Carol Hardwick, IOM, CAE
Executive Director and COO                                                                                           

Carol Hardwick became Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Mississippi Economic Development Council (MEDC), the association of economic development and chamber professionals, in 2005.   She had been association manager of the organization since 2002. She received her Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives in 2010.

She previously was campaign and PAC coordinator for U. S. Senator Thad Cochran during which time she coordinated fundraising events in Mississippi and in Washington, D. C. for his campaigns and for his leadership PAC.

Her association with Senator Cochran began when she served as a U. S. Senate Staff Assistant in his Jackson, Mississippi, office where she handled constituent services with federal agencies, specifically State Department, Army, Small Business Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U. S. Personnel Office, Department of Justice, USDA Farmers Home Administration and others.

She has also served in the Consumer Protection Division of the Mississippi State Attorney General’s office as a consumer complaint specialist.

Ms. Hardwick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Millsaps College in Jackson. She is a graduate of the U. S. Chamber Institute of Organizational Management and Leadership Jackson's Class of 1995-96 and has served on the Leadership Jackson Board of Trustees.

In 2006, Ms. Hardwick was recognized as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women by the Mississippi Business Journal. Ms. Hardwick was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to the 2007-2008 class of the Delta Leadership Institute.

Hardwick has been designated by the Secretary of Commerce as a member of the Mississippi District Export Council.

Ms. Hardwick is a member of Galloway Memorial United Methodist Church.  In her spare time, she enjoys riding bike trails and playing tennis.

She is married to Phil Hardwick and they have two children, Kimber Burgess who lives with her husband Matt in Atlanta and Clay who lives in Memphis, and two Pembroke Welsh Corgis.