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MMA Leaders Present Gift to School of Business


Jay C. Moon, MMA President and CEO; Dr. Marcelo Eduardo, MC School of Business dean; and Tony Stringer, president of Stringer Industries and immediate past chairman of MMA
Mississippi College "has always been a place close to my heart," says Tylertown businessman Tony Stringer.

As a result, the 1983 Mississippi College graduate was truly delighted on Wednesday to present a $10,000 gift on behalf of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association to the MC School of Business.

The president of Stringer Industries, a heavy equipment manufacturer in Tylertown, Stringer is the immediate past chairman of the Jackson-based MMA.

A 1983 MC alumnus, Stringer delivered the MMA Chairman's Award to MC School of Business Dean Marcelo Eduardo. MMA President and CEO Jay C. Moon joined Stringer and Eduardo for the check presentation on the Clinton campus.

"The MMA Chairman's Award represents the MMA's commitment to education in Mississippi," Moon said. "We recognize that a well-educated, well-trained workforce is the key to bringing industry to the state and remaining competitive in our global economy," he said.

Over the years, MMA chairman's awards have gone to such schools as Mississippi State University and Jackson State University.

An MC business administration graduate, Stringer was happy to see the funds going to his alma mater. "I received a good education here. It was the only place for me," he said. A youth minister at his church in Tylertown was an MC student at the time and encouraged Stringer to enroll at the Baptist-affiliated college.

Eduardo was pleased to accept the gift during the event in the lobby of Self Hall, headquarters of the School of Business. "This means the world to us," he said. "You guys (at MMA) have been awfully good to us."

The MC School of Business is the largest school at the Christian university. It includes more than 260 students in the M.B.A. program to make it the largest and oldest in metro Jackson.

"You guys are on the front lines of the workforce," Moon said of MC's School of Business.

For more than 50 years, the MMA has represented the interests of Mississippi manufacturers at the state and national levels.

Tony Stringer runs a south Mississippi business with 30 employees. The chairman of MMA in 2008-2009, Stringer bleeds blue and gold. His son, Taylor, is the sophomore class president at MC where he is studying business. Stringer and his wife, the former Carla Morris of Clinton, also have a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, a 9th grader at Parklane Academy. Stringer is hoping his daughter becomes an MC student in a few years.

Stringer has served on the MMA board of directors since 1996. In 1998, he was named the Distinguished Alumnus for the MC School of Business. A year later, he was named the Mississippi College Young Alumnus of the Year.

Moon said he's hoping this week's gift will enable MC to continue to offer students a professional business education that "emphasizes ethical values in business, providing the marketplace with business leaders who will continue to improve Mississippi industry as a whole."