Lisa Mader

Date: May 21, 2004

Lisa Mader

Date: May 21, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Abbey King
"How did she get hired? Who hired her? Was there a national search? Was her position advertised? Who knows! She does when she is at work!"

Through "connections;" by Thames (via the "connections"); no national search; "legally" advertised but not an "open" search (due to the wishes of the "connections").

She is well connected.

Date: May 22, 2004

It's not as ominous as this thread suggests. The former Lisa Slay is an alum. Her older brother and I were at USM together at the same time and Lisa is a couple years younger. She was a Chi O at Southern and I knew her somewhat because we both were on the ASB together for a year (which I understand is now known as the SGA).

I still see her brother frequently in Jackson and remember when he told me awhile back that his little sis had recently gotten a job in PR at USM and was really excited to get to go back to work for her alma mater.

I haven't talked to Lisa since college days, so I have no idea about her thoughts on being SFT's spokesperson and all that, and of course up here in Jackson I have no opportunity to watch her in action as the school's spokesperson. But she does not come from a big power family in MS or anything like that.

Date: May 22, 2004

As I have said before, I doubt Lisa is any more than a well-paid cog in the machine. She is told what to say; she says it as well as she can. A "friend of a friend" reported that Lisa once said, "I don't make the bullsh*t; I just make the bullsh*t smell good." I was not there. I did not hear it.

Anyway, does anybody know if there is a family connection between Lisa Slay Mader and the Hattiesburg accounting firm McArthur Thames Slay and Dews? The CPA Thames is SFT's nephew.

Date: May 22, 2004

ram,

About Lisa Mader being a "well-paid cog," obviously there's some truth to that. She doesn't make policy, and is unlikely to influence Thames' decisions. (A President more sensitive to PR concerns might listen to her occasionally, instead of presenting her with another fait accompli to put a good face on.)

Still, she has to know that much of what she says, to the press and to the public, is false or misleading, and it's perfectly right to hold her accountable for that. No one forced her to take the job.

Robert Campbell

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"ram, About Lisa Mader being a "well-paid cog," obviously there's some truth to that. She doesn't make policy, and is unlikely to influence Thames' decisions. (A President more sensitive to PR concerns might listen to her occasionally, instead of presenting her with another fait accompli to put a good face on.) Still, she has to know that much of what she says, to the press and to the public, is false or misleading, and it's perfectly right to hold her accountable for that. No one forced her to take the job. Robert Campbell "

Some of us are very naive about PR and such. The job of a PR person is to do the best s/he can with what s/he is given. S/he is not allowed to outright lie, but can spin till the cows come home. And twist, and view from skewed perspective, and be exceedingly genteel, and overlook, and hyperbolize, and be selective, and leave out, and highlight, and so on and so forth. You can't "hold her accountable" for anything cause she's just a spokesperson. There wouldn't be any point in holding her accountable, anyway. In relation to Thames and the machine, she's like the chameleon's tail that comes off in your hand.

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
Still, she has to know that much of what she says, to the press and to the public, is false or misleading, and it's perfectly right to hold her accountable for that.

Yes, she has to be accountable. It's that "false or misleading" part that gives me pause. Those who work in fairly large corporations receive an awful lot of "information" from their superiors that must be accepted and incorporated into the process. (BTW, too often, the comic strip Dilbert is NOT parody or satire; it is dead accurate reporting.) Some of that information is subject to interpretation. "This price increase is necessary to maintain the quality and service our customers expect and deserve." sure sounds better than, "We have got to jack up revenue to justify the CEO's stock options." Irrespective of the underlying motivation, all of the subordinates will (1) increase the price/jack up revenue, (2) find a way to make it appear that they are doing so, (3) find some other way to assure their continued employment, or (4) find other (un)employment.

Also, it is hard for me to make fine distinctions about "misleading" statements that come from the world of advertising, uh, public relations. A cynic might say that most of advertising is about misleading.

No one forced her to take the job. "

Of course, she might not have had a real good view in her crystal ball at the time she took the job. Or all of those dollar signs might have clouded her vision. Or her kid sister might have really needed the operation. I don't know. There are so many kinds of force, aren't there?

Maybe she's backpedaling now. She sure is laying low. Maybe she is actively looking for her next position. Maybe she -- like about 430 others -- is hoping that SFT will just go away and life will return to what she once pretended it could be.

But, ultimately, you are right. She will be held accountable. In this job, or her next.

Date: May 22, 2004

ram,

How many times has Lisa Mader told the media that USM has the only graduate programs in Economic Development and International Development? That's false, and as we've seen, it's readily shown to be false with one Google search.

Remember her declaration to the press that criticisms of Angie Dvorak's fitness to evaluate professors for tenure were not just unfounded; they made her "sick." Was that personal comment included in the script that SFT handed to her?

People who get paid good money to tell lies should be held accountable for the lies they tell. Doesn't the hazard stem from the nature of the job?

Robert Campbell

Date: May 22, 2004

Mader told the news station Frank's classes were covered when his department chair did not even know he was fired? I remember the smug look on her face that day as though she was "getting off" on having the inside track. Her underlying message was "...and we got away with it."

I think she has a screw loose to do what she is doing. I'll bet she has more influence on decisions that you think. She is about the only one left of the "great thinkers" he hired.

Joe Paul is back under the sheet with Shelby for some reason. Be careful Joe, you knew it was a snake when you picked it up.

Date: May 22, 2004

Kurt Vonnegut begins his novel, Mother Night, with a bit of advice: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."

Yes, I do think LSM will have to account for her actions. I think she was ill advised to declare that we had the "only" anything without checking. But I try to "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." I think I picked that up from the old Lou Grant show.

Her comment about AD was probably genuine. I have never met Ms. D, so I have no personal opinion about her, but some in my acquaintance say that she is very personable. I don't know if AD and LSM are friends, but they have certainly been made associates in this controversy, so they may well have formed a personal relationship. Heck, I feel defensive about people on this board whom I only know in cyber-land.

I think "Remember when?" makes a good point. LSM often has an air of smug superiority in her presentation. Somebody said of Martha Stewart, "It's not so much that I don't like her; I just don't think she'd like me." I get that feeling listening to LSM sometimes. She's just a little bit superior. As far as I know, she never went to Ole Miss.

The bottom line is that I do want regime change, but I am not looking forward to a reign of terror. If a new president decided to keep LSM (or AD, MD, TH, etc.), I hope everyone would remember the current antipathy toward that phrase, "clean house."

Date: May 22, 2004

ram,

Reign or Terror? No one here is talking about Madame Guillotine, or anything like that...

But I would think that anyone who did substantial dirty work for Thames wouldn't want to remain at USM for very long after he was gone. The faculty and staff wouldn't trust them; in some cases, the media wouldn't either.

A new president wouldn't want Lisa Mader as a spokesperson, because she would lack credibility, and would have grave trouble trying to reestablish any.

Robert Campbell

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
"As I have said before, I doubt Lisa is any more than a well-paid cog in the machine. She is told what to say; she says it as well as she can. A "friend of a friend" reported that Lisa once said, "I don't make the bullsh*t; I just make the bullsh*t smell good." I was not there. I did not hear it. Anyway, does anybody know if there is a family connection between Lisa Slay Mader and the Hattiesburg accounting firm McArthur Thames Slay and Dews? The CPA Thames is SFT's nephew."

Not sure if she has a family connection with Slay at that firm. She does have close non-family connections with another local CPA firm, though, which are the connections I referenced earlier in this thread.

Date: May 22, 2004

Concerning former employment of LSM, was her ex-husband employed by Carl Nicholson? Didn't she do PR for the city of Hattiesburg for a while? Didn't she work on state political campaigns? These are things I hear but have not checked out.

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"Concerning former employment of LSM, was her ex-husband employed by Carl Nicholson? Didn't she do PR for the city of Hattiesburg for a while? Didn't she work on state political campaigns? These are things I hear but have not checked out."

No, her ex-husband is in management with a pharmaceutical company. Prior to becoming Musgrove's spokesperson, LSM was the spokesperson for the city of Hattiesburg (when Ed Morgan was mayor). Prior to that, she worked in marketing at Trustmark Bank. Prior to that, she worked for Bill Pace at the USM Foundation.

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Googler
Prior to becoming Musgrove's spokesperson, LSM was the spokesperson for the city of Hattiesburg (when Ed Morgan was mayor). Prior to that, she worked in marketing at Trustmark Bank. Prior to that, she worked for Bill Pace at the USM Foundation. "

I'm already beginning to regret my vote for Hailey. You're just making it worse. If we'd kept Ronnie, he would have kept Lisa in Jackson. Wonder who Musgrove would have appointed to the IHL? (Of course there's no guarantee we'd be any better off, but I wonder if anybody knows who was on the short list?)

I see FS came around with the Zapolater!

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"If we'd kept Ronnie, he would have kept Lisa in Jackson."

No, actually LSM left her position in the Musgrove administration while he was still in office. She worked in the marketing department at Baptist Health Systems in Jackson prior to accepting her current position.

Date: May 22, 2004

Thanks for the correction, I was just going by the previous post. But what about my question?

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"Thanks for the correction, I was just going by the previous post. But what about my question? "

The only "local" name I heard as a possible Musgrove appointee to the IHL board was Bonnie Warren, a Southern Miss graduate whose husband owns Warren Paving.

Date: May 22, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Remember when?
"Joe Paul is back under the sheet with Shelby for some reason. Be careful Joe, you knew it was a snake when you picked it up."

This sounds very interesting ~ can you expound on it a bit for us? Thanks.

NO QUARTER

Let Freedom Ring

Date: May 22, 2004

Listening to Lisa Slay (Tomader) Mader issue statements about USM reminds me a lot of the former Iraqi minister of information confirming that the Iraq was in good shape and still in Saddam's control.

Sometimes you've got to step down from a job you can't believe in. In Mader's case, she'd better stick to Thames like Krazy Glue. Who else would hire her since she was PR director at USM during such a public relations fiasco.

And yes, we've all heard the rumours about Mader and Musgrove.

Date: May 22, 2004

All Y'all are wrong bout the wynch!

She is the one who feeds what the li'l Shi*by sez.

This whole board under estimates the sleezy-ness of LSM.

Lisa is the total mouth piece of the work. Sorry for the pun~!