KEL JACKSON, MBA 2019: "[MY JOB] MATTERS. I DIDN'T WANT A ROLE THAT WOULD BOX ME IN."
Birmingham, Alabama, native Kel Jackson describes himself as “the kid who would find things around the house to tinker and build with.” When he was 16, the young entrepreneur founded RCM RC Products—a business that designed, sourced, manufactured, and sold performance after-market parts for hobby-class radio-controlled cars.
Jackson went on to attend Auburn University for his undergraduate education, earning a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, Jackson worked as a jet engine engineer and then operations supervisor at Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies Corp. in Columbus, Georgia.
“I love the aviation industry,” says Jackson. “It inspires a childlike sense of wonder. As a kid, I used to look up at the airplanes zooming across the sky, and wonder, ‘How is that possible?’”
After almost seven years at Pratt & Whitney, Jackson decided to pursue higher education. “The short answer is that I wanted more,” he says. “I was in a field where there wasn’t a lot of advancement in the near term. I felt that I had leadership potential but didn’t have a clear path with how to develop it.”
“HBS was always the dream,” he says. “My thesis was about doubling down on being the operations guy who knows leadership. I’m a mechanical engineer so I have this background everyone doesn’t have. I would focus on the areas where my background naturally created strengths.”
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