The key to catching Mississippi up to its southeastern counterparts is expanding industry and high paying job opportunities, Thomas Duff told the Rotary Club of Columbus on Tuesday.
The Golden Triangle’s collaborative approach to economic development could be the blueprint for that, said the billionaire Duff, one of the state’s wealthiest businessmen and someone rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2027.
“Of all the places in this state that have seen the economic activity and the success that you have, boy it speaks volumes about what you’ve got going on here,” Duff told Rotarians at Lion Hills Center. “To be able to have counties come together to form a partnership so that everyone participates and gets better, that’s what we have to have in our state.”
Originally from Columbia, Duff and his brother, James, took over their father’s tire business, eventually growing Southern Tire Mart into the nation’s largest truck tire dealer and retread manufacturer in the nation, with roughly 200 locations. The brothers also own Duff Capital Investors and are the richest individuals in Mississippi.
From 2015 to 2024, Duff served on the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, an experience he credits with inspiring him to bring his business-based, “outsider’s view” into the political world.
“In that opportunity to serve, I think I found out that perhaps an outsider’s view is an interesting way of looking at stuff,” Duff said. “I know with our current president, the thing I perhaps admire is that he has an outsider’s opinion of everything.”
The experience of growing Southern Tire Mart and the many lessons that came with it, Duff said, helped create that outsider perspective, one he is already applying to what he sees as statewide issues.
Duff said he recently shared a conversation with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon who asked why Mississippi is so far behind other southeastern states in economic growth.
“It made me think about how our state works, how it operates and the opportunities that we have,” Duff said of the conversation.
One such opportunity, he said, is to copy economic development models implemented in the Golden Triangle across the state, both to ensure the state’s continued progress and also to create more jobs.
“The fact is we (have a lot of unemployed people) that should be working because they don’t have (access to) a good job, and they aren’t paid enough to be able to go to work,” he said. “… It has made me think about that because when you have a good paid job, you have an investment in your area. You’ve got hope. You can say, ‘I have a job. I can raise my family, and because of that, I’ve got hope for my future.’”
It all comes down to creating economic activity, Duff said. Bringing in more industries with higher paying jobs will also help curb the state’s brain drain, which Duff calls an “indictment” on the state’s lack of economic activity.
But places seeing a lot of growth, like the Golden Triangle, still have to push for more opportunities as well, he said.
“We need to be competing for a data center,” he said. “We need to have that opportunity because you have the power, you have the land, and you have the ability for people that want to move here to be data engineers,” Duff told The Dispatch. “… That’s just one opportunity. The thing I love about this area is you are getting higher level industries in, it’s not cheap stuff. Your manufacturing pays well. It has a great opportunity for success in this area. That’s what our state needs.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
