Phil Hardwick is Coordinator of Capacity Development at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Mississippi State University, where he works with communities on strategic planning and leadership development.  As a private consultant he also provides strategic planning and leadership training services for chambers of commerce, corporations nonprofit organizations. 
 

 

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 12 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 ,the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education.  He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the USA International Ballet Competition.  He is also Adjunct Instructor of Management at Millsaps College.
 

 

He received his undergraduate degree from Belhaven University 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.  During his military service he was Security Team Leader for Army One, the Presidential helicopter.