Hamp Beatty

Hamp graduated from Mississippi College in 1978 with B.S. in Education. Hamp was in business for sixteen years and served as the Mayor of Newton for thirteen years.

“I thoroughly enjoyed being mayor of Newton. But public officials have the weight of decisions on their shoulders. Part of me misses that but on the other side of the coin, there’s not much pressure here and that’s refreshing.” After losing the election, Beatty said he didn’t know what he was going to do. “I had to let the smoke clear a little bit,” Beatty said. “But after I started looking at my options that I might have available, we started looking at Starkville. I explored my options of going to work for Mississippi State and if there were any jobs open that I would qualify for.” Beatty then found an opening in the college’s Small Business Development department. He interviewed for the job and got an offer. Now Beatty is fully entrenched into life in Starkville and MSU. At his new job, Beatty works with new businesses helping them develop business plans before getting started. “We work with people who are trying to start a business and need help with the steps and process of doing that,” Beatty said. “Usually, small businesses are up and running and need some help with some aspect of their business. We help them with market studies, business plans and things like that.”

As a Mississippi State graduate, Beatty is back at one of the places he loves. He has season tickets to football and basketball where he can watch his daughter Lauren cheer for the Bulldogs while working on her biological engineering degree, where she still has a 4.0 average.

While Beatty has enjoyed his time in Starkville, he comes to Newton most every Friday to check on his buildings at Northside Plaza and to eat tamales at Mexico Lindo. “It really was an honor serving the people of Newton,” Beatty said. “We miss Newton and miss the people that we have known for years and grew up with. We’ll always cherish those friendships and memories. But it was a perfect time for us to make this move. --Excerpt from The Newton Record

Hamp Beatty Business Counselor
Phone: (662) 325-8684

E-mail: hbeatty@cobilan.msstate.edu