Biography
Andy Taggart
Andy Taggart maintains his own law practice
in Madison, Mississippi, which he commenced
in 2002. He has recently completed a term
of service on the Madison County, Mississippi
Board of Supervisors. He was elected to
a four-year term in 2003 and was elected
President in January of 2007, in which position
he served until the beginning of 2008.
Taggart's first book, Mississippi Politics:
The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006, was published
by the University Press of Mississippi in
November of 2006. He has also been the author
or co-author of works published by The University
of Mississippi Law Journal, The Mississippi
Lawyer, The Journal of the Mississippi Academy
of Sciences, The Journal of Mississippi
History, and a wide variety of professional,
business and trade periodicals.
Taggart served as President and CEO of
the Mississippi Technology Alliance from
August of 2002 through October of 2005.
He led the company to both regional and
national recognition. MTA is a non-profit
economic development company, devoted to
the creation and enhancement of an environment
leading to more and higher paying jobs in
Mississippi in the technology and innovation
sectors.
Taggart first commenced the practice of law
in 1985. When asked to serve as Chief of
Staff to Governor Kirk Fordice, he left his
law practice in 1991 and served in that capacity
until 1994, where he was instrumental in
the ramp up of Mississippi’s first
Republican administration in the twentieth
century.
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Following work as a manufacturing
business owner and partner in a government relations
consulting firm, Andy returned to the practice of
law in 1998. During the 1990’s, Taggart taught
as an adjunct Professor of History and Political
Science at Mississippi College, his undergraduate
alma mater.
A long-time presence in the governmental,
policy and political arenas, he served as a member
of the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the United
States Civil Rights Commission from 1988 to 1993;
served as the Executive Director of the Mississippi
Republican Party in 1984; and was the Political Director
of the Mississippi Republican Party in 1980 and 1981.
Taggart
currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Mississippi
College. He is also a member the Executive Committee
and serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Mississippi
Center for Public Policy, formerly the Mississippi
Family Council.
Previously, Taggart served as a member
of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Fairness
Committee of FamilyNet, Inc., the television and
radio broadcasting subsidiary of the North American
Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
He served four years as a member of the Mississippi
Arts Commission and a three year term on the Board
of Directors of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
In 1992, Taggart was named Mississippi
College’s
Distinguished Alumnus in Political Science. He was
also named the Leading Edge Lecturer for the Mississippi
Universities Center in 1993.
A 1979 graduate of Mississippi
College, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political
Science with High Honors and Distinction. As a Presidential
Scholar, he received a four-year academic scholarship
to Mississippi College, and was also named the Una
Touchstone Owen Scholar, an additional academic scholarship
covering his senior year.
Taggart received his Juris Doctor
cum laude from Tulane University in 1984. To study
at Tulane, Andy was named the Hale Boggs Scholar,
awarded to the entering student with the highest overall
record, which consisted of a full three-year academic
scholarship. He also served on the Senior Editorial
Board of the Tulane Law Review and on Tulane’s
Jessup International Moot Court competition team. |
