Michael R. Cooper

Executive Vice President – Client Relations and Business Development

Michael is responsible for leading the client relations team and developing firm-wide strategic initiatives. He also provides leadership and strategic business advice to company executives, management, and cross-functional teams of the company. Michael serves on the firm’s Investment Committee, ESG committee, and Risk Committee. Previously, Michael served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Molpus, overseeing the company’s compliance and legal program, risk management and external relationships such as outside counsel and related vendors.

Michael has been with Molpus since 1999 and has played an integral role in various aspects of the company’s operations. His previous experience includes overseeing fundraising activities and in the development of Molpus’s co-mingled funds and international tax structures.

Before joining Molpus, Michael was engaged in a diversified corporate law practice in Jackson, Mississippi. He was named to the Mississippi Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2009 and received a Leadership in Law award from the same publication in 2019, recognizing him as one of Mississippi’s leading attorneys. He is a member of the Mississippi Corporate Counsel Association (having served as past president) and the Mississippi Bar (where he served as past chairman of the Clients’ Security Funds Committee). He is also a former member of the Mississippi Ethics Commission (appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court), the American Bar Association, and the American Bar Association’s Advisory Committee for the Paralegal Studies Program at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Michael co-authored “The Role of the Asset Manager in Maximising Value,” which was published in The Definitive Guide to Investing in Timberland (2008) by PEI Media.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Banking and Finance from Mississippi State University (1992) and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law (1995).

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