[hr]Jackson State University names alumnus Howard Brown Jr. as its new chief financial officer. He’s currently the deputy executive director for the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office (LBO) and will assume his CFO role on May 3.
The Greenwood native currently resides in Brandon and has been with the LBO for more than 25 years. He works directly with the lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, and all members of the Mississippi Legislature to formulate a $22 billion state budget with multiple funding sources.
Brown said, “I’m very excited about joining JSU President (Thomas) Hudson and the administration, and I look forward to building on the positive gains by the leadership. My desire is to expand on the relationships and continue restoring confidence with stakeholders by implementing sound and strategic financial and business objectives.”
As deputy executive director for the LBO, he also manages a staff of approximately 30 employees who provide fiscal analyses, policy analyses and information technology support to approximately 300 legislators and staff. Additionally, he serves as the LBO liaison to the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus by providing budgetary support to its members for items pertaining to their legislative agenda.
Brown has helped streamline the submission process for all budgets in Mississippi and assisted in the implementation of the Statewide Strategic Plan for Performance and Budgetary Success.
Before becoming deputy executive director, he served as senior budget analyst and was responsible for fiscal analyses of all Mississippi Public Institutions of Higher Learning, community colleges and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He also led many specialized projects that pertain to the State and School Employees’ Life and Health Insurance Plan and the Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Brown earned his Master of Business Administration from JSU in 1998 and his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting in 1995 from Delta State University, where he is a member of its Alumni Board of Directors. He also serves on the steering committee for Project SEC2, which is a state employee classification compensation initiative led by the Mississippi State Personnel Board.
Brown is married to Shari R. Brown, FNP-BC, a board-certified nurse practitioner. They have three children: Howard III, Jocelyn and Allyson.