Gov. Ronnie Musgrove

What Makes Attorney Ronnie Musgrove Uniquely Qualified To Represent You?

Before becoming governor, Governor Musgrove practiced law in Batesville, MS providing business defense and plaintiff representation for a diverse client base. Receiving the Outstanding Service Award from the Mississippi Bar Association and serving on the Board of Commissioners, Governor Musgrove also maintained an “AV” rating, the highest ethical rating awarded by Martindale-Hubbell.

Throughout his career in public service, Governor Musgrove focused his attention on building a solid foundation for economic growth through Mississippi’s public schools. He focused on the basics of air conditioning, textbooks, healthcare benefits for educators, and school supply money for Mississippi’s teachers as Lieutenant Governor. His successful push for quality education through adequate, equitable funding for every public school in Mississippi, as part of the Adequate Education Act changed the face of public education in Mississippi. As Governor, his commitment to education continued by passing a teacher pay package guaranteed to meet or exceed the Southeastern average, through making Mississippi the first state in the nation to place an Internet-accessible computer in every classroom, and his challenge to the Mississippi Legislature to fund education first before any other budget matter.

In August 2000, Governor Musgrove crafted a new jobs program for the state called the Advantage Mississippi Initiative (“AMI”). Its passage led to Mississippi being selected as the home for a new $1.4 billion Nissan Motor Company production plant which created 5,300 direct jobs and over 30,000 indirect jobs.

During his term in office, Governor Musgrove chaired the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern States Energy Board, the Southern Growth Policy Board, the Southern Governors’ Association, and the Democratic Governors’ Association Revenue Committee. In addition, he served as vice-chairman of the National Governors’ Association. He also held appointments to the National Assessments Governing Board and the National Board for Teacher Professional Standards.

Governor Musgrove is chair of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, chairman of the Mississippi Center for Legal Services Advisory Group and is the Senior Policy Scholar in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. In March 2014, Gov. Musgrove was reappointed by U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to serve as a board member on the National Assessment Governing Board, of which he is a past-chairman of the NAEP 12th Grade Preparedness Commission.  He is also past co-chairman of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee.

Additionally he has served on the faculty of the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law.

Governor Musgrove was born and raised in Tocowa, Mississippi, near Batesville. He is a graduate of Northwest Mississippi Junior College, The University of Mississippi, and The University of Mississippi School of Law.

Governor Musgrove and his wife, Dr. Melody Musgrove, who received her masters and doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi and who recently served as Director of the Office of Special Education in the U.S. Department of Education, have four children and reside in Madison. MS.

Bar Admissions:

• Mississippi State Courts
• United States District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi
• United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals