Butler Snow attorney Tray Hairston has been named to Southern Business and Development’s Under 50 Economic Developers to Watch in its Summer 2024 edition. The Under 50 list recognizes professionals who oversee investment-generating projects that create wealth in the areas where they serve.
Southern Business and Development focuses on information related to economic development, site selection and the expansion and relocation of business across the world’s third largest economy, the southern United States.
Hairston concentrates his practice on public finance, economic development and site consulting. Before joining the firm, he served as Counsel and Economic Development Advisor to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. He has served as bond counsel for various cities and counties and has worked on transactions totaling more than $2 billion. In addition, he is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) through the International Economic Development Council. In his role as a CEcD, Hairston provides economic development consulting to communities and site selection consulting to companies throughout the U.S.
Prior to his legal career, Hairston was also a member of the Business Development Division at the Mississippi Development Authority, where he provided project management assistance to companies and consultants looking to locate new businesses in Mississippi.
Hairston has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® for Economic Development Law (2025), Mid-South Super Lawyers® for Government Finance (2016-2018), Mississippi College School of Law as Young Lawyer of the Year (2013) and Mississippi Business Journal as one of its Top 40 under 40 (2012-2013). He was also recently named to the Board of Directors for the International Economic Development Council through 2027. In 2018, The Bond Buyer publication also recognized him as one of the 28 “Rising Stars” within the public finance field throughout the country.
He is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, American Bar Association, International Economic Development Council, Mississippi Economic Development Council, and Mississippi Bar Association.
Hairston earned his bachelor’s degree from Tougaloo College, his MBA from Belhaven College, and his Juris Doctor from the Mississippi College School of Law.
