Mississippi Veterans Affairs Executive Director Stacey Pickering was recently awarded the William Snodgrass Distinguished Leadership Award by the National State Auditors Association (NSAA). During their annual June meeting in Cherokee, North Carolina, Pickering was given the honor for his leadership as the state auditor of Mississippi.
Pickering served as NSAA’s president in 2017-2018, was a member of the U.S. Comptroller General’s Domestic working group, and was recognized as a champion for improving state government accountability and transparency during his three terms as Mississippi’s State Auditor. The Mississippi Office of the State Auditor received the NSAA Excellence in Accountability Award in 2012 for their work on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Pickering accepted the award by video, as he is currently deployed to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, supporting U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.
“It is an honor to receive the Snodgrass award from the NSAA because it comes from my friends and colleagues in the national audit community,” Pickering said. “It is not something I receive individually because I could not have served as state auditor or been the president of NSAA last year without the great staff of the Mississippi State Auditor’s office.”
Current Mississippi State Auditor Shad White said he was the beneficiary of more than a decade of groundwork that Pickering laid.
“I inherited a strong office when Governor Bryant appointed me to succeed Stacey Pickering, and this award is a testament to Stacey’s outstanding leadership and the team he built in the auditor’s office,” White said. “It’s an honor to come to work every day to build on the foundation that he laid.”
Pickering served 10 years as State Auditor of Mississippi. He resigned in July 2018, when he became the Executive Director of Mississippi Veterans Affairs.
