My Dad worked for the American Can Company, a national corporation with offices throughout the United States. Raised in southeast Texas, he realized pretty quickly that people from other parts of the US regarded a southern (or Texas) accent as a sign of ignorance. He made sure that all four of his sons learned to speak without a regional accent. My Mom was from Nebraska, so it wasn't all that hard.
When one of my younger brothers received his MS degree and went to work for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, he learned quickly that ranchers and rural landowners responded more positively to someone with a Texas accent. He acquired one pretty quickly, and he still has it (and it serves him well) almost 40 years later.
