Lynne Jeter

Born Marty Lynne Mooney on September 28, 1960, in Hattiesburg, Miss., Lynne Jeter graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1984. After a 15-year career in property management, which culminated as a senior property supervisor and marketing director for Mississippi's largest property management firm, and 10 years moonlighting as a regular contributor to Gannett Publications, she established The Writing Desk on June 1, 1998, and began writing full-time for magazines, business journals, guidebooks, newspapers and other publications. That successful business morphed into Lynne's Desk, Inc. (www.LynnesDesk.com) after pleased clients told others: "Put it on Lynne's desk. Consider it done!"

After serving for several years as the primary WorldCom reporter for the Mississippi Business Journal, the only statewide business publication, Jeter had a front-row seat to the $11 billion accounting fraud that led to the filing of the nation's largest bankruptcy and fraud charges against former CEO Bernie Ebbers. John Wiley & Sons published her first book, Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom, in February 2003, which has been optioned for a movie. The paperback debuted in June 2004. She assisted MSNBC producers with their Emmy award-winning special about the WorldCom debacle and CNBC producers of a busines crime series with their WorldCom focus. She assisted Cynthia Cooper with the production of her book, Extraordinary Circumstances, published by Wiley in 2008.

"I grew up in Seminary in the 1960s, which was very much like Mayberry," said Jeter. "It was during a time when Mississippi was making national headlines for civil rights issues, such as James Meredith being escorted on the campus of Ole Miss in October 1962 as the school's first enrolled African-American student. Because folks living in our rural southern town were more open to change, integration came about more gracefully and I felt very insulated living there. Seminary is very dear to me because that's where I got my start, as a school reporter and yearbook editor. However, there wasn't much to do, and I probably read every biography in the town library and dreamed about traveling all over the world! I've always loved reading, and I've considered writing as a way, in some small manner, to pay tribute to those authors who entertained me."

An award-winning writer for features, series planning, news reporting, sports stories and investigative journalism, including 1999 and 2006 SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year honors, Jeter participated in the inaugural class of the prestigious Fellowship Program for Professional Journalists at the University of Mississippi in 2002.

"Lynne Jeter is the premier southern business writer," said international journalist Starr Smith, twice named Travel Writer of the Year by the Southeast Tourism Society. "She knows the territory...and writes with knowledge, understanding, clarity, and above all, with courage."

Jeter was travel editor of SOUTH magazine, which Library Journal named one of America's 10 best magazine launches in 2003. She established a travel column, Backstage Pass, for Mississippi Business Journal, and is a contributor to Art & Antiques, Northwest Airlines and U.S. Airways magazines. She has also reported on travel destinations for the Asheville Citizen-Times, Charlotte Business Journal, Mississippi Magazine and Southern Accents. She wrote the kick-off essay for Biltmore magazine, which debuted in 2007.

A versatile writer, for several years Jeter penned a interior design and casino entertainment columns for The Clarion Ledger, Mississippi's largest daily newspaper.

For the latter, she has interviewed a diverse group of entertainers ranging from Ann Margret, Faith Hill, Engelbert Humperdinck, Dan Fogelberg, Dorothy Moore, Melissa Manchester, Jose Feliciano, Tony Orlando, Ted Nugent, Kenny Rogers, Toby Keith, Jo Dee Messina, David Cassidy, Debbie Gibson, Eddie Money, The Beach Boys' Mike Love, The B-52's Kate Pierson, Chicago's Lee Loughnane, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Johnny Van Zant and Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, to comedians Bob Newhart, Joe Piscopo, Carrot Top, Tommy Smothers and Jay Leno, to world figure skating champions Peggy Fleming and Kristi Yamaguchi.

She has also interviewed rising star Lacey Chabert, soap star Maurice Bernard, TV star Gerald McRaney, football star Deuce McAllister and movie mogul Morgan Freeman for other publications, the latter of which was an all-time Mississippi Magazine fan favorite.

Most recently, Jeter served as editor-in-chief of Medical News, Inc., a publishing house based in Brentwood, Tenn., serving markets throughout the South. She continues to contribute front page stories and special publication features to Medical News, Mississippi Business Journal and Pointe Innovation. She works with Samarion, Inc., a healthcare technology firm revolutionizing the nursing home industry with its innovative, groundbreaking SamarionSolution, and also handles select ghostwriting projects for major publishing houses. Quail Ridge Press will publish her latest book project, CHIEF: Raising Up the Choctaw Nation, in early 2009. Lynne, who is part Choctaw, co-authored the book with Chief Phillip Martin of the Mississippi Choctaws, arguably the greatest Choctaw leader since Pushmataha.

Jeter and her husband, Pepper, a retired TV news director, have four children--Josh, Stephanie, Betsy, and Matthew--and reside in the mountains of Western North Carolina.