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Club Announcements:
Former North Jackson Rotarian Walter Redden died August 11 in Ridgeland at age 90. Walter was a member of our club for 35 years from 1980 until 2015. We express our condolences to his family and our appreciation for his many years of service .
At the August 10 meeting of the Rotary Club of North Jackson District Governor Mark Anderson met with our Officers and Directors at 11:00 am via Zoom. Similarly, Gov. Mark met with the club via Zoom at 12:30 pm, with the club members assembled in the RickHouse. Gov. Mark discussed the new District Website (Rotary6820.com) "The district Store." and what it contains for Rotarians. We thank Gov. Mark for his time and his focus on service and his 2021-2022 commitment to "Improving Lives and Communities."
Prayer. O God, we ask that you guide and direct our club, its leaders and our actions. Grant that each of us may feel our responsibility to Rotary, to our community, to our country, and indeed to all countries and peoples. Bless our fellowship today, and bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies, in your service. Amen.
Marty Milstead, President of the Mississippi Automobile Dealer’s Association (MADA), spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s August 17 meeting. He discussed the history of MADA, the current automobile marketing situation, the impact of the current economic situation on the automobile business, and the position of MADA on the proposed tax legislation in Mississippi.
MADA is a trade organization representing the franchised automobile dealers. He was named to the post in November 2015 and is responsible for the organization's affairs which includes representation at the state Capitol, the Mississippi Congressional delegation, the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Commission, promoting the franchised dealers, and serving as administrator of the MADA Self Insured Fund.
Prior to serving as President of MADA, Milstead worked on the staff of US Senator Trent Lott, and the Republican National Committee. In 1988 he became Executive Vice President of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi where he grew the organization to become one of the top trade groups in the state. He successfully started two insurance companies, the Builders and Contractors Associations of Mississippi Self Insures Fund serving as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the National Builders and Contractors Insurance Company.
Milstead earned a degree in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has held leadership positions on statewide and national boards, including but not limited to the NAHB Executive Officers Council, Mississippi Society of Association Executives, Business and Industry Political and Education Committee, and Mississippi Association of Self Insures. Milstead has served as an AAU basketball coach for the Mississippi Adidas organization and serves as a mentor to former players. He enjoys attending Broadmoor Baptist Church and serving as a deacon.
In his presentation, Milstead said that:
“MADA was formed in 1941and is a collective voice for the dealers with advocacy, exclusive member benefits, and promoting the automobile industry.
MADA is a powerful and important part of Mississippi’s economy. Approximately 176 new car dealers produce:
18,473 jobs created by dealerships
$430 million payroll
$51,714 Average Earnings
$114 Million State and Federal Income Taxes Paid
$6.7 Billion total sales”
Milstead also discussed the impact of the current shortage of computer chips on the automobile industry. He said that the issue is one of supply and demand and that the average new automobile has over 1000 chips in it. The shortage is exacerbated by the fact that there is only one domestic producer of chips, Intel, and that a major Japanese chip manufacturer has been shut down.
With respect to the proposed Mississippi tax legislation, he said that MADA will oppose it in the upcoming legislative hearings because the proposed bill to eliminate the state income tax would greatly increase the sales tax on both automobile purchases and automobile service.
We thank Milstead for his presentation to our club and for his years of service to Mississippi and national organizations. He (Center) is shown in the following photo after his presentation with Club President Uriel Pineda (left) and Treasurer Matt Monsour (right).
Milstead’s presentation and the entire meeting may be seen at the following video link https://vimeo.com/589029880 .
Langston Moore, Mississippi Regional Director, and Leigh Ann Blalock, Mississippi Program Coordinator, of the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA), spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s August 3 meeting. Per its website, the Society of St. Andrew brings people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors. The organization in effect gleans surplus foods and provides them to organizations that feed the hungry. Typically, the food is gleaned from farmers and food producers and distributed to food pantries.
SoSA was founded in 1979 by two Methodist Ministers and their families in Big Island, Virginia. It is organized into 8 regions, primarily in the Southeast United States. Its success speaks for itself. In 2021, through June,
SoSA has gleaned, gathered, and distributed 33,133,079 pounds of fresh produce in 2,552 events, with 7,488 volunteers.
Food donated by 473 farmers has been distributed to hungry people through 1,156 feeding agencies.
The food that SoSA gleans is perfectly good to eat, but it is either excess or does not meet some quality standards. Typically, the standards not met are the size of the produce. SoSA uses volunteers to glean the food and frequently to deliver it to a food pantry. In response to a question, the speakers said that although the Stewpot Community Services Food Pantry doesn’t provide fresh produce to its clients, Stewpot uses produce gleaned by SoSA to prepare its daily meals for the hungry.
SoSA uses volunteers in many roles including gleaners, drivers, writers, teachers, speakers, fundraisers, and others. It is primarily a volunteer-driven organization with a very small professional staff. The Mississippi office consists of two people and it operates statewide.
We thank Moore and Blalock for their presentation and for what they do to feed hungry Mississippians. They are shown in the following photo with ClubPresident Uriel Pineda (right).
Their presentation and the remainder of the meeting may be seen at the following link: https://vimeo.com/583530035.
Tony Jeff, President & CEO, Innovate Mississippi, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s July 27 meeting. Jeff described the situation in Mississippi where it lags all other states in businesses in the Fortune 500. Mississippi has only one, Sanderson Farms (#662), whereas Arkansas who was dead last in 1960 now has 6 firms in the Fortune 500: Walmart (#1), Tyson Foods (#80), Murphy USA (#279), J. B. Hunt (#395), Dillards (#439), and Windstream (#474).
The salient question Jeff asked is “Why can’t Mississippi companies be the biggest in their fields? He showed the slide.
He responded “We can!”. And we must “think bigger and identify bottlenecks,” Then he asked the question to the meeting attendees “What is stopping you from being the biggest in the world?”
Jeff then said “for every winner, there are dozens of losers.” He cited several technology laws, in particular Grove’s Law, “Only the Paranoid Survive!” This law was formulated by Andy Grove, the founder of Intel.
With respect to being a Shark Tank, Jeff said that in the past 36 months, 43 Mississippi companies have raised $17.7.M
The events that Innovate MS sponsors are listed on this slide:
Innovate MS considers itself a Co-Builder with entrepreneurial organizations; i.e., it is offering special events in the latter part of 2021 and in 2022.
It will be expanding its angel funds in 2022 & 2023 to include the South Mississippi area and Oxford and the delta in the next two years.
Innovate MS offers connections to capital
Innovate MS’s commercialization model is a three-phase one with technical, marketing, and business components based on the models taught in engineering and business schools.
Jeff closed by reminding the club member of Innovate Mississippi's success stories:
And reminding us of what they do and have done
And that Innovate Mississippi is Mississippi’s “Shark Tank.”
We thank Jeff for his presentation and for what Innovate MS is doing for our state. He is shown during his presentation in the following photo.
