MSU names McDaniel National Alumnus of the Year
Contact: Kevin Tate
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mike McDaniel, of Houston, Texas, will be honored by Mississippi State University as its National Alumnus of the Year during the MSU Alumni Association 2026 Awards Banquet on Friday, April 17.
A native of Cleveland, McDaniel graduated from MSU in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and started his career with Dow Chemical at their Freeport, Texas, complex. He advanced rapidly over 10 years at Dow, and then bought Electrical Controller Products, or ECP, a specialty electrical distributor in Houston tied to the petrochemical industry.
Under his guidance, ECP grew quickly. By 1991, he and his company launched ECP Tech Services, which did high-voltage electrical testing and construction. The wholly owned subsidiary soon grew to be the largest and most successful of its kind in the South, with five offices in two states.
In 2008, ECP Tech Services was sold to Square D Company. Since that time, McDaniel has founded, grown and sold another company: Saber Power, a Houston giant in the electrical world as well.
The lessons and skills he learned at MSU have been critical to McDaniel’s business success. A proud second-generation MSU mechanical engineering graduate, his father, George O. McDaniel Jr., graduated with a BSME from MSU in 1949. The George O. McDaniel Jr. endowed scholarship in mechanical engineering was established to help support future generations of Mississippi students.
McDaniel is married to Laura Moreton McDaniel, and they are tremendous supporters of a broad array of MSU programs, including engineering, study abroad and the U.S. Grant Presidential Library. They have four children and three grandchildren.
McDaniel said being named MSU’s 2026 Alumnus of the Year is an honor he had never expected or imagined he would receive, and is humbly grateful for this recognition from a place he calls home.
“We are delighted to honor Mike McDaniel on behalf of Mississippi State University for his outstanding professional achievements and dedication to his alma mater,” said Jeff Davis, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association. “Mike embodies the spirit of the Bulldog community, and his remarkable accomplishments highlight the commitment and excellence that MSU proudly fosters in its graduates.”
Along with McDaniel, the MSU Alumni Association will recognize other outstanding alumni at the annual awards event. Individual academic college selections for Alumni of the Year for 2026 include (by residence):
JACKSON—Michael Warren Boerner, College of Architecture, Art and Design, Brookhaven native
MOBILE, Alabama—Shawn M. Hunter, College of Business, Memphis, Tennessee, native
MOODY, Texas—Dennis Alen Clark II, College of Veterinary Medicine, DVM, Roanoke, Virginia, native
SAN ANTONIO, Texas—Margaret P. Applewhite, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Camp Hanford, Washington, native.
STARKVILLE—Patricia A. Cunetto, College of Education, Columbus native; Kristina Casscles Godwin, College of Forest Resources, Highland, New York, native
ST. PAUL CAP DE JOUX, France—Michael C. Pace, College of Arts and Sciences, Tomball, Texas, native
WEST POINT—Charles Richards Stephenson, Bagley College of Engineering, Meridian native.
More details on the awards ceremony and honorees will be available in the coming weeks. For more on the association, visit www.alumni.msstate.edu.
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