OLinc to host Mississippi economic development leaders in Oxford
Oxford employers will get a direct look at how Mississippi plans to recruit jobs and train workers at OLinc’s July 8 fireside chat in Oxford.
Oxford employers, developers and startup founders will hear Bill Cork and Dr. Courtney Taylor at Oxford High School on Wednesday, July 8, when Oxford Lafayette Incorporated hosts a fireside chat on Mississippi’s efforts to recruit jobs and train workers. The fireside chat runs from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at 101 Charger Loop in Oxford, includes a continental breakfast, and is open to the public and the media through advance ticket registration; seating is limited.
Bill Cork, the executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, and Dr. Courtney Taylor, the executive director of Accelerate Mississippi, will lead the discussion. The conversation will center on Mississippi’s economic-development priorities, statewide workforce initiatives and the partnerships needed for future growth. Ryan Miller, the organization’s president and CEO, said the Oxford-Lafayette Strategic Plan “challenges the community to think beyond today’s opportunities and prepare for the economy of tomorrow,” and said bringing leaders from MDA and AccelerateMS together will help residents see how local priorities connect with statewide strategy.
That local plan sets out six goals: targeted industry recruitment, entrepreneurial development, workforce alignment, regional collaboration, quality-of-place investments and strengthening the community’s competitive position. OLinc works across business recruitment, entrepreneurial development, workforce partnerships, research commercialization, existing industry support and regional collaboration in Oxford and Lafayette County. The county’s estimated population reached 59,597 in July 2025, up from 55,813 in the 2020 census, and the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 estimate shows 46.5% of adults age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Oxford’s 2020 census population was 25,416.
The chat also comes after a shift in the region’s development network. The Oxford-Lafayette Economic Development Foundation moved its headquarters to Insight Park at the University of Mississippi in July 2025, bringing economic-development, entrepreneurial and technology-commercialization work closer to the university. The local chamber that helped build that structure dates to 1940, followed by an industrial foundation formed around 1981 and the Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation created in 1992. Advance tickets can be reserved by contacting Rosie Vasallo at (662) 915-3131 or rosie@oxfordms.com.
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