Published: June 29, 2009 07:10 pm      

Jackson vice chair of UGA Foundation

A Shaw Industries executive based in Dalton was recently appointed vice chairman of the University of Georgia Foundation, the group that oversees the university’s endowment funding.

Ken Jackson, a vice president and chief financial officer for Shaw, has served on the 35-member board of trustees since 2006 and most recently was its treasurer and chair of the finance committee.

“I’ve always felt like some of the success I’ve enjoyed in my business life would be attributable to what I’ve learned at the University of Georgia,” said Jackson, who graduated from UGA in 1980 with a master’s degree in taxation. “I’ve been blessed in that I have the ability to give some money back, but also I can give of my time.”

Jackson will serve two years as vice chairman. He is in the middle of a five-year term on the board of trustees.

A former member of the Terry College of Business alumni board, Jackson sits on the Tull School of Accounting Advisory Board and on the advisory board of insurance company FM Global.

His term as vice chairman of the UGA Foundation begins July 1.

A nominating committee within the board of trustees selects new members, and the board votes on its chairman and vice chairman. Jackson said he didn’t have a dollar figure on how many people from Whitfield County have given gifts to the university, but he said there are many from Dalton.

Jackson said the board meets three times a year, usually for two days. He will chair the nominating committee responsible for recruiting new members and will serve on the finance committee that is involved in approving the foundation’s operating budget. He’s also on a committee that works on public affairs.