Contact: Harriet Laird

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Don Zant, Mississippi State University’s vice president for finance and administration, and chief financial officer, is the recipient of a statewide leadership honor given annually by the Mississippi Business Journal.

Zant is among a group of 20 receiving the MBJ’s 2021 Leader in Finance award which recognizes those who have helped in shaping the finance, banking and accounting sectors in the state. Launched in 2013, award nominations are submitted by the winners’ peers, professional acquaintances and finance community innovators.

“We’re pleased to be able to recognize so many great top finance professionals with this program,” said Tami Jones, MBJ publisher. “These individuals are at the top of their field and certainly deserve the honor.”

Zant recently led a campus reorganization of the finance and campus services areas into one cohesive Division of Finance and Administration. He oversees offices that include the controller and treasurer; procurement and contracts; accounts payable; facilities management; parking and transit services; and receiving and property control.

Also managing the university’s planning, design and construction administration, Zant saw his division hold the grand opening in October of the campus’s $34 million Richard A. Rula Engineering and Science Complex on Hardy Road.

Before joining MSU in 1997, he served as assistant director of internal audit at Texas Tech University and as senior auditor with a private firm. He began his MSU duties as director of internal audit, was named vice president for budget and planning in 2010, and was vice president for finance and CFO prior to the 2019 reorganization. His management practices have helped the university maintain a strong financial position, even amid challenging circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a magna cum laude accounting graduate of Lubbock Christian University.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.