Candidate, Mississippi State House of Representatives, District 17, 2015

Delegate, National Democratic Conventions, 2000, 2012

Appointed, Mississippi Health Care Commission, 1980

Pastor, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 2006-present

Pastor/Ordained Elder, Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, present

Former Personnel Director, City of Tupelo

Served, United States Army

Former Pastor, Mountain Comfort Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 2011-2014

Former President, Kid Company Childcare and Learning Center, 2000-2010

Human Resources Director/Production Manager, Journal Publishing Company, 1990-2001

Member, Association for Excellence in Education, present

Original Member/Treasurer, Committee for King, present

President, Get Out the Vote Coalition, present

Member, Habitat for Humanity, present

Board Member, Impact, present

Chairman, Lee County Democratic Executive Committee, present

Life Member, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), present

Member, Pierce Street Advisory Committee, present

Regional Chair, Social Concerns Committee, present

Former Board Member, Black Business Association

Former Board Member, Citizens for a New Mississippi

Former Board Member, Coalition of African American Organizations

Former Board Member, Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi.

Former President, Committee for King

Former Board Member, Community Development Foundation

Former Board Member, North Mississippi Health Services

Former Member, Rotary Club

Former Paul Harris Fellow, The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International

Member, Tupelo High School Excellence in Education Advisory Committee

Former Board Member, United Way

Father's Name:

Tommy Penson

Mother's Name:

Eura Mae (Bell) Fisher

Names of Grandchildren:

Charles, Terry, Kingston, Kassidey, Kiyomi, Cire, Marley

Number of Grandchildren:

7 Grandchildren

Personal Hero and Why:

Several years ago when I first moved back to my hometown of Tupelo I went through the first CDF Leadership Lee class. Each of the participants were given a community leader to research and develop a report identifying what made them a good leader. I was given George McLean, the owner of Journal Publishing Company and publisher of the Daily Journal newspaper. To communicate the impact this man has had on my life, if I was asked the question who has shaped my principles the most other than my Creator I would have to say George McLean. Why? Because he believed that people are our greatest asset and the development of people is the first step to increasing the quality of life in our communities and state. He espoused that community development precedes economic development. Good jobs are important to a high quality of life, but in order to recruit good paying jobs we need an educated workforce ready and able to perform at a high level in the workplace.

At the time of my research of Mr. McLean I was serving as the Personnel Director for the City of Tupelo. A few years later I was blessed to work at Journal Publishing Company and one of my duties as HR Director was to give tours of the operation to school groups and adults as well. One of my favorite lines was, "when it came to education George McLean put his money where his mouth was. He committed $1 million dollars to the successful implementation of reading aides in every Lee County classroom. The success of his effort led to statewide assistant teachers in our public schools.

Reason for Seeking Public Office:

Why am I running for State Representative of District 17? I am running "For the Children!" It is time we put our money where our mouth is for the education of our children. There has been way too much lip service given to education in the State of Mississippi and too few dollars actually committed to education by our state legislature. The road to moving from the bottom rung of quality of life indicators in our state runs directly to the schoolhouse door. I believe we have done the people of this state a disservice in the commitment shown to our public schools. Yes our state, as well as all of the U.S., experienced economic pain from 2008. Yes, it was necessary to tighten our belts as we fought through a downturn in the economy. But after the recession is over funding has increased by 30% above 2008 levels in everything but education. As a matter of fact education funding has not reached the 2008 level yet. This is a travesty and borders on criminal negligence as we disregard the very law put in place by our legislature called the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. We need to commit to fully funding MAEP.