Fifteen years ago, local Starkville business gathered together and asked a simple question: What could help Starkville reach its full potential in terms of quality of life and economic development?
Borne from that meeting was the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, the collective that handles a number of business-oriented services for the city.
Thursday, many of those same leaders celebrated the Partnership’s crystal anniversary and pledged to continue moving Starkville forward by way of a unified business community.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Gregory, the organization has its hands in numerous functions, from promoting tourism and shopping, to leading Starkville’s chamber of commerce and community market.
Those efforts, speakers at the night’s event noted, have changed the city’s economic outlook, bettered its quality of life for residents and cemented Starkville as “Mississippi’s college town,” a GSDP-backed moniker.
“The GSDP has certainly caused our community to grow and be a place where people want to come, to live, to work or visit,” said Steve Langston, the owner of Sullivan’s Office Supply, in a video montage highlighting the Partnership’s successes.
Renasant Bank President Tommy Tomlinson added: “Seeing what has happened in the last 15 years for Starkville … (gives) nothing but a sense of pride.”
Eat With Us grows beyond Starkville
The Partnership honored numerous businesses and individuals Thursday for their day-to-day impact in the community.
The Eat With Us group, the business collective behind Harvey’s, The Grill, the former Bulldog Deli and the upcoming Bulldog Burger Company, won the 2015 R. Clay Simmons Exemplary Enterprise Award for its local contributions.
Starkville’s Harvey’s location opened in 1982 as a small, 75-seat restaurant. Thirty-four years later, the Eat With Us group operates 19 restaurants in Mississippi and Alabama.
In Starkville, the company employs about 250 people.
“Eat With Us has been and is still today involved in giving back to the community. They are very involved in civic activities, such as all chamber events, block parties, Get Swept Up, art festivals, celebrity wait nights and Business After Hours,” Gregory said. “Eat With Us also places an importance in the education of our local area by hiring hundreds of students and donating to various schools at all levels, from pre-schools to universities.”
Beverage company wins Industry of the Year
2015’s Industry of the Year Award was given to C.C. Clark Inc., the holding company behind the local Clark Beverage Group.
The business began in 1903 as the Clark Group of Corporations, which operated out of a small drug store in Martin, Tennessee. Its proprietors acquired a Coca-Cola franchising agreement and later expanded into north Mississippi.
Clark Beverage Group signed a letter of intent with Coca-Cola Company to expand its statewide reach into the Delta and Jackson metro area and is expected to close acquisitions this year.
Today, C.C. Clark Inc. and its subsidiaries distribute beverages across Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
While accepting the award, Robert Clark recognized Billy Wynn, a 50-plus year employee with the group, for his longevity with the company.
Mill at MSU recognized for tourism impact
The host of the night’s events, the Mill at MSU, won 2015’s Crystal Pineapple Tourism Award.
The $55 million development, led by developer Mark Castleberry, transformed the Mississippi State University’s E.E. Cooley cotton mill – its former physical plant – into a world-class conference center, constructed a new hotel and secured financing for a parking deck near the front door to campus.
Castleberry also has plans to develop a 6,500-square-foot dining restaurant, a 4,000-square-foot casual restaurant and a four-story mixed-use structure that will include 20 condominiums and retail space.
“The construction of the Mill at MSU not only visually transformed Russell Street … but it’s quickly acted as an economic engine, encouraging millions of dollars of additional development at adjacent parcels,” Gregory said. “A perfect example of town and gown, the completion of the Mill at MSU has been a partnership effort, including contributions from MSU, the city of Starkville and Oktibbeha County.”
Runnels named Ambassador of the Year
Mary Jane Runnels, an advertising representative with The Dispatch, was named 2015’s Ambassador of the Year.
Ambassadors are volunteers who represent the Partnership by recognizing and promoting local businesses, and by educating members and prospective members about the Partnership’s programs and activities.
Born in West Point, Runnels earned a degree from Delta State University and moved to Canton, where she previously graduated high school. There, she met and married former Mayor Sidney Runnels.
Runnels spent years working with local chambers of commerce in Madison County and Grenada. She began serving as The Dispatch’s advertising representative in 2012.
Award presenter Peggy Buckley, a past Ambassador of the Year winner, noted Runnels’ exuberance in promoting Starkville businesses, saying she “always works her way to the front” at events.
Zimmerman tapped for TE Veitch award
Loren Zimmerman, Renasant Bank’s senior vice president and business development officer, won the 2015 T.E. Veitch Community Service Award.
A Missouri native, he moved to Starkville as a child and graduated from Starkville High School in 1965. Zimmerman went on to receive a business degree from MSU four years later.
Zimmerman’s local contributions include serving as an elder at First Presbyterian Church and working in the Casserole Kitchen Ministry since 2009. An active Starkville Rotarian, he was previously recognized by the organization with its 2006-2007 Rotary Service Above Self Award, 2007-2008 Distinguished Service Award for Rotary and the 2010-2011 Rotarian of the Year Award.
His other past activities include his work with the Pushmataha Boy Scouts, MSU Bulldog Club and his past leadership with the Starkville Quarterback Club.
“For over 30 years, Loren has demonstrated his love and commitment for the Starkville community and has volunteered and worked tirelessly in many areas of our community,” Gregory said.
SOAR recognizes SHS, SA teachers
Starkville-Oktibbeha Achieving Results (SOAR), an education group tied with northeast Mississippi’s CREATE foundation, also recognized three local teachers – Starkville High School’s Andrew Lark and Ginger Tedder, and Starkville Academy’s Vicky Warren – with the group’s inaugural Teachers of Distinction Awards.
Each award recipient also won $1,000.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
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 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
