Alumnus makes moves in Alabama

Paul Finley graduated from Murray State University in 1985 with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. He never imagined his interest in community service and education in marketing would lead to his current position as Mayor of Madison, Alabama.
“In college I was in student government, treasurer of the Interfraternity Council, president of Alpha Tau Omega and involved in every intramural sport possible,” Finley said. “When I graduated from college I moved back home to Owensboro and the only job I could find at the time was selling insurance. I took that to gain experience, and then took a job with Motorola.”
In 1988 Finley moved to a town just west of Huntsville called Madison, AL. As the years passed and his boys grew older, he found himself spending many evenings and weekends at the town’s ball park coaching and watching his children play sports.
“Over 20 percent of Madison’s population is school aged children,” Finley said “Many people in the community spend a lot of time at the ball park.”
Finley noticed the concession stand at the ballpark were in dire need of renovations. He learned the stands had not been renovated for 25 years and the city did not have the funds (over $270,000) to rebuild them.
Finley took action and lead a committee called Project PROUD, which worked diligently over the next two years to fund the project. In the end, the committee completed the project, handing the facility back over to the city which ended up only paying $83,000 to have the concession stand rebuilt. “I learned at that point that someone with vision combined with a great team can make a difference,” Finley said.
In 2008 Finley saw the need for clearer vision again, this time at the Mayor’s level. Although he had never run for an office before he unseated the incumbent Mayor with 53% of the vote, taking over in November of 2008.
Finley has been at his new position for 16 months now and has a clear focus for his city of over 40,000 people.
“Our focus for the city is three fold, we want to continually keep our roads and infrastructure sustained, increase our sales tax base by bringing in more business of quality, and improving people’s accessibility to city government by improving our Web site and televising city council meetings.”
Finley said he attributes much of his success to his time spent at Murray State University.
“Murray was a very nurturing atmosphere,” Finley said. “And my degree set me up for success.”
Finley said his fondest memories of Murray include the friendships he made, the campus and how great life was in college, and the competition on the intramural field and in fraternity contests.
“As a dad of a junior in High School, I look at all the Universities and compare it to the great experience I had at Murray,” Finley said. “I don’t think any school can live up to what Murray has to offer.”
Mayor Finley is married to Dr. Julie Finley (former MSU grad Julie Tucker, 88) and they have three boys, Tyler (17), Tanner (14), and Kyle McCormick (11).