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Billy Crews

  • Program

    Political Science ( College of Liberal Arts )

  • Hometown

    Oxford, MS (South)

  • About

    Retired after a 44-year career. At heart I served as a community builder, primarily as the CEO of Journal Publishing Company in Tupelo, MS. Our regional newspaper and development company's mission was "To build community and improve the quality of life in Northeast Mississippi." Our company invested millions of dollars in education, economic and community development. Our newspaper's content focused on these same priorities -- education, economic development and human achievement. After 33 years in Tupelo, I returned to Oxford and worked 11 years in education, initially as a VP for Teach for America Mississippi and then eight years as the development officer for our UM School of Education.
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What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishments (both personally and professionally)?

1) Our three talented and dear children who are making a difference in their personal/professional lives.
2) A steward of the legacy of George McLean, I oversaw his $20 million gift of Journal Publishing to the community through the CREATE Foundation.
3) The development of an assistant teacher program in the Lee County Schools, a model for increasing reading achievement led to placing assistant teachers in the first three grades of all Mississippi public schools.
4) Founder of the Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi, a 16-county initiative to raise the excruciation and economic level of area communities.

Tell us about the mentors and role models who inspired you throughout your career:

1) Dr. Vaughn Grisham, my sociology professor at UM, the best professor I ever had, who applied his academic teaching inside and outside the classroom.
2) George McLean, owner of Journal Publishing Company. He believed men and women were God's methods for raising he education, economic and spiritual level of all people.
3) Jack Reed, Sr., a Tupelo businessman, leader in race relations, champion of public education, candidate for Governor of Mississippi, philanthropist.
4) Dr. Don Cole and Rose Jackson Flenorl, mentors to many based on their courage and commitment to social justice.

Is there anything else you wish to share?

I wish I had the strength and courage of my spouse of 45 years, Catherine Burke Crews. Her honesty, artistic creativity, passion for doing what is right and treating all people as equals, makes me and others around her better. Her heroic perseverance and battle with a rare cancer has been a catalyst for her helping hundreds of others across the world facing similar challenges. She lives with dignity and is truly an inspiration to us all.