The Claremont Courier interviews Dean Ira Jackson
The Claremont Courier
New dean says it’s a ‘privilege’ to be associated with Drucker
Ira Jackson is a man who is comfortable with the man in the mirror. Hailed from Boston, he brings an enthusiastic approach to a worn-out idiom of being ethical in business and having a social conscience.
These are the qualities that garnered him the position as dean of Claremont Graduate University's Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management.
“Ira Jackson is an accomplished entrepreneur of noble causes in universities, business, government and the social sector,” said Robert Klitgaard, CGU president. “His career is living Drucker.”
Coming from a strong family background, Mr. Jackson said his parents had a profound influence on his life and were “an interesting combo.” His father was a veteran of WWII and served in occupied Japan.
“He was a quiet and strong man—always curious about the world,” Mr. Jackson said. “He read a book a day.”
His mother was courageous and participated in the civil rights movement.
“I learned a lot from my parents who were very involved in the community,” Mr. Jackson said. “My values were shaped by their commitment to social injustice.”
While attending school in the Brookline public schools system—where ultimately he and his wife, Martha, and raised their 4 children—Mr. Jackson’s history teacher “imbued the joy and beauty of history.”
“I could read historical novels all day long,” he said. “If I could earn a living doing that I would.”
There are other people in Mr. Jackson’s life that helped to mold his strong convictions. He belonged to a reformed Jewish congregation whose rabbi was on the “cutting edge” of issues and had invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to deliver a sermon at his temple in 1962.
“That had a profound influence on my life,” he said. “I feel extremely grateful and hope that in a small way I can leave some of those blessing and lessons to others so they, too, can pass it on—the need for stewardship.”
After high school, and enduring a wrestling accident that left him with a permanent back ache, Mr. Jackson went to Harvard College where he earned his AB.
“Growing up I always I wanted to leave a legacy,” he said thoughtfully. “I simply wanted to make a positive difference.”
Making a positive difference has been the benchmark that inspired every next step Mr. Jackson took.
As chief of staff to Boston mayor Kevin White, his wife’s uncle, Mr. Jackson helped to convert an abandoned warehouse into a major festival marketplace that gave downtown a new vitality. He also saw the downside of racial discrimination.
“I would accompany black children in school buses to [south Boston] where they encountered violence and racial slurs,” he said, shaking his head at the memory. “It was tremendously scarring and a traumatic chapter in our community’s confrontation with reality and tough issues.”
However, these roller coaster experiences took Mr. Jackson back to Harvard where he created a program of leadership for big city-mayors that continues to this day.
Mr. Jackson’s next challenge came as the commissioner of revenue for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. His predecessor’s principle deputy had committed suicide because of an investigation by the attorney general. Tax examiners had also been indicted by a grand jury for fraud and embezzlement. As commissioner, Mr. Jackson created an employee code of conduct. He also made the arrests of tax evaders very public.
“I was very transparent about what I found because the important thing was to restore public confidence in the integrity of the department,” he explained about his “honest, fair and firm” policy that earned him the Lyman Ziegler Award for Outstanding Public Service. “I helped to enable some very committed public servants to feel pride in what they did for once in their lives.”
Mr. Jackson’s next stint at BankBoston took a compliance act and turned it into an opportunity. By creating a bank within a bank, he and his team helped the community finance their economic dreams—a feat that earned the team the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Citizenship in ceremonies at the White House.
The last step for Mr. Jackson before entering the Drucker School was to double the fundraising and endowment at Arizona State University where he was the CEO and president of the school’s foundation.
Today, Mr. Jackson is enthusiastic about tackling the challenges the school faces, such as competition for students and travel constraints 9/11 has placed on visas for foreign students.
“We need to have the courage to, with imprecise measures, tackle and speak to the phenomena that is taking place today and developments that can take place tomorrow,” he said. “We are focused on having effective and ethical leaders and are not embarrassed about that. It’s at the core of Peter’s thinking. It’s a privilege to be associated with his legacy.”
—Rebecca JamesCourie
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