Attorney, CEO, former gubernatorial chief of staff to receive MC’s Alumnus of the Year award

Andy Taggart, CEO of Taggart|Rimes Attorneys, will receive MC's Alumnus of the Year award during Homecoming.

When it comes to matters of the law, Andy Taggart ’79, chief executive officer of Taggart|Rimes Attorneys, PLLC in Ocean Springs, has pretty much done it all.

A voting member of the Mississippi Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council – whose statutory duty is to recommend funding of opioid abatement projects to the Mississippi Legislature from the multi-million-dollar settlements awarded to the state – Taggart’s practice is focused on the areas of business and corporate counsel; transactions and strategies; healthcare; selected litigated matters; and government, elections and personal law.

Before Taggart|Rimes, he had maintained his own law practice for several years and was previously a partner in the state’s largest law firm and chief of staff to former Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice.

For his immense legal expertise that has brought acclaim to his undergraduate alma mater and his decades-long support of the mission of MC, Taggart will receive the 2025 MC Alumnus of the Year award during the National Alumni Association Awards Brunch at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, in Anderson Hall on the second floor of the B.C. Rogers Student Center as part of MC’s 2025 Homecoming festivities.

The award expresses recognition and gratitude to MC alumni who have rendered distinguished service to their college, church and community. Mere prominence is not a criterion – the award is limited to those who, through a long period of years, have worked with marked intelligence and success to promote the highest interests of Mississippi College and their home communities.

Taggart said he was “stunned” to have been selected for the honor.

“I am not trying to be falsely modest by saying I don’t believe I deserve it,” he said. “But it’s hard for me to imagine feeling more highly honored by anything else MC might have done for me.

“I hope I represent what our school wants to project to the world around us.”

Taggart’s close associate, Bill Townsend, first met him when they moved into Chrestman Hall as freshmen students at MC. Townsend said his friend is an exceptional choice for the award.

“Alumnus of the Year perfectly fits Andy Taggart,” Townsend said. “Andy has always demonstrated love for all things and all people associated with Mississippi College. For those who have known him over the years, we all know that he lives life with passion, accompanied by personal and professional excellence.

“Andy is one of those alumni that you’re proud to day, ‘he’s one of us!’”

A pair of MC grads strongly encouraged Taggart to attend MC, and from the first day he set foot on the Clinton campus, he was hooked for life. After earning his B.A. in political science with high honors and distinction, Taggart received his juris doctor cum laude from Tulane University, where he served on the Senior Editorial Board of the Tulane Law Review. To study at Tulane, he was awarded the Hale Boggs Scholarship, a full three-year award for the entering student with the highest overall record.

“Because of the education and preparation I received at MC, I was able later to study in law school at a university I’d otherwise not have been able to afford to attend,” he said. “MC put me on footing to compete with students from anywhere in the country in preparing for my career.

“If you define ‘success’ as how full the people around you have made your life, dozens of relationships I can trace back to MC positioned me to be very richly blessed, indeed.”

Taggart previously served as chair of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, and was named by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant as co-chair of the Mississippi Department of Corrections Task Force on Contract Review and Procurement. He also served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Mississippi Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee.

Taggart began practicing law in 1985. During the 1990s, he taught as an adjunct professor of history and political science at MC, and is often still called on as a guest lecturer.

A longtime presence in the governmental, policy and political arenas, he served as a member of the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission from 1988 to 1993; served as the executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party in 1984; and served as the political director of the Mississippi Republican Party in 1980 and 1981.

Elected to a term of service on the Madison County Board of Supervisors, Taggart was elected president of the Board and served until the end of his term in early 2008. He also served as president and CEO of the Mississippi Technology Alliance from 2002 to 2005, leading the company to regional and national recognition.

The co-author of two books, “Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2008” and “Mississippi Fried Politics: Tall Tales from the Back Rooms,” Taggart has also authored or co-authored works published by the University of Mississippi Law Journal, the Mississippi Lawyer, the Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Mississippi History. He is a frequent contributor to business and trade periodicals.

Taggart served four terms on the MC Board of Trustees, including several years as chair of the Academic Affairs Committee. Previously, he served as chair of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy and as a member of the Board of Trustees of FamilyNet, Inc., the television and radio broadcasting subsidiary of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He served four years as a gubernatorial appointee to the Mississippi Arts Commission.

A frequent speaker at major events, Taggart has offered the Summer Commencement address at MC and was named an Otho Smith Fellow by the University of Mississippi School of Business Administration. He has been named a Leading Edge Lecturer by the Mississippi Universities Center, and was selected as Spring Commencement speaker at Belhaven University.

His fondest memory of MC was meeting his wife, Karen, 47 years ago this fall. The couple have been married 42 years.

“MC has brought me back over and over again, and every time I am on campus a different happy memory is stirred,” he said. “Personally, it always feels like home for Karen and me, and one of our three sons also graduated here. Professionally, it is the place that gave me the springboard to launch a fulfilling and gratifying career, and I enjoy finding ways to pay back some of what was paid on my behalf.”