MC School of Business hosts Lex Taylor as keynote speaker at 2023 Faith and Ethics Week Luncheon.
Faith and Ethics Week, an annual event for the Mississippi College School of Business, was hosted on March 1-2, 2023. Christian business leaders from among the most well-known companies in the Southeast traveled to MC to share some of the unique responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges they face in corporate America today.
Sponsored by the MC School of Business and endowed by L.D. Jordan ‘51, the event included class presentations from more than a dozen industry leaders, a panel discussion of faith and business ethics by a quartet of business experts, and a keynote address by the chairman of the board of a legendary local manufacturing company.
According to Marcelo Eduardo, Dean of the MC School of Business, Faith and Business Ethics Week captures the essence of the school’s mission: to provide an exceptional business education in a Christian environment.
“We believe that a strong ethical awareness and a sense of service to others are two tangible pillars of building that Christian environment,” Eduardo said. “Through the years, this event has allowed us to demonstrate to our students the practical intersection of business and faith through a focus on integrity and service.
“We want students to see that they can be as successful as they aspire to be, but that aspiration should be pursued and is only meaningful if it is accomplished by honoring God. Accomplishing it through utmost integrity and a sense to help others is consistent with what we are called to do as believers.”
William A. “Lex” Taylor, Chairman of the Board for the Taylor Group, Inc. and President of Taylor Machine Works, Inc. and Taylor Holdings, Inc., gave the keynote address during the Faith and Ethics Luncheon on March 2 in Anderson Hall in the B.C. Rogers Student Center.
Under Taylor’s leadership, Taylor Machine Works followed a course of diversification that resulted in the formation of the Taylor Group, Inc. The addition of compatible products has resulted in the continued growth of the domestic-based, privately owned, world-competitive manufacturer.
A native of Louisville, Mississippi, Taylor joined the family-owned business, Taylor Machine Works, at age 15 and learned everything about the heavy-lift equipment industry before entering the company’s management trainee program. He earned his B.S. in General Business at Mississippi State University.
Taylor worked as a systems coordinator and as the assistant to the President of Manufacturing before being promoted to Vice President and General Manager. Elected to the Board of Directors in 1981, he was elected President in 1982 and was named Chairman of the Board in 2008.
“Lex Taylor leads a very successful business built on a strong core of Christian principles,” Eduardo said. “It is a great example of what Mississippians can do in our state.
“As a business graduate, he has a strong sense of what business students need to hear and think at this stage of their lives. We are very honored to have him as our keynote speaker.”
At the start of the luncheon, Bobby Perkins, Assistant Professor in the MC School of Business, moderated a panel of four industry leaders who discussed their faith and business ethics. The panelists included:
David Maron, Chief Legal Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who earned his undergraduate degree with high distinction from MC and was Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1992;
Josh Murray, a 1999 MC graduate who started a financial coaching company, Max Out Financial Group, that boasts 23 offices and locations and nearly 800 representatives;
Rebecca Poisson, Director of Public Relations and Partnerships for Faith Driven Entrepreneur and Faith Driven Investor and former manager of corporate and ministry partnerships for Samaritan’s Purse; and
Amber Kaminski Redmont, a Product Management Advisor on the Specialty Product Team for FedEx, earned her B.S.B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing and her M.B.A. from MC.
“Having a panel that brings up pointed questions and challenges in front of a large audience is an efficient way to bring up critical topics,” Eduardo said.
A wide variety of Christian speakers shared their perspectives on the intersection of business and faith during classroom presentations March 1-2. The speakers included Michael Carraway, Jr. of Carraway Cooley, LLC; Arty Finkelberg of Raymond James; Cecil Harper of Harper, Rains, Knight and Company; Tara Hayes of Chick-fil-A; Jim Richards of KLLM; Billy Stewart of First Baptist Jackson; Mike Thornton and Percy Thornton of Southern States Utility Trailer Sales, Inc.; Denny Vander Molen of Vermeer MidSouth; David Williams of Carr, Riggs, and Ingram CPAs and Advisors; and Kelley Williams, Jr. of Greenover Managers, LLC.
Eduardo said the close interaction between students and speakers in the classrooms created a more engaging, interactive exchange.
“The idea of these events is to highlight and celebrate our faith in the context of practicing business,” Eduardo said. “This is a very important event in the life of the business school. Our distinction as a business school in a crowded marketplace comes from the context in which we provide an outstanding business education. An event like this is part of that distinction.”
