Mark Jackson ’91 Takes the Lead as Northwestern’s VP for Athletics and Recreation

Mark Jackson ’91 fondly remembers the sense of community that he felt as a Xaverian student athlete. “Whatever sport you played, it felt like all the athletes were tied together,” he says. Mark played basketball and ran track, but football was his primary focus. Some of his best friends to this day, he says, he met the first week of freshman football. After graduating from Xaverian, Mark played football at Colby College, where he first discovered his passion for athletic management. 

It was during his junior year in college, while working a construction job alongside two of his lifelong Xaverian friends, Paul O’Brien ’91 and Terry Thomas ’91, when Mark recalls Terry suggested he apply for an internship with the Patriots. “I called, and sure enough they had an internship,” he says. “It was right when the Krafts bought the team, so I was one of the first interns that they brought in...and from that point I never really looked back.” 

Although he wasn’t set on being an athletic director specifically, Mark knew he wanted sports to be a major part of his life. He was able to work and learn under greats like Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, and a number of Hall of Fame coaches who he says helped guide him. Mark spent six years as the Senior Associate Athletics Director and Chief Innovation Officer at the University of Southern California and 10 years as Vice President and Director of Athletics for Villanova. He shined in this role, winning Under Armour AD of the year, and leading Villanova to four years of victories in the Big East Conference President’s Cup.

Last September he was hired as the Combe Family Vice President for Athletics and Recreation at Northwestern. One of Mark’s goals undoubtedly is to lead Northwestern to athletic success; however, success has a broader definition in this new role. “Our number one objective here at Northwestern is to make sure our men and women graduate with a really comprehensive collegiate experience,” he explains. “It’s not just athletics; it’s academics, it’s the social life, it’s the whole thing. We want them to come back and be a part of this school for the rest of their lives.”

When he’s asked about the changing landscape of college athletics, in particular NIL and the rights college athletes now have to make money off of their name, image, and likeness, Mark wants to embrace it. “I want to look at it innovatively to try and find the best way to position Northwestern through it all,” he says. “This isn’t a place that’s transactional or transient, where somebody comes for one season and then looks to leave,” Mark says. “This is a place where the value of the degree still matters a great deal and that’s not going anywhere.” He admits that it’s a unique time in college athletics and will likely change how schools will operate, but he hopes that the overall experience for student athletes will be a positive one.

Mark has words of advice to aspiring college athletes in the Xaverian community: “I think it boils down to what instinctively feels right in your gut. And as with any big decision, you want to ask a lot of questions, get as much information as you possibly can, particularly in the areas that are most important to you,” he recommends. “You want to get to the essence of what you can really count on once you obtain a degree from an institution.” 

Part of that substance, Mark says, includes the alumni network and the support that one may receive from their school, which draws his thoughts back to the Xaverian community. He remembers how his brother-in-law passed away while his nephew was attending Xaverian: “The way the community rallied around my entire family,” he recalls. “I’m not sure of the exact number, but it felt like the whole school showed up for his wake,” he says. “Hawks support Hawks,” he adds. “I have a tremendous sense of gratitude to Xaverian and the entire community and what it represents; it has been a huge part of my life, a huge part of the friends who are closest to me. I’m just really grateful to have been a part of it.”