Thomas C. Jackson
Grand Master
A Freemason since 1996, MWB Tom Jackson is an active member of his local lodge, Lake Harriet #277, having served as Master in 2001. Since that time 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 is an officer of the progressive line of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, AF&AM, currently serving as Grand Master of masons in Minnesota. He supports an excellent team of volunteer officers as the leader of Minnesota's lodge revitalization effort.

MWB Tom 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 #9 of Minneapolis, a Shriner, wearing the fez as a Noble of Zuhrah Temple of Minneapolis, and is a member of Lake Harriet Chapter #202 of the OES.

Cooperation and mutual support between lodges is a key concern for this year, 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 speeches are the four letters inscribed on Jackson’s pin this year, Q, standing for Quality and Pride in Our Work, R, standing for Relevency 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 lodge leaders that help direct lodges in how to improve their overall programming.

Professionally, MWB Tom Jackson is a founding partner of Bella Audio, Inc., a manufacturer of precision audio equipment for yachts, high-end home installations and commercial space, and is 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 as a senior project and business development manager. His consultative firm, IdeaBuilder, serves fraternal organizations nationwide in the development of Solvency and Viability Review Tools, fitted for each jurisdiction.

MWB Tom Jackson is married, and he and his wife Amey have three children. The family resides in Minneapolis, MN. They garden, they cook, she maintains a shop on eBay, and he follows politics, watches sci-fi and works on computers -- in his spare time.