December 2016 | Business View Magazine

84 85 OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI PREFERRED VENDORS n North Mississippi Regional Center www.nmrc.state.ms.us The North Mississippi Regional Center is one of six comprehen- sive regional centers in Mississippi. NMRC operates under the authority of the MS Department of Mental Health and is licensed as an Inter- mediate Care Facility for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ICF/IDD), providing an array of services in the northern 23 counties of the state. Its mission is to enhance the abilities and pro- mote the independence of persons with intellectual and related devel- opmental disabilities by providing quality care, comprehensive services, and family support, with dignity and respect. n Advanced Healthcare Management, Inc. www.advhealthmgmt.com n Harper Whitwell, PLLC www.harperwhitwell.com A law firm in Oxford, MS. James Harper and Quentin Whitwell Jr. are specialists in Business law, General civil litigation, Government affairs, Employment law, Personal injury, Criminal law, and Healthcare law. In addition, the firm provides services pertaining to Business formation, Strategic growth planning, Business acquisitions, and Mediation. to grow, stay longer, employmore local people, and create the types of jobs that those people can maintain for a longer time.One ex- ample of an Oxford start-up is FNC.“They’re a technology, financial services company, recently purchased by CoreLogic in California for close to half a billion dollars,” says Maynard.“We’ve got several other start-ups in various venues and they’re all doing extremely well.They’re finding the sort of talent and access to capital and other things that they need to be successful.And they’re doing it right here in Mississippi.” Of course, Ole Miss is still the city’s biggest employer, with 5,000 workers serving its 20,000 students.“It’s definitely the biggest entity in the area,” Maynard admits. Other large employ- ers are the Winchester Ammunition plant with its 1,500 employ- ees, and the North Mississippi Regional Center, a mental health residential facility with a staff of 1,000. And the brand new, $450 million Baptist Hospital, which is more than halfway completed, will employ hundreds more. Maynard reports that the population of Oxford has been growing steadily at a two percent per year clip since the late 1980s.“It’s a steadily growing town,”he says.“We won’t be a metropolis any time soon, but we are seeing substantial growth.” He cites three reasons why people come to Oxford and decide to stay: “They went to school here and they stayed; they may have gone to school here, years ago, they invested in some real estate here for a game day house or a second home, and they tend to live in Jackson, Mississippi, and drive two hours here for weekends for ballgames or hunting, or just to get away; or they’re coming here specifically because of their employment with Winchester, or the University, or any of the large employers in the area.” “When the Economic Development Foundation was founded, our first major project was a retirement attraction program,”Maynard adds, citing yet another reason for the town’s growth.“We felt that retirees were our sweet spot and we have, since then, attract- ed well over a thousand retiree households–the bulk of those coming in the past ten years.The biggest part of that is people who have a fondness for Ole Miss and want to be close to their alma mater.” The increase in population has fostered a construction boom.“We’re growing rooftops like crazy,” Maynard exults.“The type of developments that we’re looking for is mixed-use, where you have residences around commercial areas, or commercial on the ground floor and residences, above.We’re developing the infrastructure and community design to incorporate density.We want to be able to make everything we • Business law • General civil litigation • Government affairs • Employment law • Healthcare Law Your best choice for quality legal services and first-rate customer care. 662-234-0320 harperwhitwell.com FREE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST