House Resolution 51

(As Adopted by House)

A RESOLUTION HONORING THE ILLUSTRIOUS PROFESSIONAL CAREER OF MR. HIBBETT NEEL AND COMMENDING HIM FOR HIS PHILANTHROPIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE AND THE SOUTHERN REGION.

WHEREAS, in 1983, Mr. Hibbett Neel cofounded the Neel-Schaffer firm, which has grown over the years to become the premier engineering, planning, and construction management firm of the South, ranking as one of the largest privately held, employee-owned engineering firms in the South; and

WHEREAS, at the intuitive age of 78, Mr. Neel serves as the firm's President and Chief Executive Officer, leading the firm's seven-person Board of Directors that is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm, and also serves as a member of the firm's Senior Advisory Committee; and

WHEREAS, during his 50-plus impressive years of astute engineering experience, Mr. Neel has always put his clients first and focused on maintaining personal connections with clients as he worked steadily to grow his company from eight employees in 1983 into a regional firm that now boasts 500 professional and technical employees who work out of 36 offices across nine states; and

WHEREAS, the Neel-Schaffer firm now stands as the largest Mississippi-based engineering consulting firm with 15 offices and more than 200 employees based in the Magnolia State, he still strives to ensure his company continues to serve clients on a local, personal level, by improving the quality of life in the communities in which the employees live, work, and play; and

WHEREAS, in 2019, Neel-Schaffer was listed as 244th on Engineering News-Record's prestigious list of the nation's Top 500 Design firms; and

WHEREAS, a native of Tennessee, Mr. Neel initially moved to Jackson for the purpose of managing the Jackson office of Hensley-Schmidt Engineering, but in just nine short years, he and Gorman Schaffer bought the office and formed Neel-Schaffer; and

WHEREAS, although he is a native of Tennessee, Mr. Neel and his beloved wife of 52 years, Susan, have called Jackson and this great state their home since 1974, and have raised three admirable children: Chris, Amy and Michael; and

WHEREAS, their cherished family has now grown to include five adorable grandchildren: Jackson, Neel, Cheney, Masters and Adele, with another grandson, Locke, expected to arrive in April of this year; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Neel's unmatched work ethic developed during his modest upbringing in the Nashville suburb of Smyrna, surrounded by great literary minds and loved ones who practiced and taught young Hibbett the value of hard work at an early age, rising before daylight as an 11-year-old fifth grader to complete a morning paper route, and then by earning the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America; and

WHEREAS, a trailblazer at heart, a young Hibbett chartered his own career choice against his family's tradition of majoring in the arts by studying engineering, earning a bachelor of engineering degree from Vanderbilt University in 1963, and a master of science in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1965; and

WHEREAS, his tremendous leadership skills were crafted during his years as a soldier in the United States Army from 1965 to 1967, where he earned the rank of Captain while serving as a Company Commander in Europe for the United States Army Corps of Engineers; and

WHEREAS, after his military service, Hibbett joined the Tennessee State Highway Department as an Assistant Traffic Engineer in 1968, and in 1971, Hibbett joined the Atlanta office of Hensley-Schmidt, and in 1974, he was named a vice president with the firm and transferred to Jackson, where he helped develop a new Hensley-Schmidt branch office; and

WHEREAS, upon his move to Jackson, Mr. Neel thrived in his new environment, developing and managing a variety of transportation engineering projects that included roadway design, traffic operations and safety, transportation and transit planning, and traffic signal systems, and most important as he thrived in this environment, his loving wife Susan, suggested that after moving six times in five years for his job that they should make Jackson and Mississippi, their permanent home; and

WHEREAS, he is a caring, passionate, ethical, humble, encouraging individual with a servant's heart. He continues to be a doting father to Chris, Amy and Michael, is even more doting on each of his grandchildren, and cherishes each day, encouraging family and friends to remain humble while taking on challenges and living each day to the fullest; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Neel's professional accomplishments have and continue to gain national recognition as evidenced when he was honored by the Mississippi Business Journal in January 2016, as one of Mississippi's top CEOs for 2015, in April 2016, when he was honored by the Deep South Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (DSITE) with its inaugural Private Sector Achievement Award, and later in June 2016, he was presented the President's award during the DSITE's; and

WHEREAS, he is 1 of only 80 members since 1933, who have received Honorary Membership, by ITE, which is the highest recognition of notable and outstanding professional achievement presented by ITE, with 17,000 members worldwide; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Neel has lived and continues to live to illuminate the philosophy of one of his heroes, Winston Churchill: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give"; and

WHEREAS, he gives with the same passion that he utilizes to garner his professional accomplishments, making commitment to the community as one of the pillars on which he has built his firm, and remains actively involved in local community affairs by serving on numerous boards, including Catholic Charities, Citizens Southwest, Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, Jackson State University School of Engineering, Jackson 2000, Jackson Association of Neighborhoods, Keep Jackson Beautiful, Leadership Jackson, Metro Jackson Chamber of Commerce, and Mississippi Blood Services; and

WHEREAS, another pioneering, philanthropic move by Mr. Neel involved starting a minority scholarship program aimed at helping more minorities enter the engineering field which has since awarded more than $300,000.00 in minority scholarships and earned national recognition from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which in 2004 awarded Neel-Schaffer with its National Diversity Champion Award; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to honor the achievements of Mississippi business leaders who use their business acumen to inspire and develop the next generation of business leaders for our state and the nation:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby honor and congratulate Mr. Hibbett Neel for his illustrious professional career and his philanthropic community efforts, and wish him continued success in his many endeavors.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Mr. Hibbett Neel, the Neel-Schaffer firm and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.