12/11/2009 - Don Mason Named MMA 2009-2010 Chairman of the Board
Don E. Mason of Gulfport has been named 2009-2010 chairman of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. Mason is currently a business development and governmental relations consultant for Seemann Composites, Inc., and Pickering, Inc., and is retired vice president of external affairs and corporate services for Mississippi Power Company (MPCo).
“I am honored to have been elected chairman of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association,” said Mason. “ We have a tremendous challenge ahead of us during these trying times. Manufacturing will play a key role in our economic recovery, and it is important that we meet the challenge working with both the public and the private sectors.”
Mason began his career with MPCo in 1965 as an engineer in the company’s service centers in Biloxi and Gulfport and retired after 40 years of service in various positions. Mason is involved in numerous civic and professional organizations. In addition to his service with MMA, he is a board member or officer of many local business and community organizations. He also is a member of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association and is past president and a member of the MSU College of Business Executive Advisory Board. A native of Jackson, Mason earned bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering and business administration from Mississippi State University in 1964. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from MSU in 1965.
In addition to Mason, other members of the MMA executive committee are as follows: • Chairman-elect, Lex Taylor, president, Taylor Machine Works, Inc., Louisville. • Vice Chairman, Joe Mercado, general manager, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Meridian. • Secretary-Treasurer, Greg McNeely, president, McNeely Plastics, Inc., Clinton. • Immediate Past President, Tony Stringer, president, Stringer Industries, Inc., Tylertown. • MMA President & CEO, Jay C. Moon, CEcD, FM.
The following MMA board members have been elected to represent their respective districts: • District 1 — Re-elected to their positions were Ron Knapp, ACI Building Systems, Batesville; Steve Nelson, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Olive Branch; and Mike Reardon, Roseburg Forest Products-South, Oxford. • District 3 — Re-elected to their positions were David Mills, Polo Custom Products, Louisville, and Michael Thomas, North American Coal Corp., Ackerman. • District 5 — Re-elected to their positions were Harry Simmons Jr., Simmons Farm Raised Catfish, Yazoo City, and Carl Wallace, Terra Industries, Yazoo City. • District 6 — Newly elected to his position was Greg Purtle, Advanced Drainage Systems, Byram. • District 7 — Re-elected to their positions were Scott Gipson, Gipson Steel Inc., Meridian, and Don Mather, La-Z-Boy South, Newton. • District 9 — Re-elected to his position was Dennis Roberts, Rusken Packaging, McComb. Newly elected to his position was Bruce Reynolds, Monticello Tire & Timber, Monticello. • At-large — Re-appointed by the MMA executive committee were Johnny Atherton, Mississippi Power Co., Gulfport; Jim McArthur, W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Biloxi; Marc Holman, DuPont, Pass Christian; Ray Ables, Tyson Foods, Forest; and Doug Pfrimmer, Raytheon, Forest.
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