Butler Snow is pleased to announce that attorneys Ashley N. Wicks and Tray Hairston will serve as speakers at Delta Fest 2026. The event will take place September 2-4, 2026, in Jackson, Mississippi, bringing together leaders from business, government, philanthropy, higher education and community development to explore opportunities connected to significant investments shaping the region’s future.
Delta Fest brings together stakeholders from across the region to foster collaboration, promote investment and identify strategies for creating long-term economic opportunity and prosperity.
Wicks will participate in the session “CDFI Liquidity Strategies & Bringing Different Forms of Capital Together” on Thursday, September 3. Her session will examine community development financial institution (CDFI) liquidity strategies and the financing structures being coordinated among public, quasi-public, philanthropic and commercial partners to expand access to capital, strengthen community investment and support economic development initiatives across the region.
Later that day, Tray Hairston will speak during the session “REIT + OZ + CDFI + Muni Bonds: Hybrid Capital Stacks in Practice.” His session will explore how real estate investment trusts (REITs), Opportunity Zones (OZs) and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) can be strategically structured together to unlock liquidity, expand ownership opportunities and support projects across the Deep South.
Ashley N. Wicks
Wicks focuses her practice on Finance, Real Estate and Restructuring and Public Finance. In addition to her work in Finance, Real Estate and Restructuring and Public Finance, she is also President of the Butler Snow Foundation. She has been honored by BL Rankings, The Best Lawyers in America® and Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers® for her work in Tax Law. Wicks was named a Rising Star in the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits in 2024 and was voted Best Tax Attorney in the Jackson Free Press’s Best of Jackson from 2018-2021. Her work and civic involvement have also been honored by the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, the Mississippi Business Journal and Visit Jackson, among others.
Wicks currently serves on the board of directors of the Jackson State University Development Foundation, Inc. and the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. Wicks was a Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and the American Bar Foundation, as well as a Scholar of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is actively involved in several legal and civic organizations, including the American, National, Magnolia, and Capital Bar Associations, as well as the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Wicks is recognized as a thought leader in her practice and frequently speaks on tax and public finance topics at industry conferences and events across the country, including at annual Novogradac conferences.
Wicks earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Jackson State University, her Juris Doctor from Tulane University, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Alabama.
Tray Hairston
Tray Hairston is a member of the firm’s Public Finance, Tax Incentives & Credit Markets group and concentrates his practice on public finance and economic development matters. He has served as bond counsel for various cities and counties and as incentive counsel to developers and companies working on transactions totaling more than $3 billion.
Before joining Butler Snow, Hairston served as counsel and economic development policy advisor to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. He was also a member of the Business Development Division at the Mississippi Development Authority, where he provided project management assistance to companies and consultants looking to locate new businesses in Mississippi. Hairston regularly publishes scholarly legal articles. One of his seminal papers is titled “The Future of Economic Development, 35 Miss. C.L. Rev. 370 (2017)”. The Bond Buyer also recognized Hairston as a Rising Star. The publication’s Rising Stars program honors 28 municipal finance professionals under 40 nationwide whose leadership, collaborative spirit, and innovative work with issuers have positively impacted their communities.
Hairston is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) through the International Economic Development Council. In his role as a CEcD, Hairston provides economic development consulting advice to communities and site selection consulting to companies throughout the U.S. Hairston has been recognized by Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for Public Finance, BL Rankings, The Best Lawyers in America® for Economic Development Law in both 2025 and 2026, Thomson Reuters Mid-South Super Lawyers® for Government Finance (2016-2021), Mississippi College School of Law as Young Lawyer of the Year (2013) and Mississippi Business Journal as one of its Top 40 under 40 (2012-2013). Hairston was also named to Southern Business & Development’s Under 50 Economic Developers to Watch. In addition, he participated in the Harvard University Kennedy School’s Effective Leadership Across Sectors Program, a leadership training program designed and led by Harvard faculty consisting of an advanced education opportunity offered exclusively to Delta Leadership Institute (“DLI”) alumni, who are members of the Delta Leadership Network – a post-DLI community of nearly 700 community leaders representing public, private and nonprofit sectors from across the Delta Regional Authority’s eight-state region.
Hairston is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers where he was recognized nationally, the International Economic Development Council, the Southern Economic Development Council and the Mississippi Bar Association. He is also a member of the board of directors of the International Economic Development Council and the digital news platform Deep South Today. In addition, Hairston is a member of the Tougaloo College Board of Trustees. He received his undergraduate degree from Tougaloo College, his MBA from Belhaven University, and his Juris Doctor from the Mississippi College School of Law.
