Kelley Williams delivers Hunter Henry Lecture
March 7, 2006
The former chief executive officer of First Mississippi Corp./Chemfirst Inc. speaks today [March 7] at Mississippi State as the 2006 Hunter Henry Lecturer in Chemical Engineering.
At 3:30 p.m., J. Kelley Williams leads in the fifth annual public lectureship sponsored by the university’s Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, headed by Mark G. White. His address takes place in the Swalm Building’s George Eastman Auditorium.
The annual lectureship honors Henry, a Canton native and 1950 MSU chemical engineering graduate who has become a major university benefactor.
Williams, a Greenwood native, joined FMC/Chemfirst Inc. in 1967 and served as CEO from 1971 until 2002, when the company was acquired by DuPont. The firm specializes in fertilizer, industrial chemicals, electronic chemicals, oil and gas, gold mining, coal mining, steel, and real estate.
The company had the highest price appreciation of all companies listed on the New York and American stock exchanges for the decade of the 1970s. It was the first venture capital company chartered in Mississippi and the first Mississippi company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
During Williams’s tenure as CEO, shareholders received more than $1 billion in cash from the sale of the company, cash dividends, and market value of stocks spun off and received in mergers.
Williams received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School.
For more information, contact Julie Lemons.