MC School of Business Honors Alumni

MC School of Business graduates Ted Edwards and Tommy Butler

Tommy Butler and Ted Edwards are outstanding members of the accounting profession with extraordinary leadership skills.

The Mississippi College graduates are deserving of accolades for successful careers spanning decades. MC leaders announced Butler and Edwards will be honored as the School of Business Alumni of the Year for 2020.

Normally, they would be saluted at an MC Homecoming dinner in October. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that program will need to wait until the Spring 2021.

MC School of Business Dean Marcelo Eduardo is thrilled to honor both men for many years of significant achievements for the CPAs.

“We are so proud to recognize the significant accomplishments of both Ted and Tommy,” Eduardo said. “They are and have been pillars of the accounting community in the state. Moreover, they are so representative of the quality of our accounting graduates over the years.”

Recently retiring, Tommy Butler joined HORNE LLP in 1998 and served as a franchise partner. His expertise includes assurance, general accounting along with tax and management advisory services for restaurants as well as retail/wholesale companies. He’s got more than 40 years of experience in public accounting. He worked at the firm’s Ridgeland office. Tommy is a member of the MC School of Business Advisory Board.

Involved in the metro Jackson community, Butler has served as a Mississippi Economic Council member. He’s also served on the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership Board, and is active with the Mississippi Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants. Tommy earned his bachelor of business administration degree in accounting at MC.

Ted Edwards enrolled at Mississippi College in 1976 to play NCAA Division II baseball for the Choctaws after graduating high school in King George County, Virginia. He excelled off the diamond as an accounting major and graduated in December 1980 with a stellar 3.85 GPA. Ted asked MC classmate, the former Lisa Hall of Clinton, to get married and the couple settled in Mississippi. Ted began his public accounting career in January 1981.

In 1991, Edwards became a partner in the firm now known as Haddox Reid, CPAs and Advisors. In 2002, he came a partner in charge of the firm’s Tax Group. His experience includes compliance, research and planning for individuals, corporations, non-profit entities, estates and trusts.

Edwards is a member of the Tax Division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

The MC School of Business graduate and his wife, Lisa, are members of First Baptist Church Clinton. They have two children, Meredith Edwards Collins and Brooks Edwards along with two grandchildren.

Ted Edwards serves with the MC School of Business Advisory Board and as an officer with the Clinton Community Development Foundation. He’s coached youth sports and is active in school booster clubs.

Retired Mississippi College accounting professors Jacky Jones and Sandra Parks are delighted about the well-deserved honors for their former students. Both achieved remarkable success during careers that began in the 1980s.

Along the way, the two Mississippians showed “exceptional leadership” as CPAs, Dean Eduardo said.