Business, Culture and Media 2022

William G. Yates III is the CEO/President of W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Company and CEO/President of The Yates Companies Inc. The Yates Companies Inc. is a nationally recognized contractor and has been consistently listed in the Engineering News Record’s top 50 contractors in the US.

Yates obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi and also earned a Master of Science degree in construction management from Arizona State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant as well.

In 2021, Yates was appointed to the board of directors for the New Orleans branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Also in 2021, he was appointed chairman of the Gulf Coast Business Council. He was a member of the Governor’s Commission for Economic Recovery and is on the board of the Mississippi Economic Council where he served as chair 2017-2018. He currently serves on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Emergency Preparation Recovery and Resiliency task force. He serves on the board of directors for Trustmark Corporation and Trustmark National Bank and on the board of the University of Mississippi’s Alumni Association as well. He served on the Millsaps College board of trustees and at the request of Governor Bryant, he served as the 2013-14 Co-Chairman of the Southeast U.S. -Japan Association Joint Meetings in both Japan and Mississippi.