Dr. Jesse L. White, Jr. is Executive Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board. He has served in numerous governmental positions at both the federal and state levels, as well as in academic life. At the federal level, Dr. White was the chief policy planner for higher education in the U.S. Department of Education and a special assistant to U.S. Senator John Stennis. At the state level, he served as Secretary of the Mississippi State Senate. He was also on the political science faculty of the University of Mississippi. Dr. White has been a member and officer of several professional and church organizations. In 1984, he was selected to participate in the International Business Fellows Program of the Georgia World Congress Institute. He currently serves on the Visiting Committee to the M.I.T. Political Science Department.