Jackson A. Nickerson

Jackson Nickerson is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies and will be director of the Brookings-Olin Executive Education partnership at The Brookings Institution. He is also Frahm Family Professor of Organization and Strategy at the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Jackson joined the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, in 1996. He teaches strategic management courses on innovation, management of life science, organizational strategy, and critical thinking. His research focuses on why firms choose different organizational structures and the performance implications of these choices; with a special emphasis on knowledge, innovation, and problem solving. His most ambitious research to date studies pharmaceutical manufacturing and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight.

His research has won numerous awards, the most recent of which is the Olin Award Recognizing Research That Transforms Business. Jackson’s research is found in the leading academic journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Political Economy, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization. His research on the FDA has been discussed in Business Week and has led to tangible changes in the way the FDA oversees pharmaceutical manufacturing.

He has received numerous teaching awards from undergraduates and executives alike and received the 2003 State of Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Jackson has engaged and impacted numerous organizations through Olin’s custom executive education programs, Olin’s Partners Program, and consulting for industries including architecture, chemicals, finance, health care, and pharmaceuticals. He also is the progenitor ChangeCasting, a new leadership approach to building trust, creating understanding, and accelerating organizational change.