Personnel Changes

gratefully acknowledges retirees Division names new leaders,

CARRAWAY

MARKHAM

Two longtime Mississippi State University personnel have assumed integral roles in the Division of Development and Alumni. Janet H. Carraway and Leann Markham, both MSU graduates, are now in financial and information systems leadership positions vacated at the close of 2019 by retiring veteran employees.

Janet Carraway became the executive director of finance for the MSU Foundation in January, succeeding David D. Easley, who retired after a 32-year MSU career in December. Additionally, Carraway serves as chief financial officer of the MSU Foundation’s board of directors, beginning her first one-year term Jan. 1, 2020.

Most recently, Carraway was director of finance and budget with the MSU Foundation for many years, supervising the accounting and business office of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association. A 1984 and 1991 graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy and a certified public accountant, Carraway has helped lead financial reporting within the Division of Development and Alumni since 1993 when she joined the MSU Foundation as an accountant.

A native of Starkville, Carraway grew up as the daughter of an MSU agricultural economics professor. She began her career in public accounting and worked for a utility company before joining the university in 1992. Additionally, Carraway has served as a lecturer for financial accounting classes in the College of Business.

Leann Markham has joined the Division of Development and Alumni as executive director of information services, succeeding Vickie Brown who retired in December 2019 after more than 30 years of MSU service.

Markham previously worked in Information Technology Services (ITS) at Mississippi State for 20 years. She began her career in ITS as a graduate assistant in 1997 and then progressed through the department in various roles including database analyst, senior programmer analyst, systems analyst, and senior systems analyst. After a brief stint as an assistant professor of management information systems at Mississippi University for Women in mid-2014, Markham returned to MSU in late 2015 as a senior systems analyst and team leader with Enterprise Information Systems (EIS), one of three primary units of ITS. During her time with EIS, she supported the areas of account services, human resources, payroll, document imaging, facilities management, and development and alumni, where she was an analyst working with the division’s conversion to the Banner database.

A native of Red Bay, Alabama, Markham earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in business information systems in 1997, a master’s in business information systems with a minor in accounting in 1998, and a doctorate in community college leadership in 2009, all from MSU. She has taught classes at MSU, Mississippi University for Women, East Central Community College, and Itawamba Community College.

As Carraway and Markham assumed their new roles, the Division of Development and Alumni bid farewell to Easley and Brown, recognizing them for their longtime loyalty and dedication.

Easley proudly earned a Bachelor of Professional Accountancy degree from MSU in 1978 and began his career with the university in 1987 as business manager for the MSU Alumni Association and MSU Foundation. He became CFO of the MSU Foundation in 1994 and was named executive director of finance in 2007, holding the position until retirement.

Brown began her career at MSU in 1989 with the MSU Bookstore and became a systems administrator for the MSU Alumni Association and MSU Foundation in 1991, then business administrator in 1994. By 2001, she became associate director of the MSU Alumni Association, then director of information technology followed by director of information services. Brown retired in December 2019 as executive director of information services. She earned two degrees from MSU—a 1985 Bachelor of Business Administration from the College of Business and a 2001 Master of Science from the College of Education.

For more on the work of the Division of Development and Alumni, visit devalumni.msstate.edu.

EASLEY

BROWN