Today, the Mississippi Top50 announced the winners in both the Elected/Appointed Government Officials, Lobbying/Government Relations and Business, Media & Culture categories.
In its second year, the MSTop50 Award recognized the top 50 most influential Mississippians. Awardees were selected via an open nominations process.
Recently, former Governor Haley Barbour and Representative Steve Holland were named as Hall of Fame designees for their long careers of public service and business success in Mississippi.
The 2017 MSTop50 awardees in the Elected/Appointed Government Officials category are (in alphabetical order):
Chief Phyliss Anderson, MS Band of Choctaw Indians
Mayor Toby Barker, City of Hattiesburg
Sen Terry Burton, Mississippi Senate
Commissioner Mike Chaney, Mississippi Insurance Department
Rep. Angela Cockerham, Mississippi House
Sen. Joey Fillingane, Mississippi Senate
Treasurer Lynn Fitch, State Treasurer
Speaker Philip Gunn, Mississippi House
Secretary Delbert Hosemann, Mississippi Secretary of State
Rep. Jay Hughes, Mississippi House
Rep. Trent Kelly, United States Congress
President William N. LaForge, Delta State University
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, City of Jackson
Parks MacNabb, Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Rep. Steven Palazzo, United States Congress
Auditor Stacey Pickering, Mississippi State Auditor
Justice Mike Randolph, Mississippi Supreme Court
Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, Lieutenant Governor
Mayor Jason Shelton, City of Tupelo
Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi Agriculture & Commerce
Rep. Jeff Smith, Mississippi House
Drew Snyder, Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Bryant
Mayor Robyn Tannehill, City of Oxford
Rep. Bennie Thompson, United States Congress
Brad White, Chief of Staff for Senator Cochran
Sen. Roger Wicker, United States Senate
Rep. Henry Zuber, Mississippi House
The 2017 MSTop50 awardees in the Lobbying/Government Relations category are (in alphabetical order):
Austin Barbour, Clearwater Group
Henry Barbour, Capitol Resources
Beth Clay, The Clay Firm
Hayes Dent, Hayes Dent Strategies
Clare Hester, Capitol Resources
Russ Latino, Americans for Prosperity – Mississippi
John Lundy, Capitol Resources
Bucky Murphy, Corporate Relations Management
Joe Sims, Cornerstone Government Affairs
Lucien Smith, Balch & Bingham
Clifford Thompson, Thompson & Associates
The 2017 MSTop50 awardees in the Business, Culture and Media category are (in alphabetical order)
John Arledge, Entergy Mississippi
Suresh Chawla, Chawla Hospitality Group
Paul Gallo, Supertalk Mississippi
Jeff Good, Mangia Bene Restaurant Group
Chip Henderson, Pinelake
Paul Hurst, Butler Snow
Jim McIngvale, Ingalls Shipbuilding
Bernie Reed, Reeds Metals
Robin Robinson, Sanderson Farms
Sid Salter, Mississippi State University
Robert St. John, New South Restaurant Group
Amy Tate, Tennessee Valley Authority
The MSTop50 awards are sponsored by Y’all Politics and Supertalk Mississippi. The Hall of Fame awards are sponsored by Capitol Resources and Tower Loan.
There will be an event on October 17, 2017, at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson, Mississippi honoring the awardees. The dinner is sponsored by the Payne Group. More information on the event can be found the MSTop50 website.
