MINACT CEO Augustus Leon Collins elected to Mississippi Power board
Gulfport, Miss. – Mississippi Power announced today that Augustus Leon Collins, CEO of MINACT Inc., has been elected to the company’s board of directors, effective Nov. 1.
MINACT, based in Jackson, Miss., is a leading workforce training, development, and management corporation. The company contracts with the U.S. Department of Labor to operate Job Corps Centers in Alabama, California, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Tennessee.
“Leon is a tremendous leader, from serving our country with honor and distinction for decades to his passion for making Mississippi the best it can be through his leadership on the Mississippi Economic Council and through workforce development and helping people find jobs,” said Mississippi Power President and CEO Anthony Wilson. “I know that his broad experiences and vast knowledge will be valuable assets for our board.”
“Mississippi Power is one of our state’s top companies, so I am very honored to be joining its board and its outstanding leadership team,” Collins said. “I share the company’s commitment to education, economic development and environmental stewardship as we look to build on the company’s rich history of serving its customers and communities with excellence.”
Collins’ distinguished military career in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard spans more than 35 years. He held numerous command and staff positions, including tours as the director of mobilization, U.S. Army Forces Command, the commander of the 155th Separate Armored Brigade in Iraq and adjutant general for the Mississippi National Guard.
He was promoted to brigadier general in 2005 while in Iraq, becoming the first African American to attain the rank of general in the history of the Mississippi National Guard. Collins initially retired from the Army in 2007 and was appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour as one of three commissioners for the Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Commission where he served three years as the commission’s representative of labor.
When Gov. Phil Bryant took office in January 2012, he requested that Collins be recalled from military retirement to serve as adjutant general for the Mississippi National Guard. In this role, Collins commanded a force of more than 12,500 service members in the Mississippi Army National Guard and the Mississippi Air National guard until his retirement in August 2016.
In addition to serving on the Mississippi Power board of directors, he also serves on the boards of Huntington Ingalls Industries and Trustmark Corporation, as well as Friends of Mississippi Veterans. He previously served on the board of the National Guard Association of the United States and is a former member of the Governor’s Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Collins is the chair of the Mississippi Economic Council for 2021-2022, succeeding Wilson in this role. Collins is past president of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association and has been inducted as an Alumni Hall of Fame member at the University of Mississippi, Northeast Mississippi Junior College, and the Mississippi Military Academy Officer Candidate School.
He has been the recipient of many awards and decorations to include the Distinguished Service Medal; the Legion of Merit (with OLC); the Champion of Justice Award, presented by the Mississippi Center of Justice (2019); Trailblazer and Forerunner Award, presented by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., (2019); Top 25 Most Influential African Americans in Mississippi (2018); the Distinguished Citizen Award, presented by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., (2016); and the Whitney M. Young Service Award, presented by the Boy Scouts of America (2014).
Collins received an associate degree from Northeast Mississippi Junior College, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi and an MBA from Jackson State University. He also earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College and has completed studies at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as well as Harvard Business School.
Collins and his wife Debra reside in Madison, Miss.
Now in its 96th year of operations, Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and affordable energy for approximately 191,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. Mississippi Power recently was a recipient of the Community Partner Impact Award from the Center for Energy Workforce Development for its innovative and ongoing efforts to build a diverse workforce. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our websites at mississippipower.com and mississippipowernews.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
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