Alumni Association welcomes new leaders, staff

A host of fresh faces are part of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association. The new staff are engaging in the day-to-day operations of the association as it serves the university’s more than 142,000 living alumni.

Starkville native Jordan Ramsey joins the association as associate director. She shares responsibilities for strategic planning and alumni engagement efforts, and oversees affinity partner programs, including the Traveling Bulldogs and the MSU Ring Tradition, among others. Ramsey will also serve as a liaison with college and school alumni programs for the university and oversee the MSU Alumni Association Career Network. Additionally, she will advise the Alumni Delegates.

Ramsey is a 2006 magna cum laude graduate of MSU’s dual-degree international business program, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. She also holds a certificate in international business and culture and has studied abroad at the University of Costa Rica. She earned an MBA from MSU in 2015, graduating summa cum laude.

Ramsey joins the Alumni Association from the MSU Office of Internal Audit, where she has served as associate director of internal audit since August 2012 and earlier as audit manager. Before joining MSU, she worked in internal audit at FedEx Services, from mid-2005 until 2011. Throughout her professional career, she has traveled to over 18 countries.

Working with Ramsey will be Orly Hardin as she transitions into a new role as assistant director of engagement and recruitment programs. For the past 12 years, Hardin has served as administrative assistant and provided invaluable support for the association. She now oversees and plans all Alumni Association campus-based events, reunion activities and the association’s annual awards banquet. She will also lead the Alumni Recruitment Network, the Legacy Program and alumni recruiting initiatives.

Before joining the association in mid-2007, Hardin spent eight years with MSU’s Office of Admissions and Scholarships in various positions, including assistant director for marketing and publications. She joined Mississippi State in 1998 as an accounting assistant in the Office of the Comptroller and Treasurer. She holds a degree in psychology from Emory University.

Starkville native Brady Sistrunk joins the association as assistant coordinator for alumni chapter and young alumni programs. In his role, Sistrunk will implement and coordinate programs for the association to engage alumni of ages 35 and under and provide support for chapter programs with guidance and advice for chapters and their leaders, while also furthering the association’s outreach efforts on behalf of MSU. He rounds out the longtime team of fellow MSU alumni Michael Richardson, assistant director of chapter and volunteer programs, and Janet Downey, coordinator of chapter and volunteer programs.

Sistrunk received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Mississippi State in 2015. He joins the MSU Alumni Association from the State of Mississippi Treasurer’s office in Jackson, where he served as a marketing specialist. Sistrunk earlier was a consumer marketing coordinator for NASCAR in Birmingham, Alabama.

Another incoming staff member is Sykes Zimmerman as an administrative assistant for Jeff Davis, executive director of the alumni association. In her new role, Zimmerman serves as primary point of operational and administrative contact, oversees special projects and provides support for the National Alumni board of directors and the association’s advisory councils.

Zimmerman comes to the association from the College of Veterinary Medicine, having worked in the dean’s office since late 2015. Before joining MSU, she spent a decade in administrative, management and customer service including time as a financial service representative for Cadence Bank and a financial coordinator for McReynolds Orthodontics. She attended Mississippi State University and Mercer University.

The MSU Alumni Association is available at alumni.msstate.edu and on Twitter @MSStateAlumni. The association has 101 chapters and clubs worldwide.