Attala County native Sam Ellard has joined Baptist Medical Center Attala as the director of finance.
Ellard has served for the past three and one-half years as the chief financial officer at Riverland Medical Center in Ferriday, La.
“I am excited about coming to Kosciusko. I saw improvements and growth at the hospital in Ferriday and hope to see the same here. I want to maintain and have plans for improvement,” Ellard said.
Additionally, Ellard has more than 10 years of accounting and finance experience having worked across the state of Mississippi, working at Copiah-Lincoln Community College; Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC; Horne, LLP and at Barlow, Walker, & Hill, P.A.
A graduate of Kosciusko High, Ellard earned a Bachelor’s of Accounting and a minor in Mathematics from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, a Master’s of Business Administration from Millsaps College in Jackson. Other education includes an Associates of Applied Science with a major of Construction Engineering from Holmes Community College in Goodman.
He is the son of Pendy Ellard of Kosciusko and Sandy Gandy Middleton of Ferriday, La. His wife is the former Katherine Hughes.
Ellard said he wants to become involved in the community as the Gandy and Ellard families have been in the past. He is the grandson of the late Hugh Ellard, who was a community leader and for whom Hugh Ellard Park in Kosciusko is named. His grandfathe,r the late Dr. Ed Gandy, was pastor of Kosciusko First Baptist Church for a number of years.
