76th Annual Delta Council Meeting Set for May 6
March 29, 2011 
The 76th Annual Delta Council Meeting will be held Friday, May 6, 2011, and will include a featured address by businessman and philanthropist Jim Barksdale. The Annual Meeting of the Delta’s regional business and agriculture organization will be at Delta State University’s Bologna Performing Arts Center, in Cleveland, MS.
“I am so pleased that Jim Barksdale will join us as our featured speaker,” said Dr. Cass Pennington of Indianola, President of the Stoneville‐based organization. “In his career, he has excelled as a businessman and innovator, but just as impressive is his commitment to education. Jim Barksdale hasn’t just given a lot of money to education and other priority issues in Mississippi, but he has taken his valuable time and keen intellect to design programs and efforts that create tangible outcomes.”
Jim Barksdale is President and Chairman of Barksdale Management Corporation, a philanthropic investment company. He has over 35 years of operational experience. Prior to founding The Barksdale Group in 1999, he served as President & CEO of Netscape Communications Corp. from January 1995 until the company merged with America Online in March of 1999. He was Director of Netscape from October 1994. Prior to Netscape, he worked at AT&T Wireless Services (formerly McCaw Cellular Communications) as their Chief Executive Officer.
From April 1983 to January 1992, Barksdale served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Federal Express Corporation and prior to that, he served as their Chief Information Officer for four years. Barksdale also held various management positions, including Chief Information Officer with Cook Industries and started his career at IBM.
In January 2000, Jim and his late wife, Sally, gifted $100 million to the State of Mississippi to create a statewide reading institute, The Barksdale Reading Institute. This is a joint venture with the Mississippi Department of Education and the state’s seven public university schools of education.
He sits on the boards of several companies and foundations, including AOL Time Warner; Federal Express; Mayo Foundation; Sun Microsystems, Inc., and TechNet. Barksdale was also appointed to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board by President George W. Bush. He is also a Special Advisor for General Atlantic Partners. He is also currently serving as co‐chair of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, which recently published their report, “Protecting America’s Freedom in the Information Age.”
Barksdale received his B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Mississippi.
Barksdale’s keynote address will follow a full morning’s activities, including a salute to Delta Honor Graduates by Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and Delta State University President John Hilpert, and an annual report on the region’s activities and priorities. Delta Council will also recognize those who have made significant contributions in other critical areas of Delta life. Also, a trio of state political pundits will speak in the Quadrangle earlier that morning to members of Delta 1000 about the outlook for Mississippi political races in this statewide election season.
Barksdale’s address is scheduled to conclude at noon, when the Delta Council members and guests will move to the University Quadrangle for a fried catfish luncheon.
The 76th Delta Council Annual Meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. This year’s meeting is sponsored by BankPlus, Southern Ag Credit/Land Banks of Mississippi, Jimmy Sanders., Inc., and five organizations representing “Voices of Mississippi Agriculture;” Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, Corn Promotion Board, Cotton, Inc., Rice Promotion Board, and Soybean Promotion Board.
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
