George W. Jackson, Jr. became interim president & CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) in February 2002, and was elected to the position on a permanent basis in April 2002.
The DEGC is a private, nonprofit corporation devoted exclusively to supporting Detroit's economic development projects and initiatives by providing technical, financial and development assistance to the City and the business community. It also serves as the professional and administrative staff for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), the Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC), Tax Increment Finance Authority, and Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DBRA).
Jackson also assumed the responsibilities of Chief Development Officer for the City of Detroit from 2006 to 2010. This position includes the responsibility of overall coordination of City economic development activity, as well as supervision of the City Planning and Development, and Environmental Affairs Departments.
Jackson was appointed to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Committee in 2003, and serves on the Human Resources Subcommittee. He also serves on the MEDC’s CEO Practitioners Council.
Jackson previously was director of Customer Marketing for DTE Energy, where he worked for 27 years. Additional experience includes Personnel and Human Resources with the United States Navy, Adjunct faculty at Lawrence Technological University School of Management, and professional level positions at Detroit Edison in the Human Resources, Organizational Planning and Development and Power Generation organizations.Jackson, a native Detroiter, is a graduate of Detroit Cooley High School, Oakland University (B.S. Human Resource Development) and Central Michigan University (M.A. Management - Business Management).
He is the past Chairman and serves as a Board member of the NextEnergy Corporation, an organization committed to making Michigan a world leader in alternative energy by advancing the use of alternative energy through groundbreaking research, design, manufacturing, education, commercialization and the marketing of alternative technologies.