Phil Hardwick is Coordinator of Capacity Development at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Mississippi State University.  He is also President of The Hardwick Company, LLC, which provides strategic planning, goal-setting, and related services to corporate and nonprofit clients. 

In his spare time he is a prolific writer. His award-winning column on real estate and economic development appears bi-weekly in the Mississippi Business Journal, and he is the author of 11 books, 10 of which are short novels set in Mississippi towns.

Prior to joining the Stennis Institute in August of 2003 he was Vice President of Community and Economic Development at Mississippi Valley Gas Company.

He is a Past-President of the Mississippi Main Street Association, the Mississippi Economic Development Council and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. He is currently President of the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education.

He received his undergraduate degree from Belhaven College and his MBA from Millsaps College. He is also a graduate of  the Senior Executives in State & Local Government executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he attended as a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellow.  During his military service he was Security Team Leader for Army One, the Presidential helicopter.

Phil welcomes your comments and questions.  Click here to send an e-mail to Phil.