New MDA director: Mississippi will pursue auto plants

By Staff
from staff and wire reports
Jan. 9, 2004
JACKSON Jackson developer Leland R. Speed said Thursday he will aggressively pursue more auto manufacturing plants for the state as Mississippi's next economic development director.
Speed, named by Gov.-elect Haley Barbour to head the Mississippi Development Authority, said foreign auto makers are facing pressure to increase profits and will be looking to expand operations in the United States.
You bet your bippy we'll be in there,'' Speed, 71, said at a news conference announcing his appointment Barbour's latest as the governor-elect continues to fill key appointed positions in his administration.
Mississippi already is home to a Nissan Motor Co. plant that opened last spring in Canton. The state also was considered for a new Hyundai auto plant that eventually went to Alabama.
Barbour, a Republican who defeated incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, takes office Tuesday. Barbour plans to announce more appointments at a 9:30 a.m. news conference today.
Quinton Dickerson, Barbour's spokesman, said the governor-elect will announce his choices to head the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Finance and Administration.
Speed's appointment like most state agency heads must be confirmed by the state Senate. The current MDA director, Steve Hale, has been paid $152,700, but Barbour said Speed wants to work without pay.
The MDA executive director serves at the will of the governor, and the job usually changes hands when a new governor is inaugurated.
Sources close to Barbour had said Wednesday that the governor-elect was considering splitting the top MDA job into two positions. But at the Thursday news conference, Barbour said he will not do that.
The governor-elect said he tapped Speed for the MDA job because of the real estate developer's success in the private sector.
Speed has been the managing trustee and chairman of EastGroup Properties since 1983 and served as chief executive officer through September 1997.
He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of Parkway Properties Inc. and as a director of ChemFirst, according to an EastGroup Properties Web site. He is a frequent contributor to Republican candidates.
Carolyn Shanks, president of Entergy Mississippi, was among dozens of business people who attended the news conference. She said Speed understands how to help keep existing businesses and attract new ones.
Bill Bynum is chief executive of Enterprise Corporation of the Delta and HOPE Community Credit Union, two nonprofit groups that work on development in the most economically distressed part of the state.
Bynum said Speed will bring a market-driven approach to economic development.
Hopefully, he can recognize how the private sector and the public sector can work together to make sure that all Mississippians benefit,'' Bynum said.
Andy Taggart, interim president and chief executive of Mississippi Technology Alliance, called Speed's appointment a grand slam.''