Butler Snow attorney Tray Hairston is one of three newly elected members on the Board of Trustees at Belhaven University. Hairston earned his MBA from the university, which is located in Jackson, Miss. Read the full announcement here: https://www.belhaven.edu/news/articles/Belhaven-University-Board-of-Trustees-Elects-Three-New-Members-2020-04-24.htm
Hairston is a member of Butler Snow’s public finance, tax incentives and credit markets group. He concentrates his practice on public finance and economic development matters, including all types of municipal bond issues, serving as bond counsel for both taxable and tax-exempt financings. He has served as bond counsel for various cities and counties and has worked on transactions totaling more than $100 million.
Prior to his legal career, Hairston served as counsel and economic development policy advisor to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. He was also a member of the Business Division at the Mississippi Development Authority where he provided project management assistance to companies and consultants looking to locate new businesses in Mississippi. He also previously served as an adjunct law professor at the Mississippi College School of Law. Hairston regularly publishes scholarly legal articles, with his most recently published paper titled “The Future of Economic Development, 35 Miss. C.L. Rev. 370 (2017)”. Hairston has also served as a lecturer at the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at The University of Southern Mississippi in the school’s Masters of Economic Development Program.
The Bond Buyer has also recognized Hairston as a Rising Star. The publication’s Rising Stars program honors 28 municipal finance professionals under the age of 40 throughout the country whose leadership, collaborative spirit and innovative work with issuers has positively impacted their communities. Rising Stars are nominated by their peers, and submissions are judged by a panel of municipal finance leaders throughout the country and The Bond Buyer’s editorial leadership team.
Hairston is a fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, Mississippi Economic Development Council and Mississippi Bar Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Tougaloo College, his MBA from Belhaven University and his Juris Doctor from the Mississippi College School of Law.
