Personal Resume
I was born in Dalton, Georgia and graduated from Northwest Whitfield High. I married my high-school sweetheart and we have been married since 1984.  It took me about eight years to get an undergraduate degree from West Georgia College (I must be a slow learner). After graduating from the University of Tennessee with an MBA and Ph.D., we moved to Rhode Island and I started my academic career at Bryant College.  In 1999, we moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Southern Miss and spent three years at USM.  We moved to Lubbock in August 2002 and spent two years at Texas Tech.  We moved (again) to Oxford and the University of Mississippi in 2004 as I became the Chair of Banking, and in 2008 Interim Dean.  We enjoy Oxford and hope to stay a while.  We have one son, Kyle, who graduated from Texas Tech University and is now a second-year graduate student at Emerson College in Boston.

Hobbies and Activities
I am involved in church, and I am a Christian. My hobbies (not including research) are varied. I love athletics of all types and enjoy watching college football (in person at Ole Miss, and on television I watch Tennessee, and Texas Tech). I helped coach my son's football team when he was in high-school and I enjoy providing commentary and advice to coaches on television (pun intended).  I also like the Atlanta Braves and have been a fan for over 30 years, but I am too busy to watch now and lost interest after they traded away most of my favorite players. I like to play golf, spend time outdoors, and run. I spend most of my spare time (both days per summer) playing golf and I run at an exceptionally slow pace these days.  Since becoming Interim Dean, my golf has diminished greatly and my handicap has increased substantially (these are bad things in case you do not understand golf).  My wife enjoys church activities, gardening, and reading, and she is a Kindergarten teacher at the Montessori School in Oxford. 

Interests
I do not watch much television, other than sports, news, weather, or the "Discovery Channel."  I love to read and spend most of my time reading non-fiction when I get the chance, which is rare these days. I like history, biographies, anything related to economics or finance, and any other topic where I can learn something useful. I enjoy research and discovering new things that others have not.   I also spend a lot of time on the computer, mostly working, but also doing both academic and other research, as well as watching financial markets, weather, sports, and news.