After serving the state for the past 34 years, Sallis native Jackie Ables Turner retired at the end of September from her role as Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES). Turner was appointed executive director in 2019 by former Governor Phil Bryant and was reappointed in 2020 by Governor Tate Reeves. As she enters a new life journey in retirement, she reflected on the legacy she leaves behind.
Turner was born in Sallis to Jack and Shirley Ables and graduated from East Holmes Academy before attending Holmes Community College for two years. From there, she attended Mississippi State University, and graduated with her Bachelor of Professional Accountancy degree in 1987.
Upon graduating from MSU summa cum laude, Turner was highly sought after by the “big eight” certified public accounting firms in the country. However, the father of a friend encouraged her to consider working for the state auditor’s office. She met with the office and was subsequently offered a job as marketing accountant, which she accepted.
“I started working for the State Auditor's Office in the division that audits state agencies, and that's how I got started in state government,” she said. “During that time period, I audited a few state agencies including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Rehabilitation Services. But for a long period of time, I audited MDES, which was, at that point, Mississippi Employment Security Commission.”
Turner remained at the state auditor’s office for a little more than four years, and in February of 1992, she moved to the MDES in the business department. Former MDES Director of Administrative Services Freddie “Flip” Phillips asked Turner if she would be interested in the position, and she accepted.
Turner said her time in the auditor’s office was very helpful for the next step in her career because she was able to see all aspects of what goes on within state agencies.
“When auditing, you're looking at everything from accounts payable, accounts receivable...everything. So, you see a lot,” she said. “You talk to the executive director, and you talk to frontline staff, so it gave me a good baseline for what to expect at the state agency.”
Turner was specifically interested in what employment security stood for. She explained that although MDES is a state agency, all state agencies are all federally funded. The mixture of having federal funding balanced while being a state agency was another aspect Turner found intriguing.
She began managing the budget unit in the business management department under the leadership of Margie Williams, who Turner credited as being a good mentor and teacher.
“I learned a lot (from Williams) about seeing something all the way through. You have to look at the details, and if you don't, things fall apart a lot,” said Turner.
After Williams retired, Turner took on the role herself. But during this period, she and her husband Tim, who she married in 1994, welcomed their first two children — Griffin and Shelby. In 2001, the couple moved from the Madison area back to Sallis, and in 2003, welcomed their third child, Lindsey. Turner was driving back and forth to Jackson and taking Lindsey to daycare in Ridgeland, which made for an exhausting schedule.
In 2004, the Mississippi Employment Security Commission was converted into the MDES. No longer a commission, the department became cabinet-level, with its head reporting directly to the governor. Then Governor Haley Barbour appointed Tommye Dale Favre as executive director of MDES in 2004.
Turner, still acting as business manager, felt she needed to be at home with her children.
“I took a risk and told my boss Flip Phillips, ‘I’ve got to be at home more for some time. Either I’ve got to quit, or I’ve got to work from home.’ And they allowed me to do that,” she said. “I was torn between needing to be with Lindsey and that, so it all worked out.”
Turner was assigned to the executive team, where she sometimes worked on special. She and Favre hit it off, and their relationship grew from there. At the time, Lynn Fitch — now the state’s Attorney General — served as deputy executive director of MDES and the two also grew close. Favre asked Turner to return to Jackson to lead a staff of her own. With Lindsey beginning preschool at Central Holmes, Turner said the timing seemed right
Turner became MDES comptroller and staff officer, but said she was always able to take care of her children and attend their events, so the transition was seamless. Turner said she learned from watching Favre and Fitch navigate the workplace as female leaders in state government.
“Seeing her and Lynn as women leaders, I watched them — even Tommye Dale's mannerisms and speaking. Even down to having her nails done when she spoke in front of people,” said Turner. “I just watched her, and I found she invested time in me, and I enjoyed working under her — specifically from the viewpoint that women can be leaders and still be a good mother, spouse, and child.”
Turner learned from Fitch as well and recalls a conversation they had when Turner asked for advice on how to flip the switch between work and homelife at the end of the day.
“I remember talking to Lynn about how you shut off being a worker versus going home, getting it off your mind, and not feeling the weight of it all the time. Because it's always been with me. I care. So, I would worry about stuff in my sleep really,” said Turner. “Lynn said, ‘I keep a book beside my bed that has nothing to do with anything. It just keeps my mind on it, and then I go to sleep.’ She brought me a whole bag of books and I started kind of doing that on her advice.”
Favre spoke at Turner’s retirement celebration at the MDES office in Jackson, and credited Turner as someone who could handle any situation. She said, in leadership, it is taught not to punish your best performers for performing the best, but the department always felt like it was punishing Jackie because she kept taking on new responsibilities.
“She always did, and she never complained while she continued to build her team,” said Favre. “She recruited more good folks to the agency, worked for a number of folks who came and went, and waited for the term that should have rightly come to Jackie Turner and finally did. Jackie, you have always been here to make this agency so much better. You put your own stamp on it.”
Fitch also spoke at the celebration and congratulated Turner on a job well done.
“Thank you for your service, loyalty, and leadership. You have done it time and time again. You’ve led through some difficult times through COVID, and I’m grateful for you and your team,” said Fitch. “I am so grateful for your service and I’m so grateful to call you my friend.”
Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Turner smile for a photo at Turner’s retirement celebration.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
Turner said while Fitch and Favre were her mentors, they also became her friends. She plans on staying in touch with them going forward.
Turner served as comptroller until 2008, when she was named Director of the Office of Comptroller. Favre had retired, Fitch moved on to the state personnel board, and Les Range was appointed executive director by Barbour in 2009. When Phil Bryant was elected Governor in 2012, Mark Henry became executive director. Former deputy executive director Stan McMorris retired a year into Henry’s tenure, so Henry sought out interest in the position. Turner expressed her interest and was chosen as one of two deputies.
Governor Bryant’s policy liaison Dr. Laurie Smith worked with Turner closely and brought Turner with her to meetings with the governor. Turner wound up on a trip to Switzerland with Bryant and his team to a trade mission in October of 2018.
“Laurie couldn’t go, and so she called me a week and a half before they left and said, ‘Could you go to Switzerland?’ She said she couldn’t go. It was about a good apprenticeship program in Switzerland, and she wanted somebody from workforce development to listen,” said Turner. “So, I went, and it was an incredible experience. I was with Governor Bryant, Mrs. Bryant, and that whole team of folks in Switzerland.”
As Henry departed from MDES in 2013, he told Turner that Governor Bryant was interested in having Turner take the top spot in the agency.
“You don’t turn down the Governor,” Turner half-joked.
At Turner’s recent retirement celebration, Bryant praised Turner for her work in producing the lowest unemployment numbers in the history of Mississippi.
“When I asked her to take over the reins at MDES, I remember thinking how she has served here for so long and how many hundreds of thousands of jobs she had helped create,” said Bryant.
He said Turner had his cell phone number, so if they were not meeting directly, they were consistently communicating via cell phone. Bryant congratulated Turner on her achievements and said she helped make an unforgettable staff.
“It’s been 34 years, a remarkable achievement for you, your husband, and your family that are so proud of you today, as well am I,” said Bryant. “I’ve seen the struggles other governors have had, and I can tell you, I had the very best staff and executive directors that any governor could be blessed with, and Jackie Turner is one of the best.”
After Bryant’s two terms, Turner had only met Governor-elect Reeves a few times at events. Reeves’s chief of staff Brad White visited with Turner and told her he didn’t see a need to make a change.
Former Governor Phil Bryant and Governor Tate Reeves talk at Turner’s retirement celebration after congratulating Turner and speaking to attendees.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
“He said, of course, the governor will have to approve that. So, I met with Governor Reeves a couple of times, and that’s how that happened,” said Turner.
Reeves said the decision to reappoint her as Executive Director of MDES was one of the best decisions he has made as governor.
“I've been in politics long enough to be able to stand up here before you today and say I've made some really good decisions and I've made some not so good decisions in that career,” said Reeves. “But taking the advice of Governor Bryant and reappointing Jackie Turner to lead this agency certainly will always be known as one of the good decisions that I have made.”
But then came what might be the largest challenge of Turner’s career.
“Then in March, 2020, all heck broke loose,” said Turner, referring to when COVID-19 first truly took hold in Mississippi.
“The reality of it is everybody had to go home, but we couldn’t. As workers, we were scared for our own health and safety,” Turner said. “The economy had been good, and our employees were at a point where we didn’t need much. Unemployment was low, UI claims were low. All of a sudden, everybody was affected by this. That was a part of the challenge because everybody was affected.”
Everywhere Turner and her staff turned, there was an obstacle standing in their way.
“It was a constant challenge for myself and my staff to say, ‘How are we going to keep ourselves safe, serve the people, and work when we are afraid for our lives?’ So that was a challenge,” said Turner. “Then, of course, never in a million years would you think that over a million Mississippians would need unemployment during that time period.”
Turner said MDES devised a plan but needed time to execute it. The public, impatient, called constantly asking where their unemployment money was, and oftentimes calling staff derogatory names in the process.
“Every time Congress passes something, it doesn’t just happen. For us, the Department of Labor had to set our rules. All of that took a couple weeks, and then our programmers had to program all year long. They did an incredible job, and Mississippi did well, but, of course, it was never fast enough for some,” she said.
Turner received many calls from legislators and she was required to testify at numerous hearings. During one state Senate hearing, she was pressed with questions asking how the department would move forward along with when and how they would get all of these people paid.
“Of course, nothing short of, ‘We’re going to pay them tomorrow’ is a great answer. But I knew that our programmers were almost finished with a certain program that was going to get a lot of people paid. We had federal money, so we didn’t need money. We needed time,” she said. “I told (the legislature) that day that we need time. I said, ‘If you invite me back here two weeks from now, you will see a difference. They didn’t invite me back, but they began to see a difference and laid off that kind of thing.”
She said WIN Job Centers throughout the state were not open for people to just walk in, but staff was available to help people look for jobs or apply for training dollars.
“Nobody was out looking for a job. Everybody did unemployment. We took paper claims, claims by phone, and we took claims on the internet — any way that we could get them,” she said.
MDES even hired a separate call center to sort through unemployment claims until they eventually sorted through them all, prompting positive feedback from the state legislature.
Turner began filming weekly videos on Fridays to provide updates and thank staff for their hard work and encourage them to stay the course.
Jai Saini, program manager for TCS, which wrote the state’s unemployment system, presented Turner with a bouquet of flowers.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
“That was one way to keep the staff seeing leadership,” she said. “It was tough.”
Turner said staff were constantly trying to figure out how federal assistance programs worked together in 2020 — the CARES Act, lost wages assistance, and the American Rescue Plan.
MDES began seeing light at the end of the tunnel when Governor Reeves ended federal unemployment benefits in June of this year.
“When we saw the light is when Governor Reeves decided to end the federal programs early in June 2021. We ended them early, so we began to see light after that,” she said. “There are still some thousands, but it's a lot lower. Some that didn't agree with their situation get to appeal it, so the workload is now still in appeals, but it's coming down.”
Turner said unemployment benefits were not the only thing keeping people from getting back to work. Other factors such as PPP loans and rental abatements also played a role in allowing people to avoid returning to work.
Longtime coworker David Johnson smiles after congratulating Turner on her career achievements.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
“If we want to make a difference, we all have to work together to do so. Since Spring 2021 and forward, it has been about getting people back to work,” she said. “Of course, the variant put a little dent into that.”
Turner said leading during this trying time meant letting her staff know she cared. She said she kept a smile on her face even when she did not always feel like it, and it ended up being the most rewarding time of her career.
“Looking back on it now, I wouldn’t want to live it again, but God truly put me there for a reason, and that was to lead that agency,” she said.
Reeves praised Turner for her steady hand and leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and said she positioned the agency for future success.
“You're leaving this great state agency in great hands and that is a testament to you, your dedication and your leadership. So, I have full confidence that as we progress forward, both in the interim and the long term, that this agency will continue to serve great Mississippians —some of whom find themselves in positions that they never imagined,” said Reeves. “I say without reservation — and, quite frankly, without fear of any disagreement — that Mississippi is a better place today because of your service here at the state agency. On behalf of all three million Mississippians that elected me into office, I want to thank you for your service.”
In retirement, Turner plans on getting reacquainted with her hometown Sallis and taking trips to the beach, her happy place, with her family.
Jackie’s brother Ronnie Ables smiles alongside his sister as they celebrate her career.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
She said she will always remember the accomplishments MDES made as an agency, but her favorite memories are the ones involving people.
“I loved the people that I worked with over the years and building a team that felt like family was important to me. We made it fun, but when it comes down to it, we worked night and day to get the job done,” said Turner. “You don’t make a ton of money working for any state government, so you have to have a passion for it. And we cared about each other, MDES, and the people we served. There was no question…. we just did it.”
