Howards building businesses with 'windows of opportunity'

LAUREL - Linda Howard already had a bachelor's degree in psychology, business and Spanish from Mercer University in Georgia, a master's in education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and had studied for a doctorate in counseling psychology at Indiana State University when, as assistant

Her boss? Billy Howard's brother-in-law, an astute man who thought the two of them might like each other.

"My brother-in-law called me and told me that I should make a visit up there and see this lady," said Billy Howard Sr., CEO of Howard Industries and Howard Computers. "I did, fell in love with her and we got married. It was that simple."

The couple celebrated their 30th anniversary on April 30, around the same time they received word that Ernst & Young had selected them as two of Mississippi's leading entrepreneurs.

When the two met, Billy Howard, a Laurel native who had received his electrical engineering degree from Mississippi State University and had worked for General Electric beginning in sales and ending up in an executive position with the national company, had "just barely" established Howard Transformers in Jones County, said Linda Howard, president of Howard Industries and Howard Computers.