Valerie Richardson Jackson

Valerie Richardson Jackson is known for the many hats she wears, figuratively and literally. To Jackmont she is known as Chairman of the Board and Principal. Throughout her life, she has embodied an innovative spirit and blazed a path of firsts for African-American women. She was among the first African Americans hired as a telephone operator by the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company while a student at the high school where she and her two brothers integrated in the early sixties – all the while dealing with daily racial harassment and intimidation. After receiving a BS in business management from Virginia Commonwealth University, she established the first clerical training program for the Neighborhood Youth Corps in Richmond, VA. Upon being offered a scholarship, she earned an MBA from the prestigious Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania. Valerie also was the first African American to hold the positions of marketing account executive with Grey Advertising in New York and regional marketing supervisor for Trans World Airlines, also in New York.