The MSU Alumni Association welcomes a new slate of officers for two-year terms for the fiscal years 2025-27. Association leaders who assumed office in July include Lynn Twitty Burwell of Gulfport as national president, Riley Nelson of Vicksburg as national vice president and Dave Dickson of Monticello, Arkansas, as national treasurer. Dickson is filling an unexpired term for the fiscal year 2025–26. Terri Russell of Helena, Alabama, remains with the board as the immediate former national president. The group was elected in February at the association’s annual business meeting.

“Our national officers will uphold the tradition of volunteer service to our Bulldog family through their leadership in our association,” said Jeff Davis, the association’s executive director. “Our association continues to grow in program offerings, volunteers and alumni. Our leaders will help us better engage and involve them, along with more alumni and friends, in our efforts to support and promote Mississippi State nationally and globally.”

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Burwell assumes the presidency following a two-year term as vice president of the MSU Alumni Association. She earned a Bachelor of Science in home economics and child development in 1980 from MSU and is a senior sales advisor for direct sales at Card Connect. Before becoming vice president, she served two terms as a director on the association’s national board for the Mississippi South Region 3. She has long been an MSU Alumni Association volunteer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including her role as president of the Harrison-Hancock Alumni Chapter. She now volunteers with activities for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter, such as the Road Dawgs Tour, Gulf Coast Highway cleanup and drawdown fundraiser. Burwell also volunteers with the Alumni Recruitment Network and is a mentor for the Bulldog Network Mentor Program.

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Nelson assumes the vice presidency following his role as the association’s national treasurer since 2019, where he also served as a representative on the MSU Foundation Investment Committee. He previously served the association’s national board as the Mississippi Central 3 Region director and held leadership roles, including multiple terms as chapter president with the Warren County Alumni Chapter. Nelson earned two degrees from MSU, a Bachelor of Accountancy in 1999 and a Master of Taxation in 2001. He is the managing partner with May and Company LLP. He continues serving the Warren County Alumni Chapter and is a Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy Advisory Council member.

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Dickson, before his new role as national treasurer, served multiple terms on the association’s national board as Out of State Region 1 director. Dickson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in banking and finance in 1987 from MSU. He is president and CEO of Union Bank and Trust Company in Monticello, Arkansas. Dickson is active in the Southeast Arkansas Alumni Club and is a longtime Alumni Recruitment Network volunteer, encouraging students to attend MSU. He also hosts the annual Southeast Arkansas Send-off Party.

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Following a two-year term as president, Terri Russell assumes the office of immediate past president. Russell is a two-time MSU graduate, earning a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in industrial engineering in 1984 and 1986, respectively. She serves as a principal member of technical staff at AT&T Labs Inc. She has been a longtime volunteer with the MSU Alumni Association’s Birmingham, Alabama, Chapter, where she has served in various roles over the past 25 years, including eight years as chapter president. She has been instrumental in student recruiting, community service, scholarship fundraising and coordinating events for alumni in the region. Russell also played an integral role in making MSU license plates a reality in Alabama, and she was honored with the MSU Alumni Association’s 2008 Distinguished Service Award.

Continuing directors include:

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Bradley A. Garrison (’00) of Chandler, Arizona, continues as the out-of-state director for Region 1. He most recently served on the association’s national board as the at-large director and previously held the state director position for Texas. Garrison is the divisional sports field category manager for Ewing Outdoor Supply. He has volunteered and taken on various roles with the Nashville, Tennessee, Alumni Chapter and the Kansas City Alumni Club. He is a past president of the Dallas, Texas, Alumni Chapter.

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Zwan Landfair (’94) of Woodstock, Georgia, continues as the at-large director. He has served on the national board since 2000 as the Mississippi North 1 Region director. Landfair provides leadership on the operations team for Zimmer Biomet in their Joint Medical Concepts division. He is active in the Alumni Recruitment Network, served as co-chair of MSU’s Black Alumni Weekend 2022 and serves as the current chair of the Black Alumni Advisory Council.

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Adrienne Morris (’05) of Columbus will begin a second term as the Mississippi North Region 3 director. She is the district human resources manager for Aramark and the founder and owner of MORR Consulting Group LLC. Morris serves as president of the Lowndes County Alumni Chapter, having previously held the position of vice president. She has been involved with MSU on the communication department advisory board and the Montgomery Leadership Program advisory board. She currently serves as the scholarship chair for the Black Alumni Advisory Council.

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Connie Spells Raines (’85) of Conyers, Georgia, will continue her second consecutive term as state director for Georgia. She most recently served as the senior water enforcement officer at the Environmental Protection Agency before retiring after a 30-year career. In 2018, she was the chair of MSU’s Black Alumni Weekend and is actively involved with the Atlanta, Georgia, Alumni Chapter.

Directors new to the board include:

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Sophia Barnett (’19) of Starkville joins the board as chair of the MSU Staff Council. A 2019 graduate of MSU with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, Barnett serves as a Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Research.

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Terry Boyd (’80) of Tyler, Texas, joins the board as the state director for Texas. He is an independent petroleum landman and the owner of T. Boyd Land Services LLC. Boyd has been a longtime MSU Alumni Association volunteer and leader in the East Texas Alumni Chapter, where he serves as president. He has held various positions on the chapter’s board and has assisted with the chapter’s scholarship program, send-off parties and student recruiting events.

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Stacy Haynes (’01) of Starkville joins the board as president of the Robert Holland Faculty Senate. Haynes is a professor in the Department of Sociology, and her research focuses on issues related to victimization, sentencing, juvenile justice and criminal justice policy.

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Karen Dugard Lawler (’82) of Madison, Alabama, will join as the representative of the former national presidents on the MSU Alumni Association board of directors. She recently retired from NASA, where she served as a financial management specialist and contracting officers representative in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer at Marshall Space Flight Center. She served as national president in 2010-11 and served nine years on the national board. A long-time volunteer with the Huntsville-Decatur chapter, she has served as treasurer, vice president and president.

The MSU Alumni Association was founded on June 17, 1885, by the first three graduating classes of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. A full-service organization, it now includes nearly 100 chapters and clubs serving Mississippi State University’s more than 169,000 living alumni.

For more information about the MSU Alumni Association, contact Davis at 662-325-7000 or jdavis@alumni.msstate.edu.