Howard McMillan, dean of Millsaps College's Else School of Management, will serve as acting president of the Jackson school beginning next month. He takes the place of Dr. Francis Lucas, who announced earlier this year that she would be leaving the college, effective June 2010. Dr. Lucas is using her accrued sabbatical leave to finish her term.

"While the college conducts a national search for our next president, Howard McMillan will serve Millsaps College as acting president," said Maurice Hall, chairman of the Millsaps College Board of Trustees in a release.

The school's release lauded McMillan as being widely recognized as a significant business leader locally and nationally. A native Jacksonian, he is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, and attended the Harvard School of Business Administration and the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University.

In the business world, McMillan served as a former president of Deposit Guaranty National Bank and Deposit Guaranty Corp. in Jackson, and is a former adviser in Morgan Stanley's Wealth Management area. McMillan also served as a former director of the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, and was a past president of the American Bankers Association.

"Howard McMillan is a dynamic leader and a wonderful mentor to many people, including me. I believe he will do an outstanding job as the acting president," Lucas said in the release.

Hall added that Lucas will continue to represent Millsaps at national and regional association meetings.

"We look forward to a year of successful transition concluding the 10-year presidency of Frances Lucas and the continuation of Millsaps College's traditions of academic excellence, open and free inquiry and expression, the exploration of faith to inform vocation and the innovative shaping of the social, economic and cultural progress of our region," Hall stated.