Martha Swindle is serving as Administrative Manager of Renasant Center for IDEAs. Previously, she was Executive Assistant to the President/CEO of the Community Development Foundation; a position she held since August of 2003. In February 2005, she was awarded the Heidel Leadership Award. In May 2005, she became a certified professional secretary (CPS). Prior to coming to CDF, she was employed as executive assistant to the chief operating officer of the City of Tupelo, where she was selected “Rookie Secretary of the Year.”  Before the City of Tupelo, she served a four-year term as alderman in her home town of Sherman, MS.

In other leadership roles, she was the director for the Tupelo/Lee County Miss Hospitality for five years, a charter member of the Tupelo Symphony Chorus, coordinator for the first annual Sherman Day, and a Tri-County Civitan past president.  She is currently a National Business Incubation Association member, a Spirit of Women member, Tupelo Symphony Orchestra Board secretary, Tupelo Ballroom Dance Club Board, a Mississippi Economic Development Council (MEDC) member, an IAAP (International Association of Administrative Professionals) Tupelo Chapter President and Newsletter editor, a NEWMS (New Expectations for Women in Mississippi) Administrative Coordinator and Board Secretary, Women’s and Children’s Advisory Board member, a Piano Forte Society member, and is the Sherman News correspondent to three local newspapers.

Ms. Swindle is a 2008 graduate of the Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute. She has graduated from the NEWMS Women’s Leadership Success Skills Series in fall 2007 and winter 2008.

Ms. Swindle completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Mississippi where she received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1989.  She is married to Jeremy Lynn Swindle of Nettleton, MS.  He works at Lane Industries and is a police reserve with the City of Tupelo.