Water Valley native John Hawkins arrived on the Ole Miss campus in the early 1980s with dreams of playing basketball for the Rebels. His role as a trailblazer was set into motion when he became the university’s first African American male cheerleader. In 1982, 19-year-old Hawkins broke a long-standing tradition when he refused to run onto the football field carrying the Confeder
ate flag. As a student in Oxford, Hawkins was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. In 1984 he would graduate from the School of Business Administration with a degree in Banking & Finance. He has given back with his service as a member of the Business School Advisory Board.
Hawkins started his professional career with Proctor and Gamble, spending almost 20 years enjoying success and moving up the company ladder. His areas of success came in roles within P&G’s sales, marketing, human resources, and operations departments. He became head of sales for the company’s international business in Brazil. Hawkins returned to the United States and joined Kellogg’s as their Vice President of Sales for the central part of the U.S. After his time at Kellogg’s, he joined Novartis Medical Nutrition’s Acute Care and Home Care division as Senior Vice President of Sales. His next professional stop was with Glendinning Management Consulting, where he was Vice President of Consulting in the Americas. From his new home in Montreal, Canada, he led this operation. It was here that he was recognized for his expertise in the areas of strategy development, organizational effectiveness, and capability development across many world-class consumer goods companies. In 2011, Hawkins acquired Management Performance International (MPI) Consulting. With operations based in Cincinnati, Ohio, he is MPI’s President and CEO.
Under the tenure of former chancellor Robert Khayat, the university would disassociate itself with the Confederate flag. In 2015, interim chancellor Morris Stocks would order the former state of Mississippi flag, which contained the Confederate symbol, removed from campus. In the November 2020 general election, Mississippians overwhelmingly voted to change the design of the state’s flag to one that no longer contains Confederate symbolism. The official representative flag of our state exists today thanks to a brave decision made 40 years earlier by a 19-year-old who was simply doing what he felt was the right thing to do.