Jeanne Jackson ’95, ’97MBA didn’t become the first woman postmaster for the city of Providence by keeping quiet. “Sometimes,” says Jackson, “I’d be the only woman in the room with 50 men, but it was okay because I could hold my ground. If I had a question, I asked it. Even at my level now, sometimes if I think I’m right and somebody above me is wrong, I let them know.” She gives the same advice to current Bryant students, especially women. “Stand up tall, and make it known that you need to be in that room,” she says. “You have a place at the table.”
In her 38-year career with the United States Postal Service, Jackson had to earn every opportunity she was given. “I started at the bottom,” she says, working the night shift and processing and delivering the mail. She began her career right after high school, but she always aspired to earn a college degree, so she eventually began taking classes at Bryant part-time. She ultimately earned a BS in Accounting and an MBA in Management.
“Stand up tall, and make it known that you need to be in that room. You have a place at the table.”
“I don’t believe I would have had a successful career if it weren’t for Bryant,” says Jackson. Early on, her bosses noticed the skills she was gaining in her classes, and they offered her a position working in the office, first as an administrator and keyboardist. “Not even six months later,” says Jackson, “different departments within the Postal Service asked me to take assignments.” She worked in the personnel, safety, training, injury compensation, and accounting departments before then-Providence Postmaster Bill Mason noticed the impact she was making everywhere she went. “He was really inspired by what I was doing,” she says. His assistant was taking a detail to another assignment, and he asked Jackson to fill in for her. “I ended up getting his job years later,” she reflects. “It was full circle.”
After her time working for Mason, Jackson completed a USPS management training program, which enabled her to take the next step in her career. She took assignments in different post offices around the Southern Massachusetts region, including Brockton, Medway, Norwood, Randolph, North Attleboro, Fall River, Franklin, and, ultimately, Nantucket, where she had a special task: She needed to bring the relatively remote island’s post office up to date with current practices and help the new Nantucket postmaster, an outside hire from the corporate world, transition into the role. “They told me, ‘Just go for three months,’ ” says Jackson. “I was there for a year.” The experience proved valuable, though, and it earned her a reputation as a problem-solver. “A lot of times, when something new comes up, my boss says, ‘Give it to Jeanne, she’ll figure it out,’ ” she says. “I always get it done.”
Now, as Providence postmaster, the 35th person and first woman to hold the role, Jackson oversees all USPS operations for zip code areas starting in 029, which includes Providence, Cranston, Johnston, Smithfield and more. “We have 265 city routes and 20 rural routes that we deliver to,” says Jackson. “I oversee about 650 people. I have to make sure all the mail that comes into our facilities goes out every day.”
“My favorite color is green, but I’m always postal blue.”
One of Jackson’s career highlights, she says, came in 2020. As Providence postmaster, she attended the Meeting of the Electoral College of Rhode Island, where she attested the certification for the results of the Electoral College votes for the state alongside other state officials, including Rhode Island’s governor, secretary of state, presidential electors, and the chief judge of the Federal District Court. “I was one of the signatures on the document,” she says. “That’s cool.”
After nearly four decades in service to the USPS, Jackson says it colors every part of her life, even when she's off-duty. “When I play games with my friends, I’m always the blue one,” says Jackson. “My favorite color is green, but I’m always postal blue.”
