From the Publisher:
Another year, a new beginning

Every time a new year approaches, we at the Delta Business Journal ask this question in our meetings: “What are we going to do this year that will be new and exciting, that will be different?”

Part of this question has been answered in this first edition of 2005. Beginning with this issue, you will notice several new additions to the DBJ such as a redesign in the layout of the paper, new departments, syndicated columnists, book reviews, and a few other items. You will also find that half of the DBJ is now published in color allowing us to bring more excitement to our pages. In the near future, the entire paper will be published in color.

In regard to our syndicated columnists, we are proud to include these top political and business writers: Bill O’Reilly, who is a veteran tv news anchor and host of the Fox News show, “The O’Reilly Factor”. Lindsey Novak, a nationally syndicated columnist and career coach who helps employees and employers solve a wide range of work-related problems. Her columns are straightforward, unbiased approaches to interpersonal conflicts, communications breakdowns and career changes that show a positive way to solve problems. Terry Savage, is a nationally known expert on personal finance and a regular tv commentator on CNN, CNBC, PBS, and NBC. And finally, Cliff Ennico who is the host of “Money Hunt”, the popular Public Television program for entrepreneurs. Ennico also hosts a weekly radio program on small business for www.smartbusiness.com, which is the first all-business Internet radio network. Ennico will provide advice on the legal and financial side of small business.

We have chosen these syndicated columnists carefully in order for our readers to gain valuable information that will help in the business world. We are delighted to have the opportunity to bring these fine columnists to the DBJ. Additionally, these columnists are not featured anywhere else in our region only in the DBJ.

Other additions beginning in this issue: a new section entitled “Around the State” in which we will provide a quick recap of the major business developments that are taking place throughout Mississippi. We will also continue our regular “Newsbriefs” section, but in a condensed format for quick reading presented in a “just the facts only” setting.

“Book Reviews” will be a new department – all business based – and we’ll choose and recommend books that provide DBJ readers with information on how to succeed in business whether you are an employee or a business owner.

In each issue of the DBJ we will now begin checking the pulse of the Delta’s business community with an opinion poll. We’ll ask some questions on our website and also send out a mass email distributed in the Delta region directing everyone to our website (www.deltabusinessjournal.com) where the question will be located. We’ll then publish the results of that poll. If you have a question you would like for us to ask the Delta business community, please submit it to publisher@deltabusinessjournal.com. This is the only opinion poll that is currently being produced in the Delta on a regular basis and we are excited to be the first to the present this.

In closing, I’d like to call your attention to our cover story on Mississippi Development Authority’s Executive Director, Leland Speed of Jackson.

Back when I was right out of Ole Miss and knew absolutely nothing about the publishing business, I was learning it the hard way in Jackson where I owned and published the old Jackson Business Journal from 1989 to 1996. During that time, I admired and followed closely several of Jackson’s leading businessmen such as J. Kelly Williams (First Miss. Corp.), John Palmer (SkyTel), Dumus Milner (super entrepreneur of many things), Bill Campbell (Mississippi School Supply), Warren Hood (Hood Industries), Bob Hearin (Mississippi Valley Gas), Frank Day (Trustmark), the Irby family, the Lampton family, the McRaes, the Holmans, and so many others.

Another business giant who was part of this elite group was Leland Speed, at the time head of an expanding real estate concern called EastGroup Properties. Besides this company, Leland’s other real estate companies soon mushroomed and two went public. I met Leland in the Fall of ’88. Back then as now, he had that terrific business mind and was a fantastic down-to-earth person in general.

Shortly after Governor Barbour was elected, he tapped Leland to head the Mississippi Development Authority – the state’s economic development office. I was happily surprised that Leland accepted this position. What a great opportunity for the state, I can remember thinking. I also thought that if this appointment was any kind of indication as to what type of governor Haley Barbour was going to be, Mississippi would soon be on the way. Think about it: successful entrepreneur, Harvard educated, one of Mississippi’s premier families, connected in business and politically throughout the globe, and declined to accept his MDA $150,000 plus salary! What a fantastic opportunity for Mississippi. Leland came to work for the state because he thought he could make a difference. He didn’t need the MDA job, was not looking for another job.

The day we interviewed Leland for this issue of the DBJ, he came to visit me in our offices in Cleveland. At the end of the interview, as we were walking out of the building, I said to Leland, “You don’t know this, but you were one of my main influences when I was publishing the Jackson Business Journal. I watched what you were doing in business and your success was a great motivator to me.”

Leland paused starring at the ground for a few seconds on the front steps of our building, then looked at me and said, “You know Scott, someone that you are totally unaware of, some young person who aspires to do well in business, is watching you also right now and what you are doing here in the Delta. And that’s the way it works.”

We hope you enjoy our cover story on Leland Speed as well as the rest of this edition of the DBJ.

Happy New Year. DBJ

Scott Coopwood
Publisher

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