Family Business Institute

Seminar Details

:: NOTE ::
This event has been canceled; email the Family Business Institute at fambus@millsaps.edu or call 601-974-1250 for more information.

Financial Issues In the Family-Owned Business

Thursday, November 20, 2008
Millsaps Leggett Center, Jackson, Mississippi

Learn how you can improve the outlook for your family-owned business despite the country’s bleak financial situation. This seminar is for all family business owners—from the smallest to the largest, just starting or passed from generation to generation.

Call 601-974-1250 or email fambus@millsaps.edu for registration details.

Cost:

• $250 initial fee
• $100 for additional family members or employees

Fee will cover program materials, breakfast and lunch.

Presenters:

Harold D. Miller Jr. was recently named director of the Family Business Institute by Howard McMillan, dean of the Millsaps College Else School of Management. Miller is a graduate of Millsaps College and the University of Mississippi Law School. He has a unique interest in family-owned businesses, as his father started Miller Transporters 65 years ago. The company is now owned by the second through fifth generations of the Miller family. Miller himself was also one of the founders of Ergon, a conglomerate now owned exclusively by the Les Lampton family. Miller has been a member of Butler, Snow, Omara, Stevens & Cannada law firm for 48 years, during which time he has represented numerous family-owned businesses and mediated disputes between members of family-owned businesses.

---

Jeff E. Good is the co-owner of BRAVO! Italian Restaurant and Bar, Broad Street Baking Company and Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint – all three restaurants located in Jackson. Jeff was named the 1998 Restaurateur of the Year for the state of Mississippi. His restaurant BRAVO! has been named Jackson’s “Restaurant of the Year” for five of the six years this award has been given. He also has won the International Wine Spectator Award of Excellence eight years in a row. A graduate of Millsaps College, Jeff got his degree in business administration. After seven years working as a computer salesman, Jeff opened BRAVO! along with Dan Blumenthal in the spring of 1994. A vocal advocate who markets Jackson as a tourist spot, Jeff has been awarded the “Friend of Tourism” award two years in a row by Jackson Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. He currently serves as one of nine commissioners on the Capital City Convention Center Commission. Recently, Jeff was honored as one of Mississippi’s “Top Forty Under Forty” by the Mississippi Business Journal.

---

Dr. Bill Brister began his career on the faculty at Millsaps College in 1989. He currently serves as an assistant professor of finance. Dr. Brister’s teaching responsibilities include both undergraduate and MBA courses in corporate finance, portfolio analysis, and financial markets and institutions. Previous positions at Millsaps College include the director of the MBA Program, co-director of the Center for Applied Research, and the director of Graduate Admissions.

Dr. Brister received his doctorate with a major in finance from the University of Arkansas and his M.B.A. and B.B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi. His research interests are in the areas of corporate finance and public policy analysis. Dr. Brister consults actively in the areas of litigation support, business valuation, and in public policy evaluation.

---

George Pickett, J.D., CLU, AEP is a principal in the Jackson firm of Pickett, Bradford & Associates, P.A. After receiving his B.A. in political science from Millsaps College, Pickett went on to earn his Juris Doctor from University of Mississippi. Upon gradua- tion, he began a full-time career in the life insurance business, representing Consolidated American Life in 1969, and later, forming Consolidated Life agency in Jackson. In 1983, Pickett formed the independent, corporate firm Pickett, Bradford & Associates.

With a professional career that he has conducted as a self employed practitioner, not as an employee of any company or other firm, Pickett lends much expertise to the financial arena, particularly for family business owners. He is past president of the international Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the Mississippi Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and of the Jackson Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.

An active Millsaps alumnus, Pickett currently serves as chair of the Advisory Board of the Else School of Management. He previously served as chair of the Annual Fund and as chair of the Millsaps Estate Planning Council.

---

Gail Pittman founded Gail Pittman, Inc., a multi-million dollar business of individually hand-painted dinnerware and home accessories in 1979, when she left full-time teaching to be home with her children and turned her kitchen table into her studio. What began as a hobby of “playing around with ceramics” has become a multi-million dollar operation.

In 1993, Gail Pittman, Inc. was ranked among Inc. Magazine's 500 fastest growing companies in the United States. Gail Pittman, Inc. wares are currently sold in more than 450 upscale gift, specialty and kitchen accessory shops in 47 states. In addition, her signature line has been offered by the SAKS Group, Neiman Marcus and Horchow catalogs, among others. Her exclusive designs for Paula Deen’s Buffet at Harrah’s Casino in Tunica, and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, have brought her both national and international recognition as a designer and manufacturer of hand-decorated dinnerware.

Gail serves as creative director with the Southern Living at Home Corporation, manufacturing exclusive dinnerware collections.

---

Tommy Lyle is senior vice president in Retail Lending Management at Trustmark. Lyle is the manager responsible for all direct retail underwriting, including business lending, government lending, consumer lending, and credit cards. He is a native of Morton. Lyle earned a bachelor of arts in business administration from Millsaps College in 1975 and completed the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University in 1992. He is a member of the American Institute of Banking and the Risk Management Association. Lyle serves as a director and treasurer of the Ronald McDonald House Charities. He is married to the former Elizabeth Allen, also a Millsaps graduate. They have three children and are members of Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

---

John Brandon, associate manager senior for the Existing Industry and Business Division of the Mississippi Development Authority, offers his clients advice on current business thought. With it comes over 30 years of experience in a variety of retail-oriented business environments, including corporate and store management, retail buying, and consulting and teaching on the university level. John received a bachelor of business administration from the University of Mississippi, and masters of business administration degree from Delta State University.