FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 7, 2005

BARBOUR AIDE TO RETURN TO PRIVATE SECTOR; BYNUM NAMED DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

(Jackson, Miss.) – Governor Haley Barbour announced today that Meridian Star Editor Buddy Bynum will become Director of Communications for the Governor’s Office. John Arledge, Barbour’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Communications, will leave at the end of the month for an executive position with Community Bancshares of Mississippi in Jackson.

“I appreciate John’s service to the Administration. He has done an outstanding job, and I speak for my entire staff in wishing him all the best in his new endeavor,” said Governor Barbour. “I am tickled that Buddy has agreed to come on board. I have known him for years and he has impeccable qualifications and will bring a wealth of experience to this role.”

Buddy Bynum is an award-winning Mississippi journalist. Before joining the newspaper in 2000, he was Director of Public Affairs for the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development, the forerunner agency of the Mississippi Development Authority. He was also Editor and part owner of the Jackson-based Mississippi Business Journal from 1993-97.

His career includes service as Press Secretary and, later, Chief of Staff, to then-U.S. Rep. Trent Lott, Executive Director of the House Republican Whip organization and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations for former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.

Bynum and his wife, the former Sandra May of Magee, have two children Jarrod, who lives in Magee, and Sarah, a senior at the University of Mississippi.

John Arledge worked on the staff of Governor Kirk Fordice from 1991-1995. He was the Executive Director of the Barbour Inaugural Committee before joining the Governor’s staff in January 2004. He will serve as Senior Vice President in the areas of marketing/sales and business development at the $1.7 billion asset financial organization.

“I am looking forward to this new opportunity, and I will always be grateful to the Governor and First Lady for giving me the chance to do a second tour of duty in state politics,” said Arledge. “Governor Barbour is leading the ship of state in a new and better direction, and I am proud to have had a role in launching that ship.”

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