Butler Snow attorney Tray Hairston was elected on September 15, 2024 to serve a 2-year term on the Board of Directors for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) beginning on January 1, 2025. IEDC is the largest membership organization for economic developers in the world and provides services and resources to its members positioning them for success. IEDC’s Board of Directors is comprised of 55 voting members whose duty is to serve as a steward of the organization’s vision, mission, values and resources.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., IEDC is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization serving economic developers. With more than 4,500 members, IEDC is the largest organization of its kind. Given the breadth of economic development work, our members are employed in a wide variety of settings, including local, state, provincial, and federal governments, public-private partnerships, chambers of commerce, universities, and a variety of other institutions. IEDC’s members create high-quality jobs, develop vibrant communities, and improve the quality of life in their regions.
At Butler Snow, Tray Hairston concentrates on public finance and economic development matters, including all types of municipal bond issues, serving as bond counsel for taxable and tax-exempt financings throughout the country. He has served as bond counsel, lender’s counsel and underwriter’s counsel for various cities, counties and financial institutions and has worked on transactions totaling more than $2 billion. One of Tray’s seminal legal publications is The Future of Economic Development, 35 Miss. C.L. Rev. 370 (2017). He is also a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) through the International Economic Development Council.
Before joining Butler Snow, Tray served as Counsel and Economic Development Advisor to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America®for Economic Development Law, Mississippi College School of Law as “Young Lawyer of the Year” (2013), and the Mississippi Business Journal as one of its “Top 40 under 40” (2012–2013). In addition,The Bond Buyer, a century-old daily national newspaper based in New York City focused on covering the municipal bond industry, previously recognized Tray as one of the 28 “Rising Stars” within the public finance field throughout the country.
Tray is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, the American Bar Association, Capital Area Bar Association and Mississippi Bar Association.
He received his undergraduate degree from Tougaloo College, MBA from Belhaven College, and his Juris Doctor from the Mississippi College School of Law.
