Donna Jackson, Project 21 black leadership network - Black & White

Donna Jackson, who serves as the the director of membership development for the Project 21 black leadership network, is a seasoned accountant with public and private sector experience as well as previous forays into politics and ministry.

Donna earned a Bachelor of Accountancy (cum laude) from the California State University San Marcos. She has worked in accounting, auditing and management roles with major companies such as Ernst & Young and Marriott International in the private sector before serving in the public sector as a deputy controller for the Export-Import Bank of the United States. She is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants.

Prior to her career in accounting, Donna was a political operative in the state of Arkansas. She worked on the successful campaigns of Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Tim Hutchinson and Representative (now Governor) Asa Hutchinson. She was active in campaign recruiting and communications. She played a vital role during the Huckabee governorship in recruiting black candidates for executive-appointed boards and commissions in addition to helping create job-training programs at a local community college and the Arkansas Office of Workforce Development.

She is a former board member of the Little Rock Minority Disability Advisory Network and a former member of the Crittenden County (Arkansas) Workforce Development Planning Committee. She was also a contributor to the Ernst & Young Diversity Think Tank.

Donna originally sought a role in the church. She is a former divinity graduate of Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that she was taught the gift of administration as a vital part of the Christian ministry.

Donna is a firm believer in free markets and entrepreneurship, rather than government, as a means of lifting people out of poverty.