Jack Jackson

Deputy Director

Since joining the Wexner Center in 2005 as deputy director, Jack Jackson has helped guide the Wexner Center’s strategic planning, budget, fundraising, public affairs initiatives, and administrative operations. He has fostered deeper cross-departmental interaction and creative initiatives internally, and community and university engagement and partnerships externally. With Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, he is a senior staff liaison to the Wexner Center Foundation board of trustees and to the senior leadership at The Ohio State University.

Jackson, with Geldin, has been an instrumental part of the Columbus Cultural Leadership Consortium representing the city’s 16 “anchor” arts organizations. Jackson is also a founding trustee of the Columbus Public Schools Foundation, and serves as a member of the Neighborhood Schools Development Partnership, a community volunteer oversight group focused on school renovations. Jackson is also on the board of Equality Ohio, serves on the advisory committee of the Ohio Film Office, and has been on the board of the Short North Business Association.

Prior to his appointment at the Wexner Center, Jackson was vice president of the Columbus-based strategic communications firm Cochran Group Inc., where he provided strategic counsel for a diverse mix of non-profit, private, and public sector clients. From 1992 to 1998, he served as chief of staff at the Ohio Department of Education, where he developed and executed strategic plans, led department-wide transformation and organizational development initiatives, played a lead role in establishing and directing Ohio’s BEST (an education improvement coalition), managed stakeholder relations, and served as a liaison to the governor’s office. He has also served as senior budget and management analyst at the Ohio Office of Budget and Management. Jackson has a B.A. in political science from Ohio Dominican University and a Master of Public Administration degree from The Ohio State University.