±«Óãtvpayroll administrator’s reliability, dedicated service account for May DBT’s MVP Award

±«ÓãtvPresident Blake Thompson, second from right, presents the DBT's MVP Award for May to Gena McBrain, second from left, ±«Óãtvpayroll administrator, while Ebby Dedeaux, ±«Óãtvcontroller, and Robert Turnage, the DBT's MVP for March, observe.

When a series of storms pounded the Clinton area about 15 years ago, knocking out electricity to Mississippi College and disrupting the Payroll Office’s banking communication at the most critical time of the biweekly payroll period, Gena McBrain, MC’s payroll administrator, took decisive action.

With a firm deadline of 3 p.m. Wednesdays to get the required files to the bank, McBrain jumped in her vehicle and drove through a torrential downpour to downtown Jackson, where she hand-delivered the CD to bank officials.

“The information had to be there at a certain time or people would not get paid that Friday,” she said. “I just had to make that trip.”

For the last 18-plus years, McBrain has ensured ±«Óãtvemployees receive their compensation accurately and on time. Her dedication to this responsibility has landed her DBT’s MVP Award for May 2025.

“She can have 1,000 problems thrown at her and she still makes sure we all get paid,” said Ebby Dedeaux, MC’s controller in the Office of Business Affairs. “She is an absolute pleasure to work with. She has a wonderful attitude about her work.”

And a disarming sense of humor, too. When ±«ÓãtvPresident Blake Thompson interrupted a meeting in Nelson Hall and revealed she was the selection for the monthly MVP honor, McBrain exclaimed, “I get the wobble head!”

What excited her the most about being named DBT’s MVP was not the parking spot of her choice on campus for a month, the free T-shirt and $50 gift, card nor the print of internationally celebrated artist Samuel M. Gore’s work. It was the right to display a bobblehead of Thompson and his trusty golf cart on her desk for a month.

“I’m just tickled,” McBrain said of receiving the award, which recognizes ±«Óãtvstaff members who go “above and beyond” for students, faculty and their fellow employees. “It’s very sweet. It’s always nice to feel appreciated and they let me know all the time that I am appreciated here.”

Originally from Prentiss, McBrain had served as an office manager at a construction company in Ridgeland before she and her husband, Bill, began moving about Mississippi and Arkansas as part of his job in the grocery industry. When they settled in Clinton, Bill’s hometown, she applied to become an administrative assistant in the ±«ÓãtvSchool of Nursing.

A few weeks later, MC’s HR department called and, owing to her experience as an office manager, asked if she would consider applying for a payroll position. She came to campus, filled out a job application and was hired on the spot.

“I had never run payroll for this many employees in my life,” McBrain said. “After a week, the person who was supposed to train me left. I had to figure out what I was doing fast.”

Her supervisor, Marilyn Allen, helped quite a bit.

“It was a lot, and she and I learned it all together,” McBrain said.

A year later, Donna Smith, MC’s current HR director, moved over to payroll to help out, and the pair took on all HR and payroll responsibilities. Their partnership lasted 15 years; now, McBrain works most closely with Dedeaux and Laura Jackson, MC’s CFO/COO.

McBrain and her husband live three miles away from campus where they raised their son, Jay, who lives in Clinton, and their daughter, Nikki, a resident of Sumrall. The couple is helping bring up their three granddaughters, Kierstin, Presley and Jolie.

McBrain no longer leads a one-person payroll shop – she values the contributions of Payroll Specialist Teri Smith. The collegial atmosphere the two have created is often punctuated with laughter – no one said that Payroll has to be boring.

“You stay wherever people are good to you,” McBrain said. “Everybody knows that Payroll is a fun office. We have always been a department of service to the University. We’re serving the students and we’re serving the faculty and staff, and we’re doing it to the best of our ability.

“That means a lot to us.”