Mike Jackson: The Only Black Car Executive To Manage A $3.2 Billion Ad Budget In The U.S. (Show 1)

With DEI being such a lightning rod in schools of higher learning and in corporate America these days, it’s no coincidence America was having this same conversation two decades ago when Mike Jackson was recruited from the beverage industry by Roy Roberts, who at the time was the highest-ranking Black auto executive in the industry.

Jackson, who is currently an advertising professor, oversaw an eye-popping $3.2 billion media budget in North America during his tenure at General Motors, before exiting the industry briefly and then resurfacing a few years later at a startup EV company in a senior leadership role. 

In a wide-ranging two-part telling conversation, Auto Trends with JeffCars.com, the longest running and only syndicated multicultural automotive program in North America, talks one-on-one with marketing maven Mike Jackson.Jackson speaks about his career, DEI, the industry and more through a historical and present-day lens.

Here's part-one of the conversation.