Gov. Haley Barbour Thursday named four new members to the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning, the College Board.

The governor selected C. D. Smith, Jr., of Meridian, regional manager for AT&T; Dr. Douglas W. Rouse, of Hattiesburg; Philadelphia native, Alan W. Perry, now of Jackson; and Christy Pickering, of Biloxi, to serve 10-year terms.

"My goal is to pick people who can serve on a Fortune 500 company," said Barbour. "C.D. Smith, many of your viewers know him, know what's he's done with the National Guard, done with AT&T, done with MCC. You can go down the list. The chairman of the Montgomery Institute. Alan Perry was number 1 in his class at Harvard Law School, but an Ole Miss graduate, a native of Philadelphia. I'm very high on both of them and glad that they were willing to serve."

Perry said he'll do his best to meet the challenge.

"I'm really honored to have the opportunity to serve on such an important board. Certainly we are a policy making board," said Smith. "We deal with financial issues and I feel that I've got experience through not only business but also through my community work that has enabled me and even my work with Meridian Community College. I think all of the things have positioned me well to be able to deal with the issues we will face on the IHL."

"They all have worked with things that are big. This is a big enterprise and so to have board members that understand big things, it's just so much better and this group qualifies," said IHL commissioner, Dr. Thomas Meredith.

The next step in the process is confirmation of the nominees by the Mississippi Senate. All are expected to be confirmed next week. The first official meeting of the board will be in April.