Featured MPB Champion

Carolyn Shanks

As Senior Vice President, Administration and Corporate Support, for Enexus Energy, Inc., Carolyn Shanks is well known as one of the nation's most trusted leaders in the electric utility industry. Since assuming the top spot in 1999, she has not only helped her company deliver affordable, reliable electricity to its customers, but has invested in technology, personnel training, and community partnerships that have improved the lives of her 1,400 employees and millions of others in the Magnolia State.

For years, Ms. Shanks has been involved in public service organizations focused on education, the environment and economic development in Mississippi. In 2007, she helped to spearhead a partnership between Entergy, the Foundation for Public Broadcasting in Mississippi (Foundation), Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB), and Mississippi's public libraries to increase literacy in pre-kindergarten children statewide.

On behalf of Entergy, Ms. Shanks provided the $50,000 grant that allowed the Between the Lions Preschool Literacy Library Project to place books, videos and other tools into 17 Mississippi public libraries. "Now, more than ever before," she said, "Mississippians must come together in developing solutions that improve our state's educational system. It is clear that our economic future depends on it."