Gardner Richey

Gardner grew up in Baldwyn, Mississippi. He earned a B.B.A., starting at Samford University on a baseball scholarship and finishing at Blue Mountain College, then a law degree, cum laude, from Mississippi College School of Law in 2016 — the same year he was admitted to the Mississippi Bar. He spent the next five years at First American Title Insurance Company, managing agency sales across central Mississippi and training independent title agents under ALTA underwriting standards, learning the title insurance business from the underwriter's side before co-founding Maples Richey.

At the firm, Gardner handles residential closings — with a particular focus on first-time buyers — alongside its most demanding search work: mineral and surface titles traced back to the original United States patent, including the mineral examination behind the $10 billion Amazon Web Services data center project, the largest capital investment in Mississippi history. He manages Mount Leopard Abstract Company, the firm's title-search subsidiary, and is a member of the Land Title Association of Mississippi, where he teaches continuing-education courses on title research and risk management.

Gardner and his wife, Lisa, have four boys and are members of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess, coaching his sons in baseball and basketball, and traveling with his family.