Ole Miss graduate’s gift honors father, benefits CIE students
OXFORD, Miss. – A University of Mississippi graduate’s surprise gift to his father will benefit student entrepreneurs for generations.
Jeff Michael, of Tupelo, has given $112,600 to establish the Charles Larry Michael Entrepreneur Scholarship Endowment within the UM School of Business Administration.
The fund, named for the donor’s father, provides income to support entrepreneurship majors. Selected students are eligible to receive the $2,100-per-semester scholarship for three academic years if they’re actively engaged with the university’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
With an entrepreneurial spirit of his own and only $700, Charles “Larry” Michael moved his family from Chicago to Tupelo when Jeff was 3 years old. Jeff Michael watched his father work to build a life for his family with one successful venture after another.
“When we first moved here, we lived in a small rental house,” Michael recalled. “I can remember the landlord knocking on the door wanting rent. I witnessed my family going from living there to moving into the first house we owned. I remember the first car we bought.
Jeff Michael (left), who recently established an endowment in honor of his father to benefit students participating in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, chats with School of Business Administration board member Lawrence Adams Jr. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation
“So, I was able to witness my dad build business after business, and I’ve always wanted to repay and honor him for that. There’s not a lot you can get my dad because if he wants something, he buys it himself. To be able to get him something that he appreciated was pretty cool.”
At first, though, Larry Michael misunderstood the magnitude of the endowment certificate he’d been given.
“I think he thought it was a diploma,” said Amanda Michael, Jeff Michael’s wife and a 1996 UM College of Liberal Arts graduate with an emphasis in communicative disorders. “But once it was explained to him, he was so proud and so appreciative. He had it framed, and now it’s hanging right above his computer.”
Larry Michael became successful through vertical integration; as one of his businesses began to create a need for a new product, he would start another business to meet the need.
The CIE’s mission is to inspire Ole Miss students to create similarly innovative businesses through excellent teaching, exceptional service and world-class research.
“Overall, our purpose is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to become successful entrepreneurs who create innovative companies that provide valuable services, products and employment,” said Clay Dibrell, CIE co-director, chair of entrepreneurial excellence and professor of management.
“We are fortunate to have alumni and friends like Jeff who have a vision for the future of the CIE and an interest in the work we’re doing with our students, preparing them to make a transformative impact on our world as future business leaders.”
The center recently invited Michael to judge its annual Business Model Competition, a Shark Tank-style competition in which entrepreneurship students pitch business ideas to win cash prizes.
At Ole Miss, Jeff Michael joined Kappa Sigma fraternity. After earning a degree from the School of Business Administration in 1992, he joined his father in the sales department of Transport Trailer Service and later with a sister company, Precision Machine and Metal Fabrication, where he increased sales by 40% annually through innovative expansions.
He then ventured into real estate before purchasing a fleet of buses with which he built a successful business, Celebrity Coaches. There, he rented vehicles to many of the nation’s top entertainers. Mötley Crüe, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, Greg Allman, Nickelback and Mariah Carey have all been his customers.
In 2023, Michael sold Celebrity Coaches to Allied Industrial Partners. Though semi-retired and taking a gap year, he remains involved with the business as founder and guiding consultant.
The Charles Larry Michael Entrepreneur Scholarship Endowment is open to support from businesses and individuals. Gifts can be made by sending a check, with the fund’s name noted on the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or by clicking here.
For more information about supporting the School of Business Administration, contact Patrick Salter, associate director of development, at psalter@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2712.
Top: Jeff Michael (right) talks with students Eric Russ (left) and Will McEwan, both participants in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship ‘s Business Model Competition. Michael, who served as a judge for the competition, also has established a scholarship endowment that honors his father and supports students majoring in entrepreneurship. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation
Bill Dabney
February 01, 2025
University, MS 38677 USA
662-915-7211
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