Russell H. Jackson

Dr. Russell H. Jackson founded DIR in 1984. As the President and Chief Executive Officer, he provides project direction, strategic leadership, and quality assurance on DIR projects. For over 35 years, Dr. Jackson has directed large-scale, multisite evaluation, data collection, and analytic technical assistance in projects for public and private sector clients, with an emphasis on education, workforce development, human services, organizational climate, business participation, and youth services. Since the early 1990s, Dr. Jackson has led major efforts supporting the technical and analytic needs of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program and has evaluated numerous youth-serving programs. He has directed multiple studies for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), including evaluations of the Regional Educational Laboratory program and several TRIO programs. He has also led evaluations of multiple initiatives for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Dr. Jackson is well versed in research design and methodology and has directed study designs, sampling efforts, site recruitment, instrument development, study implementation, data analysis, and report writing for multiple national and local project evaluations. He is also a certified research reviewer for ED’s What Works Clearinghouse. Dr. Jackson is a past recipient of the Sar Levitan “Advancing the Research Agenda” award of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals. He earned his Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology.