Page 40 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2015

WORDS of Coast business leaders heed and give helpful advice
on business and life
story by Susan Ruddiman photos by Katherine Sowers, Teddy Lewis and courtesy of Bruce Chinn
and Brian Cuccias
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY head start
four business leaders on the Mississippi Gulf Coast achieved their positions, in part, because of good advice they heeded. These leaders — two who run industries
and two who own businesses — have what it takes to fulfill their duties because of the people who influenced them.
Carlene Alfonso credits her parents for laying the foundation of the real estate company they founded in 1958 that she took over as broker/ owner in 1988. Today Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty Inc. is one of the largest in the Southeast
with 155 employees in four offices covering the Coast from Hancock County to Jackson County. Bruce Chinn, general manager at the Chevron Pascagoula Refinery, also praised his parents in shaping his leadership style. “My father’s early
career was as a school teacher and a coach, but he lost his job after the schools were integrated. He had to remake himself. He became a nurse in a time when male nurses were not very prevalent,” Chinn said.
Though his father eventually returned to teaching, his parents taught him the values
I am thankful that I wake up to a great village of outstanding people who help me take care of the business at hand.
Carlene Alfonso, owner of Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty, Inc.
40 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2015
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