Producer

Alan is the founder and current Strategic Director of Jackson Creative (www.thejacksoncreative.com), a full-service video, media, and technology solutions firm located in Hickory, North Carolina. Jackson Creative produces high-definition video work, web videos, interactive virtual displays, visual display systems and podcasts. Alan was named one of the “Top 100 Video & Multimedia Producers” by AVMP Magazine. Alan is also the founder and Director of Jackson Insight, a survey marketing research and consulting firm in Western North Carolina that specializes in customer experience, market perception, and employee engagement surveys (www.jacksoninsight.com). Alan currently serves as the preferred vendor for community, employee, and customer satisfaction research projects for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina.

As a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Alan was the Business Manager for the UNC Student Television station and started a production company to produce local and community-based video productions. Since then, Alan has directed over 100 short-form videos for various organizations since 1994, ranging from educational videos to promotional films. Alan directed a short-form documentary called “Exodus: From Disgrace to Dignity” in 2004, and directed a feature-length documentary titled WE RAISED A MILLION DOLLARS (AND GAVE IT ALL AWAY): THE CHARITY CASE STORY in 2024 that is currently playing the film festival circuit. Alan was one of the pioneers in creating “The MESH”, an online network of audio/video podcasts, all created in Western North Carolina (www.theMESH.tv). The MESH was started in the Summer of 2011 and has since received over 750,000 downloads of original episodes, ranging in subject from business, arts, entertainment to sports. The MESH was selected as a “Featured Podcast Provider” by Apple, Inc. in the Fall of 2011, and is currently listed as one of their Featured Providers on the iTunes Podcast Store. Alan is currently the Executive Producer of “Caroline Reeper with Jon Reep”, a weekly video program and audio podcast featured on the All Things Comedy network). The show, hosted by nationally-recognized comedian Jon Reep, features an assortment of sketches, games, and interviews with popular musicians, actors, and fellow comedians.

Alan was one of two founders of the Footcandle Film Society, a membership-driven 501c3 organization that hosts film screenings, discussions, and educational events throughout the year (www.footcandle.org). The film society was started in 2007 and currently has over 620 members. The film society also started the Footcandle Film Festival in 2015, an annual weekend-long event that bring a variety of films and their filmmakers to the Catawba County area (www.footcandlefilmfestival.com). Alan currently serves as Director of the Footcandle Film Festival. Alan was co-founder of TEDxHickory in 2012, bringing the international TED organization to Western North Carolina through a single-day event organized by local community members and hosting speakers from around the world. Alan helped produce or co-produce the event for all ten of its years in existence. Alan is married to Suzanne Townsend Jackson, and the two have three children: Luke (30), Alexander (22) and Nicholas (18).