Our own Thomas C. Jackson

Lake Harriet Lodge is proud that one of its own was elected to serve as Grand Master of Masons in Minnesota for 2008-09.

A Freemason since 1996, MWB Tom Jackson is an active member of his local lodges, Lake Harriet No. 277, having served as Master in 2001, and the Sir Winston Churchill Lodge No. 351. Since 2001 he has served as a Trustee of Lake Harriet's Lodge Company, responsible for finance, tenant relations, and equity projects. Jackson led the effort to install an automatic adjustment - COLA- into the dues structure, allowing the lodge to meet the annual burden of inflation head on.

MWB Tom Jackson served for four years as a Corporate Board Trustee of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, AF&AM, bracketing his term as Grand Master of Masons in Minnesota. He continues his support of the current volunteer officers as a leader of Minnesota's lodge revitalization efforts.

Past Grand Master Jackson is a 32° KCCH Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Minneapolis Valley of the Southern Jurisdiction, having participated as a degree actor in both the 10th and 14th degrees and has served as a line officer of that Valley's Lodge of Perfection. He is a Royal Arch Mason of St. John's Chapter No. 9 of Minneapolis, York Rite. He is a Shriner, wearing the fez as a Noble of Zuhrah Temple of Minneapolis and co-founder of its Chairmen unit, and is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES).

“Cooperation and mutual support between lodges was a key concern for my year in office,” explains Jackson, whose stated challenge to the lodges that received Gold Level recognition at the April 2008 Annual Communication was to expand on that success by helping other lodges, building their base of volunteers, deploying them to support neighboring lodges and where possible, to establish another new lodge. On the short list of topics for his speeches were the four letters inscribed on Jackson’s commemorative pin: Q, standing for Quality and Pride in Our Work, R, standing for Relevancy to the Community, E, standing for Engagement of Members, and S, standing for Solvency and Self-Supporting Financial Management. These four discussion points form the basis of tactical advice to leaders that help direct lodges in how to improve their overall programming.

Jackson is an essayist, a contributor to several Masonic educational forums and publications in the areas of collegiate Greek involvement, solvency and membership trend analysis, strategic planning, and history. One of his favorite mentors continues to be Carl Claudy's "Old Tyler," a dear old Mason from the 1920's whom Jackson likes to quote when recalling his regular visits with his old friend.

Professionally, MWB Tom Jackson is an employment recruiter and corporate consultant. He served for seven years as Director of Sales and Marketing for a national energy sector trade association. In an earlier career in consumer electronics he was a founding partner of Bella Audio, Inc., a manufacturer of precision audio equipment used in yachts, high-end home installations and commercial space, and an independent manufacturers' rep as Principal of Pro-Active Marketing. Prior to that he worked at Best Buy Co., Inc. with an eighteen year tenure culminating in roles as a senior project and business development manager.

MWB Tom Jackson is married, and he and his wife Amey have three children. The family resides in Lino Lakes, MN. They garden, they cook; she works as a professional home stager and decorator, and he follows politics, bakes bread, watches sci-fi and works on computers -- in his spare time.