com

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he coronavirus pandemic has done what heretofore only hurricanes and floods have done: closed Mississippi’s 26 state-regulated casinos. The State Gaming Commission ordered the temporary closing to begin at midnight on March 16. To date, officials do not know when they will reopen.

With the casinos shuttered, more than 19,000 employees are out of work and the state coffers are minus millions of dollars

the gaming industry provides each month.

State Economist Darrin Webb says in February gaming transfers to the state’s general fund were $9.4 million. “If the casinos are closed three months, the general fund loses roughly $35.7 million; if closed six months, it’s roughly $68.9 million,” he said. “In fiscal year 2019, gaming transfers to the general fund were $136.6 million with gaming representing 2.3 percent of the general fund.”

State Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey says the decision to close the casinos was challenging due to the impact on the employees. “But based on

the best information we had coming from the State Department of Health, which said that gatherings of a certain number of people — and it has gone from 250 down to 50, then 10 — should be avoided, it was in the best interest of the public to close the casinos.”

His estimation is that gaming contributes approximately $4.5 million per week including the local distribution and sales taxes associated with the industry.

“I do not have an idea when casinos can reopen but will wait to get guidance from our health officials and elected leaders,” Godfrey said.

Larry Gregory, executive director of the State Gaming Association, says the casino operators were not involved in the decision to close. “We depend on the experience and knowledge of the Mississippi Gaming Commission on the precise time to close our businesses,” he said, “and we will wait for the necessary federal and state health entities to decide that business can safely resume.”

Gregory says some casinos are paying their employees for a specified period of time, after which they are eligible for unemployment.

“The impact of Covid-19 has been major to our industry. The closing of 26 casinos is a tough pill to swallow for our casino employees and state economy,” he said. “However, we have been through other events in our history — flooding, oil spill, and hurricanes from which we have learned. This is not our first rodeo. Like other catastrophic events we have endured, we will overcome this event and our casinos will reopen with vigor.

We are all anxiously waiting for that day.”

A personal look at this pandemic Okay, so yes, this coronavirus is serious business and we’re all scared ’cause we’ve never seen anything like it before. But hello, there are some sort of nutty things about the reaction that I don’t understand. Like this thing about buying up all the toilet paper. What’s that about? It’s one of the few things that doesn’t come from China, and besides you can’t eat it.

One day at the supermarket, I could not find bell peppers, bananas and bread.

Bread I get because with kids home from school a lot of sandwiches will be eaten. Ditto for canned soup, saltine crackers and frozen pizzas, which were also in short supply. Shoppers were grabbing and stacking them in their carts. (I’ve always said buggy, but I’m told I should say cart because that’s

less rural sounding.) Anyway, my shopping takes place in Gulfport where huge ships come into port laden with bananas from Central America, but yes, we have no bananas today. Maybe I’ll rev up my courage and sally forth again today in search of bread and bananas.

I laughed when someone wrote to the local newspaper asking why this virus was named for a beer (Corona beer, get it? Of course you do.).

Makes you wonder about our fellow citizens. By the way, to date there’s no shortage of the aforementioned beer in case you’re wondering.

However, there is really a run on wine and spirits.

Don’t criticize — you know it’s that whatever-gets-youthrough-the-night thing. Now we can add whatever-gets-youthrough-being-stuck-at-home

thing. My favorite package store was concerned yesterday that their state delivery truck didn’t come in.

Horrors! Please keep those liquor trucks running.

Speaking of being LYNN LOFTON stuck at home, I admire Pope Francis very much, but I like him even more now. Why? He is offering up prayers for parents who are ‘cooped up at home with children’ (his words). He was referencing Italy where no one can go outside except for necessities and many people live in apartments with no outside space.

So count yourself lucky if you have a yard where you can get fresh air and stretch your legs, but most of all if you are have a big ole stack of toilet paper.

» LYNN LOFTON is a long-time correspondent for the Mississippi Business Journal.

SHOPS, RESTAURANTS AT RENAISSANCE LOOK FOR NEW WAYS TO DO BUSINESS

Morgan Brashier (left), a manager at Biaggis restaurant at the Renaissance, hands a meal to Charlie Jones.

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com “Our usual advertising theme is ‘your dining and shopping destination.’”

“Now we say: ‘We’re your curbside dining and shopping destination,’” Jan Mattiace jokingly said in an interview on Wednesday.

But the corona virus epidemic’s disruption of commerce and just about everything else in the country and world, is no joke, Mattiace said.

Many retailers across the nation have closed, with undetermined plans for the future.

But many others are thinking creatively, said Mattiace, marketing and communications director for Mattiace Properties, which owns the Renaissance at Colony Park.

The closing of the Apple store in Renaissance was the first warning for the lifestyle mall in Ridgeland.

The wave of limited hours and numbers of people and “social distancing” ordered by local and federal authorities has forced a change, for the Brashier meantime anyway, of business models, Mattiace continued.

Barnette’s Salon, for example is for now selling products curbside while, the beauty care, of course, has been halted.

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is still allowing people into the store, but it is now offering curbside service, Mattiace said.

Clothiers are doing business by appointment only.

Restaurants are operating curbside – sometimes literally.

“Some people don’t even want to roll down their window down,” Mattiace said.

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Liquor store sales up during epidemic Demand puts ABC in bind

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com

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number of liquor stores are doing a booming business during the corona virus outbreak, causing delivery problems for some.

The state Alcoholic Beverage Control agency, meantime, has taken steps to make things more efficient.

The ABC started allowing curbside deliveries on March 16 and will extend it until

April 30, with the possibility ofstretching it to 120 days from the start, according to the agency website.

The agency is now allowing customers to submit orders and pay retailers by telephone or internet.

The ABC distributes over 3 million cases of spirits and wines annually from its 211,000-square-foot warehouse located inMadison.

(State law requires the ABC to mark up the wholesale price by 27.5 percent over

what it pays its suppliers. This markup generates about $32 million in revenue for the state annually, not counting the sales taxes which are also collected on retail liquor sales.)

(Thus the State of Mississippi decides what selection of products liquor retailers can offer to their customers and the minimum prices at which they sell to them.

Some label the arrangement a monoply.)

The ABC deliveries were days late in some cases, after the first wave of fear of

possibly being unable to put your hand on a favorite adult beverage struck the buying public – after with the statewide closing of restaurants and bars.

And just when more people had more time to entertainment themselves at home because of furloughs or temporary work stoppages.

Rudy Daghmach, owner of Ridgeland Discount Wine and Spirits, said that the store is “a little busier than usual,” but See LIQUOR, Page 9

End of an era

Triplett-Day Pharmacy closing after 65 years

By LYNN LOFTON mbj@msbusiness.com

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n March 31 an era ends in downtown Gulfport when Triplett-Day Drug Store closes its doors after 65 years of business. It’s not just the sale of prescription drugs, sundries and gifts but also the cafe and lunch counter that have endeared the store to customers. Located on the corner of Highway 49 and 14th Street, the store has been a popular gathering place for locals and visitors who’ve enjoyed breakfast featuring beignets and lunches starring daily specials, hamburgers and milkshakes.

Owner and pharmacist Jim Day, who celebrated his 90th birthday on March 14, says he will miss the daily interaction with customers and friends. His daughter, Poem Love, has worked in the store all her life.

She explains the reasons behind the closure.

“It’s my dad’s age and the ages of a lot of our long time patients; for their safety,” she said.

“A lot of controlled substance prescriptions now can not be transferred. Dad has agreed that it’s best.”

Prescriptions on file and merchandise will be shifted to the family’s T-D Pharmacy in the Orange Grove area of Gulfport, which pharmacist Chris Danruether has been managing for many years. Love adds that with the death of her pharmacist brother, Dan Day, last year, there is no one in the family to take over the downtown store. “Dad and I will work at the Orange Grove store part time,” she said.

Looking around at the many old photos and artifacts in the store, Love said customers have asked for them. “After the family gets the ones they want, the rest will be donated to the new Gulfport Museum of History,” she said.

At this time there are no plans for the future of the large space the store occupies but the family plans to retain ownership.

Many Coast residents and former residents think of Triplett-Day Drug Store as a landmark in and its owner as an icon.

Harry Bell, who owned Bell Travel Agency, has known Day since 1949 and calls him a hard worker. “He and Mr. Triplett had that building reconstructed and modernized in 1955,” Bell says.

Not much changed in the store after that

Photo by Lynn Lofton

Pictured are Jim Day and his daughter Poem Love, who has worked in the store her whole life. time. For that reason people were drawn to its nostalgic look. A few scenes of a television movie, Astronauts’ Wives, that was set in the 1960s were shot there.

Gulfport realtor Lenny Sawyer started working at the store at age 14 stocking shelves. When he got his driver’s license at age 15, he became the delivery boy and helped at the soda fountain. “Mr. Day truly has been an inspiration to me and has helped hundreds of others,” he said on the occasion of Day’s 90th birthday. Sawyer recalls closing the store at 10:30 on Saturday nights. “Then we’d walk down the street to see the midnight movie at the Paramount.

Those were good times.”

Day moved to Gulfport at age 22, right after graduation from Ole Miss, to work in

Day’s Pharmacy that was owned by his uncle. “It was located across the street where P.J.’s Coffee shop is now. I’ve seen a lot of changes. Now most of the retail is gone.

There used to be men’s and women’s clothing stores and much more downtown.”

Born in Inverness in the Mississippi Delta, Day grew up working in his father’s drug store. “That’s all I knew,” he says. “We sold a lot of ice cream and I did a lot of dipping; those were dipping days.”

He was the only one of the family’s four sons who became a pharmacist. One was a physician, one an engineer and one a banker. Day and his wife, Joan, are the parents of three sons Steve, Sam and Dan, in addition to their daughter, Poem.

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Mar. 8 - Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

Northpark Mall becomes a hall of echoes during pandemic

— Photos by Jack Weatherly

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com

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ou could play Frisbee golf in the biggest mall in Mississippi.

There was virtually no business going on Saturday afternoon in the 958,000-square-foot mall on the Ridgeland side of County Line Road.

Many of the mall’s 92 tenants were closed due to the corona virus pandemic. Others were open but had few customers.

Dillard’s was open but there were only a handful of shoppers. The other two anchors, Belk and J.C. Penney, were closed.

An exception was Manolo’s barber shop.

All of the shop’s barber chairs were in use on the first day that owner Dontrail Ellis reopened after closing for a week.

Ellis said that his barbers were initially frightened by the viral outbreak, but now, with an understanding of precautionary measures to be taken, business has returned.

Those measures include hand washing with soap and water before and after cutting hair and disinfecting tools and chairs before and after cutting hair.

Most of the customers make appointments with barbers, Ellis said.

After the interview with Ellis for this article, Ellis texted that “I’m shutting down. I can’t do it.”

Asked several times by voicemail and text why, he did not answer, only citing what the mall asks of its tenants during the pandemic, which is posted on the mall website.

Sales tax receipts will, of course, be affected by the curtailment of business at Northpark and the Renaissance at Colony Park, the other major retail outlet in the city of Ridgeland.

Mayor Gene McGee said Monday that the impact on sales tax revenue won’t be known till last in April.

Meantime, the city is being conservative in budgeting, McGee said.

McGee predicted a robust rebound after the corona virus cloud is lifted, though there is no consensus on when that might be.

Northpark has reduced its hours to 11 a.m. till 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon till 6 p.m. on Sunday.

A statement from Christy Pender, director of marketing and development for the mall issued last week follows: “As the community continues to closely monitor the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus, we continue to work in tandem with the City of Ridgeland, the State of Mississippi, and health organizations to monitor the evolving situation …. Out of an abundance of caution, all events and programming have been cancelled through May 15.”

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Small businesses get creative to keep going

By LISA MONTI mbj@msbusiness.com

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mall business owners in coastal Mississippi are getting creative with how they’re responding to the ever-changing conditions they suddenly find themselves operating in. Keeping their employees and their customers safe is top of their minds, along with keeping their businesses running.

Midtown Pharmacy & Gifts in Bay St. Louis is using the parking lot to accommodate customers who need prescriptions and medical supplies without getting out of their cars. Owner Tommy Turfitt said in the

as usual for now. “If they go to no-indoor seating we will have curbside pickup and delivery,” said Shannon Arzola who owns Pop Brothers with her husband, Octavio Arzola, and her brother, Chuck Kelly. “It’s important to follow rules for safety.”

In the meantime, business at the stores has held steady. “The bottom line right now is we’re fine. The kids are out of school and people are looking for something to enjoy sitting outside or to take home. We’ve had a steady stream of people. We’re okay.”

Pop Brothers is missing out on sales at several special spring events that have cancelled along with end-of-year school events. “We’re just going to get creative,” Arzola said. Pos-

Photo by Lisa Monti

Tommy Turfitt, the Midtown Pharmacy owner in Bay St. Louis, talks with a customer during a curbside pickup last week.

that we had to postpone,” she said. Within two days, all the arrangements for new dates were made. “Our brides have just been super. They’ve all taken it well.”

Pellegrin is working in the shop alone to keep her employees healthy and the showMidtown Pharmacy in Bay St. Louis.

Midtown Pharmacy parking in Bay St. Louis.

past few weeks he has been “looking for ways we could ramp up and stay in business.” That includes temporary drive-through service.

On Thursday, Turfitt was greeting customers in the parking lot, taking their paperwork inside the pharmacy and directing them to wait in designated parking spaces for their orders to be brought out to them.

Midtown Pharmacy has offered free delivery service since opening about three years ago as a way to accommodate customers, especially the elderly, who were homebound or had no transportation. In the last couple of weeks, deliveries have increased by 50 percent, Turfitt said. “Typically we do five or six a day, not it’s 10 or 12.”

The pharmacy itself is closed to customers, and the gift shop it shares space with is closed as well. Midtown sells home decor, a full line of gifts and has bridal and baby shower registries. “It’s the part of our business that we rely for cash flow,” he said. “But if somebody wants a gift, they can call us.”

Turfitt said Midtown employees are “keeping our distance and supporting the government’s call for social distancing,” he said. “A lot of patients are thanking us for the providing the services. It’s going over well.”

The owners of Pop Brothers, which makes and sells artisan ice popsicles at several locations and at special events, are following the 10-people rule in stores with inside seating.

At their outside seating locations it’s business

sibilities include ordering and paying online and deliveries made to customers at home without any contact. “The pops are sealed and individually wrapped so we can hang it on their door,” she said.

Claiborne Hill has two supermarkets in Waveland and Picayune. The family-owned business announced new hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily starting March 20 so employees will have time “to properly clean and sanitize” the stores and to restock.

The managers also announced the temporary closing of salad and olive bars and complimentary coffee stations, more frequent cleaning of restrooms and at the registers, limiting availability of some items and the number of customers allowed in the stores during the morning hours to avoid a rush at opening. There is also temporary stop of all sale ads because of shortages at the warehouses.

Kerri Pellegrin owns The Wedding Collection, an all-inclusive wedding services businesses, in Bay St. Louis that had weddings booked months ahead.

“Fortunately our business doesn’t stop,” she said. “Brides continue to plan until an apocalypse happens.”

The pandemic has caused a domino effect of moving multiple weddings to a later date this summer. “We had one wedding every weekend through April 4, and after a one-week break, all the way through May 2

room is being cleaned in between each appointment. “It’s really about protecting our clients and making sure our vendor partners are taken care of,” she said. “We’re like everybody else, taking it day by day.”

PERSPECTIVE

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Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 • www.msbusiness.com • Page 6

» INSIDE MISSISSIPPI

Virus deaths should weigh heavily on political leaders

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he notion that Mississippians can return to normal life and work by Easter Sunday is poppycock.

What the coronavirus has brought is a new and challenging normal, at least until a cure or vaccine can be developed.

While Mississippi has few cases compared to many states, the spread has been exponential. Over an eight day period, the number of cases went from 10 to 370. By the time you read this numbers will have escalated and deaths will be accumulating.

Because too many, both leaders and people, are not taking this seriously.

Health experts like Tom Inglesby, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, warn that irresponsibly ignoring restrictions “could kill potentially millions in the year ahead.”

Philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates called it “very irresponsible” to suggest America can avoid a shutdown of less than six to eight weeks. We need to shutdown to avoid what has happened in China and Italy, he said, painting a grim paradigm if we don’t - “Hey, keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner.”

Former Congressman David Bowen recalled stories of a family member hauling bodies on carts out of Old Main at Mississippi State during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

Is this the new normal politicians want for us? It will be if we don’t stick with top health officials’ restrictive guidelines.

Indeed, the new normal we need to safely return to work will adapt

these guidelines to the workplace and the schoolhouse. That’s what South Korea has done effectively.

That’s what safe nursing homes, retirement homes, and hospitals are doing. That’s what innovative stores and restaurants are doing.

That’s what a major part of the $2 trillion dollar stimulus package should target – providing financial resources for organizations to adapt their functions to the new normal to protect workers and customers.

Much of America can BILL CRAWFORD function safely if we adapt.

But they need gear, technology, and proven protective methods to do so, particularly for those who produce and deliver goods and services.

Fear and uncertainty over this virus are causing and will cause much fear and pain. I am a case in point.

I write this column early on a Wednesday night, facing serious surgery Thursday morning. The normal fear of invasive surgery with potential blood transfusion is surpassed by fears of contracting the virus as a 72-year-old with an impaired immune system. My wife worries if I should take these risks or hope I could avoid serious complications by deferring surgery for weeks or months. (The doctors say do it.) My children, burdened by their own virus related health and economic issues, wonder when they can count on our help again since we are hunkered down for the duration.

See CRAWFORD, Page 7

Image is everything, even in Mississippi Wt the Mississippi hen I taught a college Communication course a couple of years ago I would begin the first class of the semester with having students interview each other and then introduce the person they interviewed to the rest of the class. Then, without giving them any information about myself except what they could see in front of them I would give them a multiple-choice question.

What kind of vehicle does the instructor drive? a. 2012 Chevrolet Impala b. 2015 Nissan 350-Z c. new Ford F-150 pick-up d. 2018 Subaru Outback Typically, about 40% of the class would choose “C,” 30% would choose “a,” 20% would PHIL HARDWICK choose “d,” and 10% (or less) would choose “b.”

Most were then surprised to be told that this mature person of an instructor drove the Nissan 350-Z. What followed was a lively discussion about why that vehicle was selected. Part of the discussion was about what people thought when they saw an older man driving a sports car. The most common perception was that the driver was having a mid-life crisis.

Truth be told, I have almost always driven a sports car or sporty car of some kind. My first car was a 1968 Camaro. While still in my twenties, I had a Corvette, an MGB, and a Fiat X1/9. I just love driving. Still do. Not long ago I sold the 350-Z and bought “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Perhaps I am an outlier.

Maybe older guys who drive sports cars are having a mid-life crisis. Not me.

But this column is not about cars. It’s about assumptions others might make about you, your company, your organization, or your community when they see certain images. It’s about messaging and perception. It’s about how our minds make judgments and perceptions when we see an image. What message or impression is created by the image you, your business, your organization or your community sends.

When I think of examples of company image I harken back to Apple vs PC commercials in the mid2000s. Most advertising experts agree that it was one of the best marketing campaigns ever. In the commercials, there are two men. One is Mac. He’s young, hip and confident. He dresses casually. The other fellow is also kind of young, but he’s wearing a suit and tie. He has on eyeglasses. He seems very proper.

These two images said more about the products than computer specs ever could have. Were they effective?

Apple experienced a 42% market share growth in its next year. By the way, Microsoft retaliated, but the damage was done. If you have an extra 39 minutes go to YouTube and search for “Complete mac vs pc ads.”

There are 66 of them.

Images often cause us to make quick decisions.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, in which he pointed See IMAGE, Page 8

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Perspective

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Continued from, Page 6

Many must deal with far worse – job losses, financial collapse, despair, but most significantly, the deaths of loved ones.

Deaths are what should weigh heavily on political leaders’ minds. As Bill Gates said, we can bring an economy back but we can’t bring people back to life.

PS - Thumbs up to Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney for prodding insurance companies to adapt to the new normal of telehealth.

"Do not fear for I am with you” – Isaiah 41-10. » BILL CRAWFORD is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.

» FROM THE GROUND UP

Coronavirus Business Insurance Q&A: Policyholder coverage counsel on developing insurance issues Q: It seems that many businesses are being told that they simply don’t have insurance coverage for coronavirus. Why is that?

A: My sense is that we’re seeing general assumption based on broad concepts that may not apply to all ALEX PURVIS claims. For example, most insurance policies that contain some version of business interruption coverage will use the term “direct physical loss or damage” as a threshold coverage requirement. Some may assume that the coronavirus cannot meet that requirement because a virus might not cause structural damage like fire or a windstorm. But a coverage determination is not always that simple or straightforward. Most property policies are “all risk” policies designed to cover damage from any risk that is not otherwise excluded. My hope is that policyholders and their insurers will take a deeper look at the issue.

Q: Do you agree with that general position?

A: No, for at least two reasons: (1) policies can be different; and (2) claim facts will be unique. I’ve already seen some policies that should respond to losses caused by the coronavirus. By way of example, some policies provide coverage for loss caused by a government order, regardless of whether there is structural damage to the insured property. Court decisions have also interpreted “physical loss or damage” broadly to include biological contamination or even future physical loss. I try not to assume anything about a claim before I’ve seen the policy language and applied that language to the relevant facts. And finding the key facts may require investigation. What if a business was shut down because a subsequently diagnosed worker exhibited symptoms at the worksite? That fact could be material in determining coverage, depending on the particular policy language at issue. Let me be clear: I expect there will be some claims that are properly denied. A virus exclusion may be difficult to overcome. On the other hand, I just hope assumptions aren’t made without sufficient investigation of the facts, policy language, and the law.

Q: How is the insurance industry responding so far?

A: Widespread losses are difficult for insurers, to say the least, so I understand that an open checkbook will rarely be the initial reaction. What we’re seeing so far is high level messaging based on general assumption as we just discussed.

We’ve also seen quick resistance to any government efforts to intervene. New Jersey has considered legislation that would invalidate certain exclusions, and the insurance industry was not open to that. Of course, the most important responses will come on individual claims. I expect we’ll be seeing those in the coming weeks, and those early responses will set the tone.

Q: When should you contact your insurance company?

A: I suggest erring on the side of giving notice of a claim early, even if it may be premature. If you think you may have a covered loss, talk to your insurance professional, whether that’s your agent, broker, or a coverage lawyer. While there may be some instances where premature notice should be avoided, those instances are few and far between. You don’t want to lose coverage of a valid claim based on a late notice argument.

You should also talk to your insurance professional about how to give notice of a loss. Some policies have detailed

Q: Your previous article talked about the importance of tracking losses. Can you expand on that?

A: Sure. If a business loss is covered, the insurer will require details of the loss at some point during the adjustment process. While insurers have an obligation to investigate the claim, the policyholder must be cooperative. Claims also tend to go more smoothly if there’s an open dialogue instead of strategic posturing.

Even if you don’t yet know if you have coverage, tracking your losses is important. Think broadly about every way this crisis is impacting your business. Detailed accounting may be needed down the road, but basic recordkeeping and documentation of the loss is important now. You may also need that information for taxes or government relief measures.

In short, continue your business accounting function as best you can and tie the numbers to causation details where you can.

notice requirements. It may also be helpful to think through the details you provide in the notice. I would err on the side of giving at least some of the specific details, even if you need to reserve the right to amend the notice or add details later.

Finally, make sure you’re considering all possible lines of coverage. I’ve reviewed some pollution policies that may respond to certain types of claims. Event cancellation or crisis management policy forms have broad grants of coverage

See CORONAVIRUS Q&A, Page 9

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Virus forces restaurants to tighten up or close across Mississippi

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com

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estaurants across Mississippi are either running abbreviated service to try to avoid closing because of the coronavirus pandemic – or have already closed.

“Sales started plummeting early last week,” said Pat Fontaine, executive director of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association.

The public’s fear of the contagion and statements and mandates by federal and local government have “kept people from dining out,” he said Revenue has spiraled downward by as much as 50 to 75 percent, Fontaine said in an interview.

“You lose money if you open your doors.”

Some are doing their best to not open their doors for dining in. Whether it is a

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out that when making quick decisions we judge a book by its cover. He referred to it as “thin-slicing” – using a limited amount of information received over a limited period of time to come up with a decision.

Just to illustrate how effective an image can be, I suggest that you can connect the following 10 images with their companies or products: 1. a koala bear 2. a team of Clydesdales 3. a brown parcel delivery truck 4. a silver apple with a bite taken out of it 5. a little girl with red hair and pigtails 6. a peanut with a black hat 7. Colonel Sanders 8. a white duck 9. white cows with black spots 10. a small green lizard 11. a clicking stopwatch 12. A handsome cowboy Just in case you could not identify all of them, the answers are listed below.

Ginger Watkins, owner of the Hickory Pit on Canton Mart Road in Jackson, has limited service go takeouts and drive-throughs. case of dining in is prohibited or is limited, you cannot operate at a profit, he said.

“That’s in Jackson, that’s in Hattiesburg, that’s in Vicksburg, in Natchez – across the state people are cutting their losses.”

The National Restaurant Association has asked President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for a financial aid package for the industry that employs 15.6 million workers.

The package sought would amount to $410 billion in loans and other assistance.

A number of Jackson area eateries have already taken at hit and had to close.

That includes The Broad Street Bakery and Cafe, Sal and Mookie’s and Bravo in

Jackson, all owned by Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal.

The shutdown does not affect the Sal and Mookie’s in Biloxi, which is licensed and separately owned. Another licensed Sal and Mookie’s had been scheduled to open in May. Derek Emerson, owner or co-owner of Walker’s Drive-in in Fondren, Parlor Market in downtown Jackson and CAET and Local 463, both in Ridgeland, said Thursday was the last day for the three eateries.

Each of those restaurants had been averaging about 50 customers a day, Emerson said. Break-even for Walker’s was about 300 a day and CAET and Local 463 the figure was 400, he said. The three

Image matters. Obviously, it matters to the companies above because they spend millions of dollars in an effort to make you think of them when you see their image.

States and cities also spend a lot on creating an image. Consider “The Pelican State,” “The Sunshine State,” and “The Peach State.” Most people can identify those states right away. And isn’t there a state for lovers? Oh yes, it’s Virginia.

Sometimes, a state’s image can be difficult to visualize. Even though Mississippi may be known as “The Magnolia State” or “The Birthplace of American Music,” it still has a problem with its image. During this year’s Mississippi Economic Council Tour the first question asked in its audience survey was “How do you view Mississippi’s Image? – Positive, Negative, Not Sure.” A vast majority of respondents (over 80%) selected “Negative” and in one city, 100% of respondents selected “Negative.”

In summary, image is an impression and/ or a conception. It can define a company, an organization, a community or even a state.

Answers: 1. Qantas Airlines, 2. Budweiser beer, 3. UPS, 4. Apple, 5. Wendy’s, 6. Planters Peanuts, 7. KFC, 8. AFLAC Insurance, 9. Chick-fil-A, 10. GEICO Insurance, 11.

CBS 60-Minutes, 12. Marlboro cigarettes

restaurants employ approximately 150, Emerson said.

Crechale’s, a seafood and steak restaurant that had been operating at 3107 Highway 80 in Jackson since the mid’50s, is temporarily closed, owner Bob Crechale says in a recorded telephone message, vowing, however, “We will reopen.”

David Conn, one of the owners of the 4Top Hospital Group, which has six restaurants in metro Jackson and 15 total, including six in Nashville, two in Memphis and one in Huntsville, Ala., said the group will operate on takeout basis for now. Conn was mistakenly referred to as Bob Conn in an earlier version of this article.

The group employs 1,150, Conn said.

“We’re just trying to [keep] our employees working and safe,” he said. The group will try doing delivery to hospitals and other places, he said. “We’ve been fortunate to keep a reserve.”

“We’re going to regroup on Monday and see where we are,” he said.

The restaurants in metro Jackson are Char and Saltine in Jackson, Amerigo in Ridgeland and Flowood, and Anjou and Sombra in Ridgeland.

Ginger Watkins has owned and operated the Hickory Pit on Canton Mart Road in northeast Jackson since 1979. Starting Friday, the eatery will start offering drivethrough and takeout service only, she said.

A hand-made sign dated 1992 hanging over the counter says: “Life is Uncertain . . . Eat Dessert First.”

» PHIL HARDWICK is a regular Mississippi Business Journal columnist. His email address is phil@ philhardwick.com.

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Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

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CORONAVIRUS Q&A

Continued from, Page 7

99-CENT GASOLINE FORESEEN AS A DEFINITE POSSIBILITY

By JACK WEATHERLY jack.weatherly@msbusiness.com Ninety-nine cents for a gallon of gasoline?

When was that?

Back in the ’60s?

How about later this year?

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a collapse in prices, even including the Great Recession. What we’re witnessing is easily going to go down as the great collapse in oil demand,” said Patrick DeHaan, head petroleum analyst for Gas Buddy.

“Motorists hurrying to fill up today [are] wasting their money as prices will continue to drop in the days ahead,” DeHaan said in a release.

This time, there is no recession, though some prognosticators foresee one one brought on by the corona virus pandemic that has slowed the national and global economies dramatically.

Unfortunately, places to go to have been severely restricted as restaurants, hotels and other gathering spots, along with commercial air travel, have been either totally shut down or curtailed to slow the spread of the highly contagious and deadly disease.

World oil prices have fallen precipitously, and so prices for gasoline, an oil derivative, have prices naturally followed.

“Gas prices have spent virtually all of March marching lower, with the drop continuing as the corona virus destroys oil demand globally, leading to the lowest oil prices we’ve seen in 18 years, paving the way for still an additional 35-75 cent per gallon drop at most stations in the weeks ahead,” said DeHaan.

“Gas stations are passing along the drop several weeks behind, and there’s plenty more room for prices to drop, putting 99 cents per gallon prices as a strong possibility for perhaps many more stations than we previously anticipated. This is truly an unprecedented turn of events.”

Jackson prices have fallen 12.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.80 for a gallon of regular on Monday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 273 stations.

Prices in Jackson are 26.1 cents per gallon of regular lower than a month ago and stand 56 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy.

The cheapest station in Jackson was priced at $1.55 on Monday, while the most expensive was $2.09. The lowest price in the state was $1.14 while the highest was $2.39.

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 12.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.08 Monday.

The national average is down 38.5 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 54.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Neighboring areas and their prices: Baton Rouge, $1.83, down 9.3 cents per gallon from last week; Louisiana, $1.89, down 8.8 cents per gallon from last week’s $1.98.

with limited exclusions. And as I mentioned in my earlier article, there may be lawsuits coming soon against businesses or directors and officers for alleged negligence in responding to the virus. If that happens, liability coverage issues under CGL and D&O policies will soon follow.

Q: How will the government shutdown orders impact available coverage for businesses in MS?

A: Government orders may be helpful in that a specific order can make it easier to trigger civil authority coverage under some property policies. The reasons outlined for shutdown can be different from government to government. Some orders may clarify that shutdowns are being required because of damage or loss to properties. The use of that language in an order could be significant relative to the threshold “physical loss or damage” requirement discussed above.

Q: What about legislative action?

Do you expect the state or federal governments to play a direct role in determining the scope of available insurance coverage?

A: We’ll see. We already know that governments are trying to make a difference, and it remains to be seen how that will play out. On one hand, you can expect to see arguments from the insurance industry

LIQUOR

that governments cannot alter contracts through legislation. On the other hand, governments have an impact on insurance policies all the time. I expect this to be another significant area of dispute. On Monday, Mississippi’s Department of Insurance issued a bulletin strongly encouraging insurers to consider early audits on commercial policies that base premiums on fluid numbers, such as the number of employees. I hope policyholders will take advantage of that initiative, and I was glad to see the DOI get out in front of it. Small businesses shouldn’t be paying premiums based on employees that they just had to lay off because of this pandemic.

This is an unprecedented widespread loss, so we may see unprecedented measures taken by all sides. My advice to policyholders is to try to stay in the discussion by keeping an open mind and erring on the side of giving notice of a potential claim to your insurance carrier(s).

Q: There was a lawsuit filed in New Orleans last week by the Oceana Grill restaurant. Do you expect to see more lawsuits in the near future?

denials on significant losses, and that usually results in coverage litigation. On that note, I would encourage policyholders who receive a denial letter to promptly seek advice about how to respond. There are several strategic decisions that can be important (such as where to file a coverage lawsuit if necessary), and timing may be significant.

Q: How do you expect the insurance coverage issues will play out over time?

A: Resolution of coverage issues on widespread losses often takes too long. Patience will be necessary. I expect the insurance industry will be overwhelmed for months, if not years. That said, insurers, courts, and lawyers have developed helpful experience from recent catastrophic losses. Mississippi was a popular jurisdiction for the wind v. water coverage issues arising out of Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps that experience will help to move things along here. I hope so, and I hope some reasonable solutions will emerge sooner than later.

A: The Oceana lawsuit was certainly an early move, and some would say it was premature. It will be interesting to follow that case as it develops. But yes, I expect we’ll start seeing significant coverage litigation in the coming months. There will be claim

» ALEX PURVIS is a partner with Bradley in its

not been a problem. He said he has had to shorten hours due to the sanitizing duties.

Normally hours are 10 a.m. until 10 a.m.; for the time being the shop is closing at 6 p.m., he said.

“There is a lot of sanitizing after each customer leaves. We want to be responsible.”

Jacob Manley, speaking on behalf ABC, said the agency was not aware of any delays, but that it is asking retailers to limit their orders to 100 cases or fewer and that stores should not expect next-day delivery.

He said that ABC warehouse is at capacity.

Jackson office. He represents commercial policyholders in first and third-party insurance coverage disputes and is a fellow in the American College of Coverage Counsel. www.bradley.com. www. itpaystobecovered.com.

Continued from, Page 3

that deliveries from ABC have been slow.

An order made last Wednesday normally would be at the store by Friday, but that now it may be this Wednesday.

A survey of metro Jackson liquor and wine retailers elicited responses, ranging from being “slammed” with customers to better than normal.

Becky Asher, a salesclerk for Kats Wine and Spirits in Belhaven, said Monday that the store was so busy she couldn’t talk to a reporter.

Janes Butler, a supervisor at Silver Leaf Wine and Spirits, said, “We’re slammed.

We’ve been very busy since Thursday.”

R.W. Sullivan, owner of Bottle Shop Wine and Liquor aet 6270 Old Canton Rd., said business is normal, but that “who knows . . . it could get ugly.”

Nick Lord, general manager of Wine Spirits in the Quarter, said delivery has

Photo by Jack Weatherly

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Mississippi’s home sales aided by shrinking inventory amid COVID-19 crisis ByTED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com Home sale closings conducted in parking lots, virtual showings and carefully staged open houses have helped the state’s home sales stay steady in the early days of the coronavirus, say Realtors in north, central and south Mississippi.

The residential sector went into the new year as a seller’s market with dwindling inventories. That has not changed with covid-19 and its encroachment into Mississippi and every other state, the Realtors in Tupelo, Jackson and Hattiesburg said.

Whether sellers maintain their leverage is uncertain. But with strong demand and dwindling housing inventories, there’s some cause for confidence, they say.

“The market is favoring sellers in a lot of categories,” said Adam Watkins, immediate-past president of the Mississippi Association of Realtors and co-broker at The All Star Team agency in Hattiesburg.

Mississippi, nonetheless, is in a market shift, Watkins said Wednesday, emphasizing it’s too early to determine either the size of the shift or its direction. “I’ve told sellers panic is not something they should be doing,” not with the markets as strong

as they’ve been, he added.

In three or so weeks, Realtors will have a better idea of the supply levels and whether pricing adjustments are needed, Watkins said. But right now, pricing is holding in the Hattiesburg market, he added.

“I do think there will be some opportunities for buyers,” Watkins said. “I think we’ll see a percentage of contracts fail in next two weeks or so because of employment changes and layoffs. There could be some inventory returning to the market that was previously spoken for. This may be a good opportunity for buyers who previously didn’t have a lot to choose from.”

The concern is that continued economic uncertainty could diminish a market characterized by motivated buyers, said Keith Henley, Mississippi Association of Realtors president and broker at RE/ MAX Elite in Tupelo.

“We’re in unchartered waters, Warren for sure,” Henley said in an interview Wednesday, referring to real estate professionals as well as buyers and sellers.

Buyers, on one hand, are eager. But on the other are feeling some anxiety, according to Henley. “Buyers are about to embark on a financial commitment; they’re looking at it from that perspective. Sellers are looking at how this will

affect the marketability of their property.”

Henley said he started last week with 14 properties ready to close. He lost two buyers, three rescheduled and the rest went through with the transactions. “Surprisingly, I am seeing business hold steady,” he noted.

The Tupelo broker said he detects that today’s buyers are like the buyers each December, typically the slowest month as holiday activities push house hunting aside. If they are hunting, they are serious in much the way a car buyer who shows up at a dealership on a rainy day is, he said.

“I think we have more serious clients we’re dealing with,” Henley said.

Early spring is the busiest time of the year for home sales. So far, Madison Realtor Kate Warren is staying busy, just not as busy as last spring.

“On the most part it is holding steady,” said Warren, president of the Central Mississippi Realtors Association and co-owner of TurnKey Properties.

Central Mississippi Realtors Association is one of 21 boards associated with the Mississippi Association of Realtors.

Like Henley, house Henley hunters Warren is working with are in a buying mode. “If someone is calling to look at a house, they are serious,” she said.

“They are ready to buy something.”

Closings in a time of social distancing require some resourcefulness. Hence, shopping center parking lots are now a venue for them, the Realtors say.

The buyers are in one car, sellers in another. The closing attorney shuttles the documents back and forth for signatures, Henley, the Tupelo broker, said.

The distancing the parking lot transaction offers helps to lower anxieties among the parties, according to Watkins, the Hattiesburg broker.

“We’re trying to be respectful of each client’s comfort level, no crowded environments,” he said.

Watkins

ByTED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com Mayors and other local officials around Mississippi are cleaning up on aisle 7 after mishandled communications from new governor Tate Reeves’ last week left them a mess of confusion about covid-19 restrictions.

As the reality of the pandemic and its economic consequences set in last week, Reeves ordered cities and counties to adhere to social-distancing rules less stringent than ones localities already enacted.

For instance, many local governments had ordered restaurants closed for dining in.

Reeves, in his order, insisted they could remain open, as long as no more than 10 patrons occupied the restaurant at one time.

He also provided a lengthy list of businesses deemed essential and allowed to operate. He designated gun stores as essential but not a Fondren women’s health clinic that stands as the state’s last abortion provider.

The same 10-person standard was to apply to non-essential retailers and restaurants. Oxford and Jackson had ordered activities suspended or operations shut down.

Oxford restaurants, though, could provide pick-up and delivery services. Church services, wedding, funerals and civic gatherings are limited to 10 people, the city’s emergency ordinance says.

As the calls came in to the governor’s office from local leaders confused about their authority and options it carried, Reeves clarified: His order was never meant to supersede stricter local rules.

It was to be a floor of sorts, the governor’s office later said. The problem was his initial order never specified this.

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Oxford’s Tannehill: We’re going to enforce restrictions we have adopted and passed In Tupelo, Mayor Jason Shelton followed with a press conference soon after to lament that the restrictions adopted for the Northeast Mississippi city would not be enforced and instead the city would follow Reeves’ order.

Not having heard from Reeves ahead of the order, Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill and Jackson Mayor Chowke Lumumba wanted their information to come straight from the governor.

Never mind the order, Reeves reportedly told them. Local governments under the doctrine of home rule can adopt measures more stringent than those of the state, Tannehill and Lumumba said the governor told them.

“We’re going to enforce restrictions we have adopted and passed,” Tannehill said.

“No one knows better than local leaders what their citizens want.”

Oxford, a city of about 25,000 residents and around 20,000 college students, knew a couple weeks ago it had a huge vulnerability it must address: Thousands of thirsty, fun-seeking University of Mississippi students and 31 drinking establishments in town just off campus.

That was an invitation to community spread of the deadly worldwide virus, according to Tannehill.

Meanwhile, radio silence came from the governor’s office. “We moved quickly,” Tannehill said. “We saw crowds gathering in our entertainment venues.”

The non-communication from Reeves “was my frustration,” she said. Then came the sudden order that appeared to nullify Oxford’s emergency measures.

“If you are going to make a rule, have a conversation first,” said the mayor, who owned an adverting and marketing agency before becoming a full-time mayor.

She said what she was witnessing from Reeves was an undoing of “the hard work our board put in place.”

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said in an interview of MSNBC Saturday that he heard from mayors across the state befuddled over Reeves’ order. A call to Reeves brought a clarification that local government measures trumped his order.

“We agreed they’d serve as a minimal guideline,” Lumumba said.

The mayor credited Reeves for trying to lead from the top. But he must do more in

the way of ensuring increased uniformity in Mississippi’s strategy to counter the coronavirus, Lumumba said in a interview with Al Sharpton on his MSNBC show, Politics Nation.

“This pandemic requires that we have a unified and uniform policy that addresses all of the state,” Lumumba said. “Our communities are too inter-connected for us to be doing this in a piecemeal fashion.”

Like her Jackson counterpart, Tannehill said Reeves must do more to ensure residents of communities with regulations laxer than Oxford’s don’t bring their infections into the city.

The concern is further escalated by the roles Jackson and Oxford have as regional hubs for shopping and health care.

The governor should know, Tannehill said, that without a statewide stay-at-home order, people will be coming in who could be carriers of the virus.

“I wish they had the same rules in place,” she said.

“Until that happens, our county will continue to make the hard decisions on its own,” Tannehill said.

Those hard decisions have inflicted pain across the spectrum of Oxford’s businesses. Yet instead of complaints from the Chamber of Commerce, businesses are encouraging Oxford to do whatever it takes

workers get unemployment insurance compensation, Tannehill said.

“Right now, our Chamber is focused on how we get to the end of this,” she added.

In the meantime, state government as well as Oxford and all other Mississippi cities see lots of fiscal distress ahead, with the first dose of pain arriving in June when Oxford receives its share of sales tax collections for March. “The hardest times are coming,” she said.

Further, noted Tannehill, “Our 2 percent food and beverage and hotel tax will be nonexistent.”

Oxford has suspended work projects such as water, sewage and electrical upgrades and put off design work on a new municipal swimming pool. Even maintenance repairs to the current pool are on hold, the mayor said.

“We’ve cancelled all projects on the books that have not already been started,” she said. Suspensions include purchase of new equipment as well.

Oxford has laid off seasonal workers who mow grass on city property and keep the sidewalks litter free. “We are tightening our belts everywhere we can,” Tannehill said.

Volunteers from 16 houses of worship are making sure, however, that children who get their breakfast and lunch at school

Oxford Square. Photo courtesy of Visit Oxford

to maintain a safe city, according to Tannehill. She said Lafayette County of which Oxford is a part has adopted identical covid-19 restrictions.

“Everyone wants it to be more strict than it is now,” the mayor said of local business owners. “We’ve not had push back from businesses.”

The laments she has heard, she said, are more like, “What are we going to do if we can’t pay the rent.”

Businesses are mostly worried about prospects for securing U.S. Small Business Administration loans and helping laid off

continue to get them, Tannehill said. Further, Oxford has helped to ensure the elderly are fed by having transit workers deliver Meals on Wheels.

And in another move to keep food flowing, non-essential city workers are running a local food pantry, according to Tannehill.

Citizens haven’t been shy about asking to help out, the mayor added, and recalled a call she got from a resident who travels for his job but is sequestered at home.

“Tell me where to start mowing,” the mayor said the resident told her.

Banking and Finance Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 • Mississippi Business Journal • www.msbusiness.com

Banks adapt their business model

By LYNN LOFTON mbj@msbusiness.com

Banks, like all businesses, are adapting their business model to the reality of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic For some that means giving special consideration to customers who miss loan payments due to unemployment. Another change is limiting transactions to drivethrough windows and inside banking by appointment.

One of those financial institutions making a change is Gulfport headquartered Hancock Whitney, which is limiting the direct contact between employees and customers. “Everything is evolving, I expect for all banks,” said Vice President/Senior Communications Officer Paul Maxwell. “It will be a combination of options, much like in a post-hurricane environment.”

With 114 full-service bank branches, 161 ATMs and 1,300 employees in Mississippi, Regions Bank's top priority is the safety of customers and associates. Metro Jackson

Market Executive Robert Leard said, “We have taken several proactive steps, including enhanced facility cleaning and providing guidance to associates on measures to limit exposure and reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

“Our branch-banking services are tem-

Maxwell

Leard

porarily limited to drive-through options and in-office appointments. Customers are also encouraged to use the bank’s online and mobile banking options and network of ATMs, many of which provide Video Banking service as well as check cashing and deposit services.”

Leard says Regions Bank understands the challenges customers are facing. “We want to be part of the solution. “We have a series of options available for those experiencing financial hardships. Services

range from loan payment deferrals and extensions with no late fees, to payment extensions for credit cards, to many other options.,” he said. “We have complete details on our website and people can contact our Mississippi branches to discuss their individual needs and let us identify ways

Quinn

Host

we can help.

“Our hope is to make this difficult time easier for the people and businesses we serve. We live here, we work here, and we will get through this together.”

Leard encourages customers experiencing financial hardship due to coronavirus to call their bankers to discuss payment or assistance options related to Regions credit cards, personal loans, home equity loans and business loans. Additionally, a mortgage assistance applications is available

through the Regions Mortgage Payment Assistance team.

The Regions Foundation, a nonprofit initiative of Regions Bank, is initially committing $2.5 million to fund grants for organizations with proven track records of helping small businesses navigate economic or operational challenges.

Planters Bank is also stepping up to the challenge of helping customers in what they acknowledge is a trying time for the average consumer. “If a customer is facing a financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, we encourage them to contact their Relationship Manager or our Customer Contact Center to discuss their specific situation,” said Jim Quinn, executive vice president-COO. “We are being proactive now making customers aware that we are offering a 90-day payment extension on any Planters Bank loan, in good standing. There is no fee for the extension.

We do ask the customer to pay the interest outstanding.”

Quinn added that Planters Bank can help pave the path to Small Business Association loans should a small business request assistance. “Our lenders are eager to help out anywhere they can with our consumer loan products to bridge a short fall in cash to pay bills.”

Trustmark Bank Public Relations Coordinator Gavin Snyder says the health and safety of customers, associates and communities is always a top priority for them.

“As we closely monitor the current situation surrounding the Coronavirus through federal, state and local authorities, we are maintaining policies and procedures that help ensure we are able to continue to provide our financial products and services,” he said. “We have re-aligned our branch services by limiting lobby service to appointment only and encouraging the use of our drive through where applicable.”

Customers are also encouraged to utilize myTrustmark®, the online and mobile banking service, to practice safe social distancing.

“To protect the safety of our associates, we are taking a proactive approach and implementing safeguards, such as limiting non-essential company travel, social distancing and working remotely when possible, encouraging frequent hand washing and instructing our associates to stay home if they are sick,” Snyder said.

Trustmark customers facing a financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, are asked to contact their relationship manager or call the bank's COVID-19 Assistance Hotline to discuss their specific situation.

13 banking & finance State’s banking industry trying to recruit more young people Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

By NASH NUNNERY mbj@msbusiness.com Like other business sectors, the banking industry is struggling to recruit and retain young people.

Between the financial crisis of 2008 and negative headlines about ethical missteps, it’s become harder to attract the next generation of professionals to banking.

Mississippi Bankers Association president and CEO Gordon Fellows said the banking industry faces plenty of challenges when it comes to recruiting and retaining talent.

“From a generational standpoint, today’s college graduates grew up in an economy damaged by the (2008) housing crisis,” he said. “We’ve reminded them, however, that (banking) is a really good career field and giving back to your community or hometown through a banking career is a great path to success.”

Enter the Mississippi Young Bankers 70th annual Study Conference & Convention which occurred March 7-11 at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama. The conference welcomed some 150 of Mississippi’s young bankers and 300 other registrants, including vendors and spouses.

Launched in 1950, MYB operates as a section of the MBA.

Themed “Make Your Voice Heard”, this year’s MYB convention will feature two mornings of general sessions, keynote speakers on leadership and advocacy, and networking. Speakers for the event included Natalie Bartholomew aka “The Girl Banker”, corporate culture expert Lavon Gray and former Major League Baseball player (and ex-Jackson Met) Darryl Strawberry.

Additionally, the five finalists for the MBA’s Orrin Swayze Scholastic Awards were announced. The scholarships, presented each year to Mississippi college students, include Davis one award of $5,000 to the Swayze Scholar and four awards of $1,500 given to the runner-ups.

“The (2020) conference theme ‘Make Your Voice Heard’ signifies the importance (for attendees) to be active in issues advocacy and political engagement,” Fellows said. “With the recent state elections that placed so many, including our new governor, into office under the age of 50, we’re finding more and more that young bankers are developing relationships with young politicians.”

Current MYB president Marc Petro

concurs with Fellows’ assessment.

“The entire focus of my past year as president has been to encourage young bankers to get involved with the political process,” said Petro, who also serves as president of the Hinds-Madison division for the Communi- Fellows ty Bank of Mississippi. “I want our young banker group to understand the importance of cultivating relationships with these political officials and voicing their opinions when there is legislation that could positively or negatively impact our industry.”

The MYB’s mission is “educating Mississippians on how to effectively manage money, and the continuing education of young bankers”, according to the organization’s web site.

“Historically, the main purpose of MYB is financial literacy and providing education for the state’s diverse population,”

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said Amy Davis, a senior vice-president of the MAB and coordinator for the MYB convention. “At the convention, we focus on banker education and leadership. It’s a great opportunity to hear from various speakers about industry ‘hot topics’.”

Part of that education includes the MBA’s “Banker in the Classroom” initiative, Davis said. Started a decade ago, the state-wide program has reached over 100,000 Mississippi K-12 students. MBA member bankers register to visit a classroom in their area and speak directly with teachers, who then arrange dates for the banker to visit the classroom and present on personal finance topics.

Current MYB vice president Zach Luke, who’ll take over as president at the convention, said the organization has provided great opportunities to network with bankers from across the state.

“It’s been an invaluable part of my experience with MYB and influenced my career in a meaningful way,” said Luke, CFO and a senior vice president at Bank of Commerce in Greenwood. “That’s in addition to the training and education offered through the Association, and just basic access to information of things going on in the banking world politically, regulatory and economically.”

Banking and Finance Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 • Mississippi Business Journal • www.msbusiness.com

State economist sees recession here and elsewhere as COVID-19 fight continues »

Analysis of pandemic flu scenario puts Mississippi economic loss at $4.9 billion

By TED CARTER mbj@msbusiness.com Other than saying a national recession is a certainty as the coronavirus shutdown grows, Mississippi’s state economist Darrin Webb is not publicly projecting where the state’s economy will drop to in the days ahead.

For now, Webb’s forecast is for the nationwide recession to be “significant” but shorter than that brought by the banking and real estate collapses of 2008-2009. A recession is typically designated as two consecutive quarters of economic decline and rising unemployment.

“We are still working on the specifics,” Webb said in an email on Monday.

“There remains a great deal we do not know in this rapidly changing event,” he added.

Webb said his current thinking is for the nation to have three quarters of recession starting in the second quarter.

The starting point for projections on the economics of the covid-19 likely will be a June 2019 study ordered by former Gov. Phil Bryant. The study put the damage to Mississippi’s $96 billion economy from an influenza pandemic at $4.9 billion.

The analysis, conducted by a pandemic

influenza steering committee chaired by the state epidemiologist, projected workforce absenteeism caused by the pandemic at 40 percent for up to eight weeks during the peak and at lower levels throughout.

At some point, the study says, the state’s scope of response could require activation of the state’s Emergency Response Center. Ultimately, though, effectively countering the epidemic could become too costly to sustain with existing funds, the study concluded.

The influenza steering committee’s work established a framework for management of statewide operations in response to “Pandemic Influenza” with appropriately scaled and structured responses, the study’s authors said.

In a March 18 tweet, Webb said the United States is going into a recession, “but will not be fully seen in the data until second quarter.”

Webb’s early scenario is that the national economy will begin a gradual recovery in the first quarter of next year. Mississippi, he said, will follow a similar pattern but growth rates will be below those of the nation, just as in the last recession.

Darrin Webb

The new recession, he said, will be “significant, but not like 2008.”

Webb called the economic decline a “prescriptive recession” created by forcing business closures as a way to counter the spread of the deadly virus.

Webb’s forecast for a steep second quarter recession nationwide extending through the rest of the year “is basically my exact same view,” said Dr. Edward “Ward” Sayre, professor of economics at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

This one will be shorter but far deeper than the one in 2008, Sayre said.

The professor said the projection of a $4.9 billion hit to Mississippi’s economy “is probably decently within range.”

Such a huge hit, Sayre said, could bring double-digit unemployment to Mississippi for the next 18 months.

Many businesses won’t survive, he predicted.

Large deep-pocked corporations, especially those getting federal help, will be OK, he said, but added others with fewer resources “just won’t be able to weather it. They will shut down and just won’t be able to come back.”

Sayre said he would not be surprised to see a 25 percent drop in the national economy as the prescriptive recession unfolds.

One reason for the expected quarter drop in GDP, he said, is that 80 percent of the nation’s workers are in the service sector, the one hardest hit by the social distancing mandates across the country. “It’s going to be steeper than anything we’ve seen,” Sayre said.

A big concern, he said, “is what happens to peoples’ minds.”

Will the economic shock they endured cause Americans to keep their money in their pockets rather than returning to shops, restaurants, movies and the like? Sayre said he is worried it will.

But sports should see a more enthusiastic return, according to Sayre, who sees huge pent-up demand for live sports. “It will be highest demand ever,” he predicted.

» 80% of the nation’s workers

are in the service sector, the one hardest hit by the social distancing mandates across the country.

banking & finance

Making sense of Wall Street

— UM chair of economics explains stock market situation

J

on Moen, professor and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Mississippi, is parsing some of the financial terms zinging around the news amid the COVID-19 pandemic and offering insights into the state of Wall Street during an unprecedented plummet – one he does not believe is comparable to the Great Recession in 2008.

Moen earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago, where the economics program is ranked in the top 1 percent in Moen the nation. He joined the Ole Miss faculty in 1990, after serving as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, one of 12 regional branches of the Federal Reserve System, the country’s central banking system.

Moen is the author of more than 35 scholarly articles. His most recent research study – “How J. P. Morgan Picked the Winners and Losers in the Panic of 1907: Resolving Adverse Selection and Restoring Surplus to a Frozen Deposit Market” – was accepted

for presentation at the 2020 Annual Conference of the Economic History Society at St. Catherine’s College at Oxford University.

Q: Let’s begin with some ABCs. What’s the difference between a stock and a bond?

A: A stock is an ownership share of the future earnings of a company. When a company is profitable, the stockholder gets a share of that profit. A bond is a loan to a private company or government entity made by the bondholder.

For most people, the income from a bond is made either by collecting interest payments on the bond – the loan – or by selling it for more money than you paid for it. Most people’s financial investments, such as a pension fund, are a mixture of stocks and bonds.

Q: How do you know if you’re making money with your stocks?

A: There are three major U.S. indices (indexes) that take the temperature of the New York Stock Exchange and other equity markets. These are the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500, and the NASDQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations).

Q: How do these indices differ from each other?

A: The Dow Jones measures the future

Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

earnings of 30 companies, each of which represents a major sector of American economy.

That’s why it’s called the “industrial average.”

For example, some of the companies in the Dow are Exxon Mobile (energy), Walt Disney (entertainment), McDonald’s (fast-food restaurants), Microsoft (technology) and United Health (health care) – that’s just a sampling.

The S&P 500 is an index of a diverse group of 505 smaller companies, from BorgWarner, which makes and supplies components for the automotive industry, to companies that sell real estate.

The NASDAQ is the most recently created index. It measures computer trading.

There’s no “place” where this trading takes occurs, like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. And there are no people physically trading stocks. It’s all done by high-speed computer.

Q: Why are there big swings in the stock exchange, for example, when a lot of investors are buying or selling their stock at the same time?

A: It’s kind of like being in a grocery store and seeing a lot of people buying a certain thing. It makes you think, “Maybe I should buy that, too.” Investors look at what other investors are doing, and they don’t want to be left out as a buyer or a seller, so they start doing the same thing – even if they don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s herd behavior.

Q: A lot of people are comparing the losses on the stock market now to the crash in 2008. Is the current financial situation just a repeat of that?

n

Mississippi Business Journal

n

15

A: No. These are two very different situations. Now, there is a specific, identifiable reason for the market decline: expectations of decreased earnings by companies and individuals because COVID-19 is putting them out of business. Businesses are shutting down because of something completely out of their control; they’re not just behaving badly or making bad decisions as they were in 2008, when they were creating layers of derivatives based on mortgage-backed securities.

This pandemic isn’t happening on paper.

It’s a real thing in our environment.

Q: What’s the role of government when the stock market goes south?

A: The government identifies causes and sees if there is anything it can do to mitigate or dampen the effects of the losses.

Q: Is there such a thing as a stock market going to zero – so that stocks have no value anymore?

A: That didn’t happen even in the Great Depression. It could happen theoretically, but it’s never occurred.

— By Abigail Meisel

Banking and Finance

16

Bank Holding Companies

Bank BankHolding HoldingCompanies Companies Rank

Bank Address

Telephone Website

Regions Financial Corporation 1900 5th Ave. N., Birmingham, AL 39157 Hancock Whitney Corporation 2510 14th Street, Gulfport, MS 39501 BancorpSouth Bank 201 South Spring St, Tupelo, MS 38804

800-734-4667 regions.com 800-448-8812 hancockwhitney.com 662-680-2000 bancorpsouth.com

Top Officer Additional Locations

Robert Leard Approximately 1,500 locations in 15 states John M. Hairston 2 217 locations, including 39 in Mississippi James D. Rollins 3 310 full service branch locations in 8 states Jerry Toney Cadence Bancorporation 800-636-7622 4 11 locations in Mississippi; 87 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, cadencebank.com 2800 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 3800, Houston, TX 77056 Texas Trustmark Corp./Trustmark National Bank 800-243-2524 Gerard R. Host 5 trustmark.com 192 Systemwide (AL, MS, FL, TN, TX) 248 E. Capitol St., Jackson, MS 39201 Renasant Corp./Renasant Bank 662-680-1601 C. Mitchell Waycaster 6 renasantbank.com More than 190 statewide and regional 209 Troy St., Tupelo, MS 38804 Origin Bancorp, Inc./ Origin Bank 318-255-2222 Drake Mills, Lance Hall, Larry Ratzlaff 7 origin.bank Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas 1511 N. Trenton St., Ruston, LA 71270 The First Bancshares/The First, ANBA 601-268-8998 M. Ray Cole 8 thefirstbank.com 78 locations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia 6480 U.S. Hwy 98 West, Hattiesburg, MS 39402 Community Bancshares/Community Bank 601-825-4323 Charles Nicholson 9 communitybank.net 51 statewide and regional locations 1255 W. Government St., Brandon, MS 39402 BancPlus Corp./BankPlus 601-898-8300 William A. Ray 10 BankPlus.net over 55 locations statewide 1068 Highland Colony Pkwy., Ridgeland, MS 39157 CBS Banc-Corp./CB&S Bank 256-332-1710 Mike Ross, Craig Robinson 11 cbsbank.com 55 branches in 3 states, 14 in Mississippi 200 S. Jackson Ave., Russellville, AL 35653 Southern Bancorp Inc. 870-246-5811 Darrin Williams, John Olaimey, Joseph Ricotta 12 banksouthern.com 18 offices in Mississippi, 30 in Arkansas 605 Main St., Arkadelphia, AR 71923 Citizens National Banc Corp./Citizens NB of Meridian 601-693-1331 Archie R. McDonnell, Hampton Thames 13 yourcnb.com 27 statewide branch locations; Corporate Office in Meridian.

512 22nd Avenue, Meridian, MS 39301 First Financial Banc Corp.

870-863-7000 Brad Ogletree 14 ffb1.com Carthage, Senatobia and 8 branches in Arkansas.

214 N. Washington, El Dorado, AR 71730 BankFirst Capital Corporation 662-328-2345 Moak Griffin 15 bankfirstfs.com 16 Mississippi and 6 Alabama branch 900 Main St. , Columbus, MS 39701 Citizens Holding Co./Citizens Bank of Philadelphia 601-656-4692 Greg McKee 16 thecitizensbankphila.com 26 branches, plus LPO in Oxford 521 Main Street, Philadelphia, MS 39350 State Bank & Trust Company 662.453.6811 Lee Seago, Kirk A. Graves 17 statebank1898.com 35 statewide and regional locations 916 Highway 82 Bypass, Greenwood, MS 38930 Planters Holding Co./Planters B&T Company 662-887-3363 Alan H. Hargett 18 planters-bank.com 19 locations statewide 212 Catchings Ave., Indianola, MS 38751 Guaranty Capital Corp./Guaranty B&T Co. 662-247-1454 Hue L. Townsend 19 gbtonline.com 19 locations statewide 210 N. Hayden St, Belzoni, MS 39038 First Trust Corp./First B&T 504-584-5900 Gary B. Blossman 20 fbtonline.com Offices in Ocean Springs and Biloxi, and 15 in Louisiana and Florida 909 Poydras St., New Orleans, LA 70112 First National Bankers Bankshares,Inc. 225-924-8015 Paxton Mogenson 21 bankers-bank.com Offices in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee 7813 Office Park Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Jeffrey B. Lacey First State Corp./First State Bank 601-735-3124 22 Buckatunna, Clara, Leakesville, Lucedale, Meridian, Quitman, State Line, firststatebnk.com 708 Azalea Dr, Waynesboro, MS 39367 Laurel, Ellisville Robert J. Barnes Introductory Offer PriorityOne Capital Corp./PriorityOne Bank 601-849-3311 23 Magee, Ridgeland, Flowood, Richland, Brandon, Mendenhall, Collins, priorityonebank.com 220 N. Main Ave., Magee, MS 39111 ❏ Digital Reprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$375 Seminary, Hattiesburg, Morton, Pelahatchie, Pearl Liberty Financial Services/Liberty B&T 504-240-5288 Alden J. McDonald ❏ Framed Article 14” x 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$199 24 libertybank.net 9 offices nationwide, including 1 in Jackson P.O. Box 60131, New Orleans, LA 70160 ❏Offer Framed Article 23” x 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250 Introductory $199 228-435-5511 Introductory Offer $199 Chevis C. Swetman Peoples Financial Corporation 25❏ Digital Reprint Digital Reprint . . . . .thepeoples.com . 18 .$375 . . . . . . . . . .St., . . . .Biloxi, . . . . . Introductory . MS . . . . 39530 . . . . . .❏ . . .Offer .Plaque . . . . .$199 . .$375 branches in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties.

152 Lameuse 8”❏x 10” or 9” x 12” . . .... .. .. .. ..... .. .. .. ..... .. .. .. ..... .. .. .. ..... .. .. .. ..... .. ..$199 ❏ Framed Digital Reprint . . . .x. 16.5” . . . . . cherry . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$199 .$375 ❏ Framed Article 14” x 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. .$199 ❏ Article 14” Frank West, Justin Hill Security Capital Corp./First Security Bank _______________________ 662-563-9311 Issue Date Page # _____________________ 26❏ ❏ Framed Framed Article Article 14” xx 16.5” ❏ Framed Article 23” xfirstsecuritybk.com 16.5” cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barton, $250 Como, Crenshaw, Hernando, Marks, Olive Branch, Pope, 23” 16.5”6cherry cherry .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..MS .. .. .. ..38606 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$199 $250 295 Highway West,.. Batesville, Robinsonville, Sardis, Senatobia, Southaven, Tunica ❏ Plaque Framed8” Article x 16.5” $250 ❏ Plaque 8” x 10” or 9” x 12” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$199 ❏ x 10”23” or 9” x 12”cherry . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .$199 Merchants & Marine BancorpYour Name: 228-762-3311 Clayton L Legear 27Issue ❏ Plaque x 10” or 9” x 12” . . . .St., . . . Pascagoula, .Page . . . . .#. _____________________ . . . . . . MS . . . . 39567 . . . . . . .$199 Issue Date _______________________ Page # _____________________ Date 8” _______________________ mandmbank.com 10 Mississippi locations and 3 Alabama locations 3118 Pascagoula 1

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Company: Issue Date _______________________ # _____________________ Commerce BancorpPage Inc./Bank of Commerce

662-453-4142

Bryan E. Thornhill, Zach S. Luke Greenwood, Oxford, Starkville, Columbus, Charleston, North Carrollton James W. Covington Brookhaven, Liberty, Magnolia, Monticello, Osyka, Summit, Madison, Hattiesburg, McComb Zip: Patrick R. Biglane Zip: Woodville, 3 in Natchez and 4 in Louisiana James R. "Bo" Collins Belden, Myrtle, Saltillo, New Albany, Oxford Alan H. Walters Ridgeland, ❏ American Express Oxford, Southaven ❏ American Express Lee H. Fedric Citizens Corp./Citizens Bank of Columbia 601-271-8517 ofPrepay size is 8.5”❏MasterCard x 11”. Framed articles by: Article ❏ Check ❏Visa Credit Card ❏ American Express 33the page.

U.S. 98 Columbia, Hattiesburg, Tylertown, Magnolia, Sumrall, Seminary, # citizensbk.com 814one Main St., Columbia, MS 39429 Credit Card # take month to complete.

Creditapproximately Card # Laurel Credit Card # The Peoples Corporation/Peoples Bank ofExp. Ripley Mary Childs Date: Signature Exp. Date: Signature662-837-8191 Exp. Signature 34 Date: peoplesripley.com 6 offices in Ripley, Walnut and Blue Mountain 305 East Jefferson, Ripley, MS 38663 Exp. Date: Signature Article or list will be reformatted with Mississippi Frame size 14” Amount x 16.5” authorized Frametosize 23” x 662-234-2821 16.5” Plaque 9” x 12” or charge: Amount authorized toFirst charge:National Holding Co./FNB Oxford John L. Barrett Amount authorized to charge: 35 Business Journal masthead on the top Square, of the pageOxford, and MS $19938655 $250 8” x 10” - $199 Tupelo, Oxford fnboxford.com Courthouse Amount authorized to101 charge: be provided in PDF format.

Southwest Security, Inc./United Mississippi Bank 601-445-7000 Bruce M. Kuehnle, Adrian Sandel Call: 601-364-1044 Fax: (601) 364-1007 Call: 601-364-1044 Fax: (601) 364-1007 36 unitedmsbk.com Natchez, Fayette, Centreville, Woodville, Bude, Gloster. 2 in Louisiana 75 Melrose-Montebello Parkway,Call: Natchez, MS 39120 601-364-1044 Fax: (601) 364-1007 Call:or601-364-1044 Fax:Business (601) 364-1007 Fax mail: Mississippi Journal Attn: Marcia Kelly Fax or mail: Mississippi Business Journal Attn: Marcia Kelly First Valley National Corp./First NB Clarksdale 662-627-3261 Russell 37 Fax orKelly mail:200 Mississippi Business Journal Attn:39201 Marcia Kelly Oxford S. Bennett North Congress St, Ste 400, Jackson Fax or mail:Congress Mississippi Business Journal Attn: Marcia 200 North St, Ste 400, St., Jackson 39201 fnbclarksdale.com 402 East Second Clarksdale, MS 38614 Email: marcia.kelly@msbusiness.com or print off form at Kris Mangum, Lillous Ann Shoemaker 200 North Congress St, Ste 400, Jackson Email: marcia.kelly@msbusiness.com or 39201 print off200 formNorth atBank msbusiness.com/wp-files/forms/article-request-form-web.pdf Congress St, Ste 400,601-764-2265 Jackson 39201 Magnolia State Corp/Magnolia State Your Name: 28 Name: Your bankcom.com 310 Howard St, Greenwood, MS 38930 Your Name: Street Address: Company: Company: First Southwest Corp./First Bank 601-684-2231 29 Company: firstbankms.com 100 S. Broadway, McComb, MS 39648 Street Address: City: State: Street Address: Concordia Capital Corp./Concordia B&T 318-336-5258 Street Address: 30 City: City: State: Zip: concordiabank.com 904 Carter St., Vidalia, LA 71373Phone: Fax:State: City: State: Zip: BNA Bancshares 662-534-8171 Phone: Fax: Phone: Fax: 31 bnabank.com 133 East Bankhead St, PO Box Email: 811, New Albany, MS 38652 Phone: Fax: Email: Bank First Commercial Bancshares/First Commercial 601-709-7777 Email: 32 are reformatted to fit on either one or two pages Articles firstcommercialbk.com 1300 Meadowbrook Road, Jackson, MS Prepay by:39211❏ Check ❏MasterCard ❏Visa Email: with Mississippi masthead on the top Prepay by: ❏ Check ❏MasterCard ❏Visa Prepay by: ❏Business Check Journal ❏MasterCard ❏Visa ❏ American Express

is worth repeating

Framed Article

digital reprint WAYS TO ORDER

Deposits as of Dec. 31, 2019

Assets as of Dec. 31, 2019

$99,836,000,000

$125,641,000,000

$23,803,575,000

$30,600,757,000

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$21,052,576,000

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$809,576,000

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$601,545,000

$476,883,000

$592,038,000

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$478,735,000

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$422,335,000

$370,703,000

$421,145,000

$362,168,000

$417,025,000

$309,607,000

$367,278,000

$310,702,000

$350,113,000

$297,551,000

$345,442,000

eBanking and Finance 21

First National Bankers Bankshares,Inc. 7813 Office Park Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70809

225-924-8015 bankers-bank.com

22

First State Corp./First State Bank 708 Azalea Dr, Waynesboro, MS 39367

601-735-3124 firststatebnk.com

23

PriorityOne Capital Corp./PriorityOne Bank 220 N. Main Ave., Magee, MS 39111

601-849-3311 priorityonebank.com

Liberty Financial Services/Liberty B&T P.O. Box 60131, New Orleans, LA 70160 Peoples Financial Corporation 152 Lameuse St., Biloxi, MS 39530

Bank Holding Companies 24

25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

504-240-5288 libertybank.net 228-435-5511 (continued from page 16) thepeoples.com

Security Capital Corp./First Security Bank 295 Highway 6 West, Batesville, MS 38606

662-563-9311 firstsecuritybk.com

Merchants & Marine Bancorp 3118 Pascagoula St., Pascagoula, MS 39567 Commerce Bancorp Inc./Bank of Commerce 310 Howard St, Greenwood, MS 38930

228-762-3311 mandmbank.com 662-453-4142 bankcom.com

First Southwest Corp./First Bank 100 S. Broadway, McComb, MS 39648

601-684-2231 firstbankms.com

Concordia Capital Corp./Concordia B&T 904 Carter St., Vidalia, LA 71373 BNA Bancshares 133 East Bankhead St, PO Box 811, New Albany, MS 38652 First Commercial Bancshares/First Commercial Bank 1300 Meadowbrook Road, Jackson, MS 39211

318-336-5258 concordiabank.com 662-534-8171 bnabank.com 601-709-7777 firstcommercialbk.com

Citizens Corp./Citizens Bank of Columbia 814 Main St., Columbia, MS 39429

601-271-8517 citizensbk.com

The Peoples Corporation/Peoples Bank of Ripley 305 East Jefferson, Ripley, MS 38663 First National Holding Co./FNB Oxford 101 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS 38655 Southwest Security, Inc./United Mississippi Bank 75 Melrose-Montebello Parkway, Natchez, MS 39120 First Valley National Corp./First NB Clarksdale 402 East Second St., Clarksdale, MS 38614 Magnolia State Corp/Magnolia State Bank 28 Highway 528, Bay Springs, MS 39422 Bancorp of Lucedale/Century Bank 4282 Main St., Lucedale, MS 39452 RiverHills Capital Corp./RiverHills Bank 1400 Highway 61 N., Vicksburg, MS 39183

662-837-8191 peoplesripley.com 662-234-2821 fnboxford.com 601-445-7000 unitedmsbk.com 662-627-3261 fnbclarksdale.com 601-764-2265 bankmagnolia.com 601-947-7511 centurybank.net 601-636-1445 riverhillsbank.com

Paxton Mogenson Offices in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee Jeffrey B. Lacey Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 n Buckatunna, Clara, Leakesville, Lucedale, Meridian, Quitman, State Line, Laurel, Ellisville Robert J. Barnes Magee, Ridgeland, Flowood, Richland, Brandon, Mendenhall, Collins, Seminary, Hattiesburg, Morton, Pelahatchie, Pearl Alden J. McDonald 9 offices nationwide, including 1 in Jackson Chevis C. Swetman 18 branches in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties.

A. Frank West, Justin Hill Barton, Como, Crenshaw, Hernando, Marks, Olive Branch, Pope, Robinsonville, Sardis, Senatobia, Southaven, Tunica Clayton L Legear 10 Mississippi locations and 3 Alabama locations Bryan E. Thornhill, Zach S. Luke Greenwood, Oxford, Starkville, Columbus, Charleston, North Carrollton James W. Covington Brookhaven, Liberty, Magnolia, Monticello, Osyka, Summit, Madison, Hattiesburg, McComb Patrick R. Biglane Woodville, 3 in Natchez and 4 in Louisiana James R. "Bo" Collins Belden, Myrtle, Saltillo, New Albany, Oxford Alan H. Walters Ridgeland, Oxford, Southaven Lee H. Fedric U.S. 98 Columbia, Hattiesburg, Tylertown, Magnolia, Sumrall, Seminary, Laurel Mary Childs 6 offices in Ripley, Walnut and Blue Mountain John L. Barrett Tupelo, Oxford Bruce M. Kuehnle, Adrian Sandel Natchez, Fayette, Centreville, Woodville, Bude, Gloster. 2 in Louisiana Russell S. Bennett Oxford Kris Mangum, Lillous Ann Shoemaker Hattiesburg, Heidelberg, North Laurel, Downtown Laurel, Petal, Taylorsville, Peter D vanLingen Ten regional and statewide locations in Mississippi and Alabama Robert D. Gage IV Madison, Port Gibson, Vicksburg

Information provided by individual companies and FDIC reports. Direct questions to frank.brown@msbusiness.com.

$399,589,000

$856,071,000

17

Mississippi Business Journal n $664,763,000 $809,576,000 $578,255,000

$696,736,000

$514,700,000

$601,545,000

$476,883,000

$592,038,000

$508,454,000

$580,035,000

$484,047,000

$576,106,000

$493,066,000

$569,937,000

$478,735,000

$561,010,000

$444,832,000

$533,363,000

$442,245,156

$516,910,929

$363,344,000

$422,335,000

$370,703,000

$421,145,000

$362,168,000

$417,025,000

$309,607,000

$367,278,000

$310,702,000

$350,113,000

$297,551,000

$345,442,000

$304,235,000

$339,343,000

$274,842,000

$333,665,700

$266,980,000

$327,551,000

WOMEN & MINORITIES IN BUSINESS Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 • Mississippi Business Journal • www.msbusiness.com

Mississippi ranks last in pay equality for women

By BECKY GILLETTE mbj@msbusiness.com

M

ississippi ranks last in the U.S. when it comes to pay equity for women.

“We are now the only state in the nation without some equal pay protections in our state law,” said Tracy DeVries, executive director, Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. “Alabama legislators passed a state equal pay bill last session.”

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Mississippi ranks 51 for women’s employment opportunities and earnings. DeVries said on average, in Mississippi, women make only $.75 compared to every $1 men make. That gap is even wider for women of color. The latest data shows that black women are paid 62 cents on the dollar, native women 57 cents and Latina women just 54 cents compared to white men.

“There is an equal pay bill still alive this year in the Mississippi Legislature, but Mississippi policymakers need to make this a priority and act fast; because, as of now, it will take until 2088 for women to achieve equal pay,” DeVries said. “One of the issues that could be addressed with that legislation is around NOT setting pay based on a worker’s previous income, which allows pay discrimination to follow women (and men) from job to job. We need fair pay so that underpaid workers and their families can get through a crisis like the one we are facing without their health, safety, and well-being being at risk.”

DeVries

DeVries says the most startling fact from their research is that just by closing the gender wage gap for men and women in similar jobs could, by itself, cut the poverty rate of working women in Mississippi in half.

Globally, unpaid work that women do is estimated to be worth $10 trillion. The gap is larger elsewhere, but in the U.S., men spend 2.4 hours a day — about 17 hours a week — doing unpaid labor, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Women in the U.S. spend just over four hours doing unpaid labor each day — about 28.5 hours a week.

With the current coronavirus emergency causing widespread business closures, the situation for low-income women regarding child care has become dire. Some child care centers have had to close because their enrollment is so low and others opted to close out of concern for public health.

“We need child care centers to stay open for parents who need to work,” said Carol Burnett, executive director of the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative, based in Biloxi. “Child care centers have gotten very little guidance on what to do.

So many parents are in need of unemployment insurance at this time.

It has just been very difficult. Child care centers have been left to figure it out on their own. Decisions what to do have been a real patchwork in Mississippi. Parents who have to work have concerns about having children go to child care centers, and child care centers are concerned about what they need to do to protect the health, not just of the children and families they serve, but their staff also.”

Burnett said the coronavirus emergency will be a very big bump in the road in obtaining pay equity.

“I worry about impact of the virus on women because a lot of those are in the lowest paid jobs, $7.25 an hour,” Burnett said. “Mississippi still goes by the federal minimum wage. Even though women are about half our state workforce, they make up three quarters of our state’s minimum wage jobs. They are over-represented in those low-income jobs, and those jobs are the ones most

likely to be eliminated by this coronavirus process.”

Burnett said she feared the $2 trillion See PAY EQUALITY, Page19

Women & Minorities in Business PAY EQUALITY

Continued from, Page 18

stimulus bill under consideration in Congress at the time this article was written was not going to people in the most need.

“We are eager to see what the details are,” Burnett said. “I’m hoping there is going to be real relief for families who live paycheck to paycheck, and now they don’t have a paycheck. They need to keep their housing. I hope they ease rules about getting assistance for families. I hope these stimulus benefits for small businesses will help these fragile child care centers.”

Burnett said Mississippi could do a much better job using federally funded welfare programs to help people in poverty and the state overall. Burnett said the arrest of former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis and others has brought a lot of attention to TANF or

the federal grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which is commonly known as welfare.

Burnett said if the allegations are true, it’s outrageous that these individuals used their positions to embezzle millions from needed services for Mississippi’s poor families, many of whom are single moms with young children.

She said there are also other systemic misuses of TANF in Mississippi including leaving millions of TANF funds unspent. She also is opposed to the state’s punitive measure to prevent fraud that cost more than the fraud itself. One example is expensive drug testing when few recipients were shown to use

Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

drugs. Mississippi has been recognized as having the highest level of TANF program integrity in the nation.

TANF funds can be invested to make a real impact. An example Burnett gives is the Moore Community House’s Women in Construction program. Mothers get job training in a profession that pays higher wages than most jobs traditionally held

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by men, allowing them to go to work and achieve success.

Burnett said there are many other examples like this across the country of TANF investments that work for poor families. “I urge the state to use this moment of attention to TANF to pivot toward investments proven to support poor families’ success.”

“We are now the only state in the nation without some equal pay protections in our state law”

Largest Minority-Owned Businesses

Largest Businesses LargestMinority-Owned Minority-Owned Businesses Rank

Business & address

Phone & Website

Top Officer & Year Founded

Type of Business

Minact 601-362-1631 Reuben Anderson, Augustus Collins Job development minact.com 1978 5220 Keele St., Jackson, MS, 39206 Nvision Solutions, Inc. 228-222-5900 Socorro Harvey IT, geospatial analysis, software development, 2 nvisionsolutions.com 2002 electromechanical engineering.

88360 Diamondhead Dr. E., Diamondhead, MS, 39525 CCSI 601-366-4542 Cissye Carthan-Terry 3 Security guards and patrol services ccsisecurityinc.com 2009 1761 University Blvd, Jackson, MS, 39204 Gulf Coast Produce Distributors, Inc. 228-435-0005 Christi Alise 4 Restaurant Wholesale; Fruit & Vegetable Store gcproduce.com 1995 194 Bohn St., Biloxi, MS, 39530 Lilly Pad Home Health 601-336-6114 5 LaTonya Hailes Home Health Care lillypadhomehealth.com 1507 Hardy St. Ste 201, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401 Robinson Janitorial Specialists 662-327-4990 Willie Robinson 6 Janitorial Services robinsonjanitorialspecialist.net 1983 2015 4th Ave. N., Columbus, MS, 39701 SOL Engineering Services, LLC 601-961-1415 Willie O'Neal Jr., Derek Starling Sr. Engineering, Environmental, Logistics, Project and 7 solengrs.com 2001 Program Management, R&D 340 Edgewood Ter, Jackson, MS, 39201 DSC Training Academy 601-351-5858 Willie Jones Truck driver training 8 drivingyourfuturems.com 1995 3906 I-55 Frontage Road, Jackson, MS, 39212 Tidy Cleanup Services, LLC Beverly Bradley 662-255-3675 Janitorial Services 2004 654 W. Main St, Tupelo, MS, 38804 IMS Engineers, Inc. 601-968-9194 John Calhoun, Rod Hill, Tommy Avant Engineering, Management, Logistics Operations imsengineers.com 1996 126 E. Amite St., Jackson, MS, 39201 N.L. Carson Construction Co. Inc. 601-267-3023 Lee Carson 11 Construction nlcarsonconstructioncoinc.com 1972 2221 Waggoner Rd., Carthage, MS, 39051 American Field Service Corporation Cynthia Warner 12 601-853-1000 Highway, Street and Bridge Construction 1968 110 American Way, Madison, MS, 39110 General Maintenance Systems Inc. 601-352-6383 Foster Ellis, Jr. 13 Facility Management / Consulting vongms.com 1988 4101 N. State St. Ste. C-9, Jackson, MS, 39206 Magnolia Personal Home Care Services, LLC 14 601-740-0136 Home Health Care 6086 U.S. 98 W., Suite 3, Hattiesburg, MS, 39402 Creative Expression Learning Center 759-232-8703 Shelia Cooper Child Day Care Services 117 B Millcreek Corners, Brandon, MS, 39047 SanJo Security Services, Inc 601-969-7205 Kolean Sanders, J.R. Jones Armed and Unarmed Guards, Food Services, 16 sanjoinc.com 2000 FMO, Lawn Care, Petroleum 1615 S. Gallatin St, Jackson, MS, 39201 Topps Private Investigation & Security Firm 17 662-417-7212 Ophelia Topps Investigation services, security guards 158 Hattie Flowers Drive, Grenada, MS, 38901 Willie Goss Enterprises 18 662-289-2031 Janitorial Services P.O. Box 303, Kosciusko, MS, 39090 Orocon Construction, LLC 228-432-5922 John Oropesa General contractor oroconllc.com 2006 325 Reynoir St., Biloxi, MS, 39530 Caring Hands Personal Care 601-792-9329 Kimberly Gholar 20 Home Health Care Services caringhandspersonalcare.com 2006 1814 Columbia Ave Ste B, Prentiss, MS, 39474 Information provided by individual companies, Mississippi Development Authority and MBJ research. Direct questions to Frank Brown at frank.brown@msbusiness.com.

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Staff 955 130 115 90 84 70 65 62 60 60 50 49 43 32 32 31 29 28 28 25

Women-owned businesses

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Women-Owned Businesses Women-owned Businesses Rank

Company Address

Phone Website

Top Officer Founded

Type of business

Staff

Staffers Inc. 601-362-1010 Beth Henry Office Administrative Staffing staffersinc.com 1999 1437 Old Square Rd., Ste. 107, Jackson, MS, 39211 Davis & Davis Pizza, LLC dba Domino's Pizza 6628018882 Diane A. Davis 2 Franchise of Domino's restaurants dominos.com 1986 3936 Old Panola Rd, Sardis, MS, 38666 Hopkins Advantage, LLC 769-300-0086 Facilities Support Services; Construction and 3 Kelly Hopkins choosehopkins.com capital projects 273 Old Jackson Road, Madison, MS, 39110 Service Specialists 601-407-6161 Deborah W. Martin 4 Staffing, Training, and Logistics Services servicespecialistsltd.com 1967 157 North Union, Canton, MS, 39046 Nvision Solutions, Inc. 228-222-5900 Socorro A. Harvey IT, electromechanical engineering, geospatial 5 nvisionsolutions.com 2002 analysis, software development, 88360 Diamondhead Dr. E., Diamondhead, MS, 39525 CCSI 601-366-4542 Cissye L. Carthan-Terry 6 Security guards and patrol services ccsisecurityinc.com 2009 1761 University Blvd, Jackson, MS, 39204 Universal Services 601-394-4510 Lana Dobbins, Ryan Dobbins 7 Electrical Contractors universalservicesms.com 2004 1241 Hwy 63 N , Leakesville, MS, 39451 CITE Armored 662-551-1066 Teresa Hubbard 8 Armored trucks manufacturer citearmored.com 2002 540 Industrial Park Road, Holly Springs, MS, 38635 Professional Staffing Group, LLC 601-981-1658 Brenda A Barron Staffing, Recruiting, and Placement Firm prostaffgroup.com 2007 2475 Lakeland Drive, Suite C, Flowood, MS, 39232 Gulf Coast Produce Distributors 228-435-0005 Christi Alise 10 Restaurant wholesale; fruit, vegetable store gcproduce.com 1995 194 Bohn St., Biloxi, MS, 39530 Lilly Pad Home Health 601-336-6114 11 LaTonya Hailes Home Health Care lillypadhomehealth.com 1507 Hardy St. Ste 201, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401 Little Footprints Learning Center 601-898-1221 Stephanie Mahaffey, Jennifer Nelson 12 Full-time child care littlefootprintslc.com 2008 319 Distribution Dr., Madison, MS, 39110 DSC Training Academy 601-351-5858 Willie Jones 13 Truck driver training drivingyourfuturems.com 1995 840 E. River Pl., Suite 605/606, Jackson, MS, 39212 Tidy Cleanup Services, LLC Beverly Bradley 14 662-255-3675 Janitorial Services 2004 654 W. Main St, Tupelo, MS, 38804 Graham Roofing Inc. 662-492-9555 Christee Holbrook, Suzanne Richardson 15 Commercial & Industrial Roofing Contractor grahamroofing.com 1968 680 W. Tibbee Road, West Point, MS, 39773 Lawrence Crane Theming and Design Concepts Wanda Lawrence Carmichael 16 662-561-1941 Painting, drywall, wall covering 2001 36124 Highway 315, Batesville, MS, 38606 Material Girls LLC 601-707-7465 Whitney Giordano Foster 17 Women's Clothing Store shopmaterialgirls.com 2004 289 Commerce Park Dr Ste B, Ridgeland, MS, 39157 Old Capitol Inn 601-359-9000 Mende Malouf Alford, Wes Scrape Boutique Hotel and Restaurant oldcapitolinn.com 1997 226 N. State St, Jackson, MS, 39201 Corso, Inc 228-436-4697 Elizabeth Ann Joachim 19 Vending and wholesale distribution center fpcorso.com 1924 221 Caillavet St., Biloxi, MS, 39530 Turf Masters Lawn Care Inc 228-475-3665 Steve Jordan, Gloria Jordan 20 Landscape Services turfmasterslc.com 2000 5510 Telephone Road, Pascagoula, MS, 39567 Apex Insulation, Inc. 662-369-9623 Geneva Coker 21 Commercial and Industrial Insulation apexinsulation.net 1987 109 S. Meridian St., Aberdeen, MS, 39730 Interstate Landscaping of Mississippi 662-837-0079 Cathy H Griffin Erosion control subcontractor ilm.ms 1991 20900 Hwy 15, Falkner, MS, 38629 Hall's Towing Service Inc. 601-939-3932 Shirley Hall, Jim Hall, Brandee Hall Bridges 23 Towing and recovery hallstowing.com 1980 1161 Weems St., Jackson, MS, 39208 Sugaree's Bakery 662-534-0031 Mary Jennifer Russell Small batch bakery sugarees.com 1997 110 W. Bankhead St., New Albany, MS, 38652 Creative Expression Learning Center 25 759-232-8703 Shelia Cooper Child Day Care Services 117 B Millcreek Corners, Brandon, MS, 39047 Magnolia Personal Home Care Services, LLC 601-740-0136 Home Health Care 6086 U.S. 98 W., Suite 3, Hattiesburg, MS, 39402 SanJo Security Services, Inc 601-969-7205 Kolean W Sanders, J.R. Jones Armed and unarmed guards, food services, lawn 27 sanjoinc.com 2000 care, petroleum 1615 S. Gallatin St, Jackson, MS, 39201 The Cirlot Agency 601-664-2010 Liza Cirlot Looser, Rick Looser Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations 28 cirlot.com 1984 1505 Airport Rd., Jackson, MS, 39232 Topps Private Investigation & Security Firm 662-417-7212 Ophelia Topps Investigation services, security guards 29 158 Hattie Flowers Drive, Grenada, MS, 38901 Matt Johnson Electric 662-487-3188 Emily T. Johnson, Matthew T. Johnson Wiring Installation contractors 30 mattjohnsonelectric.com 2003 4628 Union Road, Sardis, MS, 38666 Willie Goss Enterprises 662-289-2031 Janitorial Services P.O. Box 303, Kosciusko, MS, 39090 Can't Be Beat Fence & Construction LLC 228-255-9040 Meredith Anderson Construction 32 cantbebeatfence.com 1982 2204 Highway 53, Perkinston, MS, 39573 Caring Hands Personal Care 601-792-9329 Kimberly Gholar Home Health Care Services caringhandspersonalcare.com 2006 1814 Columbia Ave Ste B, Prentiss, MS, 39474 Estes-Manning Management Group, LLC 601-859-1900 Brandi Manning Asset & Property Management estesmanning.com 2018 735 Avignon Drive, Ste. 4, Ridgeland, MS, 39157 Kaleidoscope of Learning 601-502-2990 Patrina Dace, Glen Dace Preschool/After School kaleidoscopeoflearning.com/ 2003 335 Byram Drive, Byram, MS, 39272 Lauderdale Mechanical Group, Inc. Tina L. Blanton, Gina L. Davis 662-841-7718 Mechanical Contractor 1998 1862 International Drive, Tupelo, MS, 38804 TempStaff Inc. 601-353-4200 Carolyn Boteler Office support; call center; manufacturing; IT; 37 tempstaff.net 1981 staffing 962 North St., Jackson, MS, 39202 Mississippi Safety Services 601-924-7815 Kay H. Brodbeck Safety Training- National Safety Council Driver 38 MSsafety.com 1986 Improvement Courses P.O. Box 1379, Clinton, MS, 39060 R&R Rentals and Hotshot, Inc. Rosemary Smith 800-649-6131 Oil and gas industry equipment rental 1982 915 E. Main St., Sandersville, MS, 39477 Cicada 662-281-0541 Anne-Marie Varnell Gordon Retail - woman's clothing 40 shopcicada.com 1998 307 S. Lamar Blvd., Ste. 200, Oxford, MS, 38655 Color My World Child Care Academy Sherrie Hearn 662-844-0830 Child care 1997 2045 McCullough Blvd, Tupelo, MS, 38801 Source: Individual companies, MBJ research and the Mississippi Development Authority. List is ranked by number of employees. Direct questions to frank.brown@msbusiness.com.

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tourism Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020 • Mississippi Business Journal • www.msbusiness.com

Tourism tumbles amid pandemic

By LISA MONTI mbj@msbusiness.com The year started out on an upbeat note for the Coast’s tourism industry.

The visitor numbers for January and February were the best in four years, and March was on track to continue the trend. Nearly $750 million worth of projects including upscale hotels and the Mississippi Aquarium were on the verge of opening.

Coastal Mississippi, the agency that promotes the three southernmost counties, marked the first anniversary of its new Secret Coast branding campaign and touted 2020 as a pivotal year for development and economic growth. Leaders looked for “an extremely prosperous year ahead.”

Then the rapid spread of the coronavirus sped into a global pandemic. “It’s amazing,” Milton Segarra, CEO of Coastal Mississippi, said of the spiral. “The world stopped and the industry changed.”

Segarra and his staff began working from home in mid-March. “We’ve had a few meetings in the (Biloxi) office but mainly all

daily operations are from home, and it’s working well,” he said. But the momentum building early in the new year has naturally slowed.

The Coast, with its casinos, beaches and various activities and attractions, has hosted visitors for generations. Now the casinos are shut down, restaurants have closed or limited hours and offerings, events have been cancelled or postponed. “It’s putting a big pause in our plans that we had,” he said.

When Segarra came to the Coast, he brought extensive experience dealing with crises. While he was head of Puerto Rico’s tourism agency, there were two major hurricanes, the Zika virus health emergency and the financial meltdown of the Puerto Rican government. Last summer in Mississippi, he guided coastal tourism response to beach closures due to toxic algae. “It was back to back to back,” he said of the string of calamities.

Now, during a worldwide health crisis,

“The world stopped and the industry changed.”

Milton Segarra, CEO of Coastal Mississippi

Segarra said Coastal Mississippi is conveying two messages to future visitors. “One, they have to stay healthy and safe,” he said. “Two, we are encouraging them not to cancel their plans but to postpone their vacations. When they are ready to travel, we are going to be ready and waiting for them.”

When tourists do finally return to the Coast, he said, they will find “the same level of experience and commitment that each one of our stakeholders provides normally when we have visitors in town.”

In the meantime, Segarra said, “We are doing as much as possible to support our local stakeholders including restaurants and make them part of our local messaging strategy so locals and others can support them right now. That’s the most important thing.”

Coastal Mississippi’s website has tips on how to stay well while supporting local restaurants and other businesses along with a link to coronavirus preparedness resources. There’s also a list of temporary closings and the status of events that’s constantly updated.

Segarra said the web-

site has the most up-to-date information on the Coast.

“We will stay in touch through the social media platforms we manage and when we see that the consumer is ready to start considering messages about traveling again, we will be there and bring our A game to make sure we resume and continue the recovery,” he said.

Segarra, who is active in national and international tourism associations, said, “What we’re hoping, and that’s the right word, is that we will see most likely after this summer the economy starting to come back slowly but surely.” Next year at this time, he believes the economy will be in recovery mode, “not to the level in March 2020 but in recovery.”

Segarra said the Coast’s tourism industry represents one-third of the state’s tourism jobs, visitor expenditures and taxes. The Coast’s future is based on how quickly its tourism industry recovers.

“We have to make sure we work together with local leadership and legislative leaders,” he said. “This is the time to really come together, craft a plan and make it happen. It’s so important for the coast and our industry on the coast to rebound as fast and strong as possible.”

“What we’re hoping, and that’s the right word, is that we will see most likely after this summer the economy starting to come back slowly but surely.”

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Newsmakers

Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

Community Foundation announces Fulcher as successor as president

Methodist Rehabilitation Center has announced Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi president Tom Pittman will step down from that position on April 1, and the Foundation’s Executive Vice

Tom Pittman (left) and Keith Fulcher

President Keith Fulcher will become president. Pittman has served as president since 2004 and will remain with the organization as president emeritus.

Fulcher who joined the Foundation last year previously served at Delta State University for 23 years as executive director of the Alumni Foundation, director of development and special assistant to the president.

“The Foundation’s Board began the process of finding Tom’s successor two years ago when he told us of his desire to step down in 2020. We wanted to find someone who could work with the Board to carry out the Foundation’s mission and implement the Board’s strategic plan. We recruited Keith to the Foundation last year for this position and are pleased with the leadership he has given,” said Community Foundation Board Chair Lillian Hilson. “At the same time, we are glad Tom will continue with the Foundation to share his experience and knowledge.”

At Delta State University, Keith helped to lead two campaigns that raised $40 million in private support for the university. He has also volunteered in fundraising for other charities such as the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Cleveland Rotary Club.

VCVB’s Gatian Receives Tourism Marketing Certification

Ashley Gatian, sales manager at the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau (VCVB), has earned certification as a “Travel Marketing Professional” after completing the three-year program of the Southeast Tourism Society Marketing College.

Gatian has worked at the VCVB since February 2012 and is responsible for group tours, Gatian recruiting meetings and conventions, international sales, and facilitating travel media.

Flaggs recognized by Southeast Tourism Society

The Southeast Tourism Society (STS) awarded Mayor George Flaggs, Jr. of the City of Vicksburg with the Shining Example Award for Governmental Tourism Leadership Award which honors an elected official whose support or influence greatly enhanced the tourism industry.

Mayor Flaggs was nominated

by Laura Beth Strickland, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director, for his leadership in Vicksburg support- Flagg ing tourism initiatives. This past year, Flaggs has kept tourism top-of-mind in growing and sustaining our city’s tourism assets.

Flaggs led the city’s effort to open Sports Force Parks on the Mississippi which has welcomed over 135,000 visitors. He helped keep the Vicksburg National Military Park, our top tourism attraction, open during the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history. The City of Vicksburg also invested in the development of Washington Street Park which hosts the Vicksburg Farmers Market and Second Saturday concerts as well as sponsored the Bill Ferris Mississippi Blues Trail Marker which was placed on May 28th, 2019 as the 245th marker for the state.

“Mayor George Flaggs understands the return on investment for tourism and understands that it is pivotal to our city’s growth,” said Strickland. “Mayor Flaggs has and continues to be an advocate for tourism and is very well-deserving of this high recognition. His work stood out among the 14 member regions—13 states and the District of Columbia. This is proof of Vicksburg moving forward in the right direction as a destination.”

Past winners of the Shining Example Award for Governmental Tourism Leadership Award include Congressman Robert Aderholt (Alabama), Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser (Louisiana), and Governor Nathan Deal (Georgia).

Hunsberger joins Red Window Communications as managing director

Kelley Hunsberger, who has led content-marketing programs for national clients in business, tech, healthcare and association sectors, has joined Red Window Communications in Oxford as managing director.

A native of Mississippi, Hunsberger is the daughter of a newspaper publisher and holds a journalism degree from the University of Mississippi. Her work in content marketing is related to but distinct from fields like traditional public relations and advertising.

Kelley Hunsberger spent the Hunsberger first decade of her career in Chicago as a writer, editor and manager at a content-marketing agency. She relocated to Oxford in 2015 and has worked at FNC and as a contract writer.

Lucy Schultze founded Red Window Communications in 2018.

Hunsberger has led projects in a variety of mediums, including custom magazine, book, website, and video projects, social media campaigns, and live events coverage.

Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias honored by University of South Alabama Photo courtesy of University of South Alabama

INGALLS SHIPBUILDING President Brian Cuccias was honored by the University of South Alabama for his outstanding achievements and leadership demonstrated throughout his career. Shown left to right: Patrick Dungan, president, USA National Alumni Association Board of Directors; Brian Cuccias, president, Ingalls Shipbuilding; and Tony Waldrop, president, University of South Alabama.

HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES (NYSE: HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias was among three University of South Alabama alumni honored with a 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award presented at the 16th Annual Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards celebration last week in Mobile, Alabama.

Cuccias was recognized for his outstanding achievements and leadership demonstrated throughout his career. Upon receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award, he thanked his family, the university and the shipbuilders at Ingalls.

“The University of South Alabama’s dedication to excellence is an asset to the entire Gulf Coast region. To be nominated and selected for this award is very humbling and quite an honor,” Cuccias said. “You must have great people that support you and work around you to be successful. I have a wonderful wife and family and 11,000 fantastic shipmates that work with me who have contributed to any successes I have achieved.”

A photo accompanying this release is available at: https://newsroom.huntingtoningalls. com/file/cuccias-distinguished-almuni Cuccias graduated from the University of South Alabama in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He started his career as a financial analyst on Navy shipbuilding programs in Pascagoula. As Ingalls Shipbuilding president, Cuccias is responsible for the company’s programs and operations, including the U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault and surface combatant ship programs and the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter program.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to recognize the achievements of our alumni, friends and supporters,” said Margaret Sullivan, vice president for development and alumni relations at University of South Alabama. “These individuals have shown outstanding leadership in their respective career fields, to the university and in their communities.”

MS Business Journal Subscription rates: msbusiness.com | (601) 364-1000

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Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2020

Thomas E. Walker Jr Jones Walker LLP

T

om Walker is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group at Jones Walker LLP. He focuses on commercial and regulatory matters in the financial services industry, with a depth of experience representing financial institutions.

Prior to joining Jones Walker, Walker served as Executive Vice President and Director of a community bank in Forest, Mississippi. His experience as general counsel, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and chief investments officer in the financial services sector enhances his ability to provide legal services to his clients.

Walker previously served as chairman of the Attorneys Committee of the Mississippi Bankers Association during the 2017-2018 year, and he currently serves as a member of that committee. He has also served as Treasurer and member of the Executive Council of the Mississippi Young Bankers as well as a member of the Long Range Planning Committee and Banking Committee for the Mississippi Society of CPAs. He has been an active Certied Public Accountant in Mississippi since 2001, and currently serves on the board of governors and as secretary for the Mississippi Society of CPAs.

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WHEN HE INTERVIEWED A REGIONS S B A S P E C IA L IST, he pressed us for big ideas on small business lending.

You should too.

You won’t find us at a loss when it comes to suggesting ways to help your business grow. So ask us the tough questions.

1 I understand Small Business Administration (SBA) loans require as little as 10% down. Is that true?

2 What are the advantages of an SBA loan for a business like mine?

3 Can I get extended repayment terms with an SBA loan?

4 Is Regions a preferred SBA lender? What makes it one?

Your Regions SBA Specialist can help you determine the best loan for your situation.

So interview a Regions SBA Specialist today to learn how we can move your business forward.

Meade Tyler | SBA Specialist | 228.701.9056 | meade.tyler@regions.com

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