Word Named New Director at Port of Greenville
Effective January 1, Richard Word was named the new Director of the Greenville Port after a unanimous vote by its’ Board of Commissioners. Word replaces longtime director, Tommy Hart, who stepped down from the position at the end of 2025 after many years of service. Word comes to the new position having spent the past […]
Planters Holding Company Merges With BSJ Bancshares, Inc.
Planters Holding Company, Inc., the holding company for Planters Bank and Trust Company, recently announced the successful completion of its merger with Saint Joseph, Louisiana based BSJ Bancshares, Inc. (“BSJ Bancshares”), the holding company for Cross Keys Bank, effective January 1. Customers of Cross Keys Bank will continue to be served through their existing branches, websites, […]
Southern Bancorp, Inc. Announces Ozarks Financial Group Acquisition
Southern Bancorp, Inc., a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and holding company for Southern Bancorp Bank, has announced the successful closure of its deal to acquire Ozarks Heritage Financial Group, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Legacy Bank & Trust, a $1.9 billion asset CDFI headquartered in Springfield, Mo. This strategic acquisition and joining of […]
Robert H. Dunlap, Tire Industry Leader and Humanitarian, Dies at 96
Longtime businessman and one of Mississippi’s most noted entrepreneurs, Robert H. “Bob” Dunlap, has passed. Dunlap was 96. Dunlap was chairman and CEO of Dunlap & Kyle Co. Inc. and a philanthropist whose generosity touched thousands of lives. He passed away peacefully at home on January 11. Born in Batesville in 1929, Dunlap was a […]
Delta State University Awarded Research Grant
Delta State University has been awarded a prestigious Mississippi-IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (MS-INBRE) Research Initiation Grant to fund an innovative project that blends cutting-edge computational chemistry with hands-on undergraduate research and education. The project, titled A Computational Approach to Elucidating Functional Dynamics in Enzyme Catalysis, is led by Dr. Christopher T. Jurgenson, Sullivan-Outlaw […]
Reid Sherman Investment Group Named to Forbes List
Reid Sherman Investment Group of Raymond James, with offices in both Oxford and Tupelo, was named to the 2026 Forbes list of Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams. The list, which recognizes teams from national, regional and independent firms, was released online January 7. Reid Sherman Investment Group is ranked fifth among Mississippi firms on this year’s […]
Bill and Leslie Ashford Donate $2 Million to Ole Miss
University of Mississippi medical school graduate Dr. Bill Ashford and his wife, Leslie, of Madison, have made a $2 million donation to establish a named professorship in physics at Ole Miss. With $1.5 million, the couple established the F. Douglas and Cora Beal Shields Chair in Physics Education Endowment, honoring Ashford’s former physics professor. The […]
Burch Recently Received Prestigious National Honor
Justin Archer Burch of Greenville, and head of Delta Compass, was recently named a Presidential Leadership Scholar – becoming only the third Mississippian to do so. Burch was chosen to advance the building and scalability of Delta Compass—a regional intermediary for economic and community development aimed at ensuring the Mississippi Delta is a 21st Century […]
Tommy Hart: A Delta Legend in Development
Longtime Leader Retires After Years of Service After serving in various aspects of economic development since 1972, Greenville resident and Port of Greenville Director, Tommy Hart, announced his retirement effective December 31. The move represents the ending of a career that has been one of the more prolific in the field of economic development in […]
DSU 100 Publication Honors a Century of Excellence at University
DSU 100, a 146-page, high-quality magazine celebrating Delta State University’s 100th anniversary in 2025, has been published by Coopwood Publishing Group, Inc. The publication, which is distributed free of charge, brings Delta State’s history to life—from its founding to today—through an engaging blend of alumni stories, events, and programs, along with many rare photographs and […]