Today, Christy Jones, chair of the Mississippi Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees, announced eight trustees joining the board with a total of 36 members for fiscal year 2023. Jones said, “We are excited to welcome these outstanding individuals to the Museum’s Board. Each brings talents, expertise, and experience that will be pivotal in continuing our mission and ensuring sustainable growth for MMA.”

The new trustees are as follows:

Returning member Dr. Geraldine Kearse Brookins has served as president of Changing Dynamics, a management consulting firm, and is a former Vice President for Programs at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. She has had a distinguished career in higher education as a professor and administrator at Jackson State University (JSU), a visiting professor at University of Mississippi, and a professor at University of Minnesota, where she was the first person of color to hold an endowed chair. Dr. Brookins earned a BA in history from Oberlin College and PhD in clinical psychology and public practice from Harvard University. She is a past board chair of the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson (now the Women's Foundation of Mississippi), served as Chair of the Governance Committee and Secretary of the JSU Foundation, and was a founding member of the Women’s Council for Philanthropy at JSU.  Dr. Brookins and her late husband, Phillip J. Brookins, Esq., have one son, David, who lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Shauna and their three children.

Robert L. Gibbs, also a returning member, is a partner at Gibbs Travis PLLC in Jackson. He earned his BS from Tougaloo College and JD from University of Mississippi School of Law (UMSL). Gibbs focuses his practice on commercial litigation, business litigation, product liability, and alternative dispute resolution. Gibbs has worked as an Assistant District Attorney, Assistant Attorney General, and Hinds County Circuit Judge. He was a partner at a large regional law firm before starting Gibbs Travis in 2011. He has also served in leadership roles in numerous professional organizations and is the Immediate Past President of the Mississippi Bar. He is a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Mississippi Young Lawyers. Active in the Jackson community, Gibbs serves as Chair of Hope Federal Credit Union and is on the boards of First Commercial Bank, The Salvation Army, Hope Enterprise Corporation, and Mission Mississippi. He is a member of 100 Black Men of Jackson and has served as its president. Gibbs has received numerous awards for his work both in the Bar and the community. Gibbs is a lifelong member of the Free Mission Missionary Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon. He and his wife Debra have been married for 35 years and have two children who are both attorneys, Ariana and Justin.

Ralph Eubanks is a visiting professor of English and Southern Studies at University of Mississippi. He is the author of A Place Like Mississippi: A Journey Through A Real and Imagined Literary Landscape as well as two other works of nonfiction, Ever Is a Long Time and The House at the End of the Road. A writer and essayist whose work focuses on race, identity, and the American South, his writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The American Scholar, The Georgia Review, and The New Yorker. Eubanks received his BA from the University of Mississippi and his MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. He is a 2007 Guggenheim fellow and a 2021-2022 Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellow.

Brian Johnson graduated from Alcorn State University with a BBA and received his MBA from Jackson State University. He joined Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, a subsidiary of Trustmark National Bank, as an insurance broker in 2007, where he currently serves as an Executive Vice President. Johnson is a graduate of Leadership Mississippi, Leadership Jackson, One Voice Mississippi Black Leadership Institute, and the National Alliance for Institute Education and Research. He has a personal passion for community involvement and serves extensively through his philanthropy, leadership roles, and membership in various organizations. Johnson also is a lifetime member of the NAACP, member of the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association, Mississippi Minority Contractors Association, National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Mississippi Roadbuilders Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Advisory Board Member) and the Mississippi Minority Business Alliance (former Board Member). He and his wife Christina, daughter Nova, and son Bronx reside in Madison and are members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Brad Maley is the President of Mid Mississippi Division of BancorpSouth Bank, a division of Cadence Bank, managing the bank’s 23 locations in central Mississippi and the premier real estate and business lending units. Maley has served in many roles over the past 26 years including credit analysis, retail management, private banking, public finance, and market management. Maley received an MBA from Mississippi College and BA in managerial finance from University of Mississippi (UM). He completed the Mississippi School of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University. Maley is an active community advocate and served or is serving on numerous boards including: Canopy Children’s Solutions (Vice President); Mississippi Council on Economic Education (Past Chair); Financial Institutions Housing Opportunity Pool (Secretary/Treasurer); United Way; Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership; Madison County Business League and Foundation (Treasurer); Madison City Chamber of Commerce (Past Chair); and the MS Nurses Foundation (Treasurer). Maley is also a graduate of Leadership Mississippi and Leadership Greater Jackson. He is married to Olivia Holmes of Meridian, and they have two children, Holmes, who is attending UM and Hart, who is attending Jackson Preparatory School.

Mona Gupta Reddy resides in Madison. She has made Mississippi her home for more than a decade. She has a BS in Ecology from University of Michigan Ann Arbor and her JD from Tulane School of Law. She is licensed in LA and MS and currently works at the State of Mississippi Court of Appeals. Reddy is an arts and theater advocate as evidenced by her board positions with the Jackson Symphony League, Center Players, and Opera Mississippi for which she writes a monthly newsletter.

The Rev. F. M. “Buddy” Stallings, an Episcopal priest, resides in Jackson. After graduating from Mississippi College and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the conclusion of further graduate study at Florida State University, Stallings worked for several years as the Vice President of The Waverly Group, a firm which operated a collection of nursing homes and retirement centers in ten states. In his mid-thirties, he entered the process to become a priest in the Episcopal Church and moved to New York City for divinity school at The General Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Divinity. For the next thirty years, he served in parishes in MS, CA, and NY. In 2015, he retired as the 12th Rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Midtown Manhattan. Following the death of his husband, Molitor Ford, Buddy returned to Jackson in late 2020 to be near his son and four grandchildren.

June Stone currently serves as President of Gallery Guild, which has appointed her to an ex officio position on the Mississippi Museum of Art Board. The purpose of the Gallery Guild is to foster interest and education in the visual arts by the presentation of qualified lecturers and programs on allied subjects, and to support the acquisition and conservation programs of the Mississippi Museum of Art. Stone earned a BA in Communication and an MA in Social Work from Mississippi State University. She began her career at The Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters as their Public Relations Director where she remains a lifelong supporter of their mission. She has been active in community organizations including: a sustaining member of the Junior League of Jackson and former Chair of Mistletoe Marketplace; member and former President of The Garden Club of Jackson; Goodwill Volunteer Honoree; and former Cancer League member. She is a volunteer for Mississippi Children’s Museum; American Heart Association and former Chair, Art for Heart Gala; and Jackson Heart Foundation’s Young at Heart fundraiser. Stone is married to Dr. Harper Stone and they live in Ridgeland. They have two children and one granddaughter.

About the Mississippi Museum of Art
Established in 1911, the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) is dedicated to connecting Mississippi to the world and the power of art to the power of community. The Museum’s permanent collection includes paintings, photography, multimedia works, and sculpture by Mississippi, American, and international artists. The largest art museum in the state, the Mississippi Museum of Art offers a vibrant roster of exhibitions, public programs, artistic and community partnerships, educational initiatives, and opportunities for exchange year-round. Programming is developed inclusively with community involvement to ensure that a diversity of voices and perspectives are represented. Located at 380 South Lamar Street in downtown Jackson, the Museum is committed to honesty, equity, and inclusion. The Mississippi Museum of Art and its programs are sponsored in part by the City of Jackson and Visit Jackson. Support is also provided in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org.