Brenda Jackson is serving as interim president of Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina. She has replaced retiring President John Dempsey, whose 33 years as Sandhills’ president made him the longest-serving community college president in North Carolina.
Sandhills Community College enrolls just under 4,000 students according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 63 percent of the student body.
Jackson retired at the end of the last academic year after seven years as executive vice president of the college. She started at Sandhills in 2011 as associate vice president of accounting and internal controls before being promoted to vice president for business and administrative services in 2013. Before joining the staff at the college, Jackson was the assistant headmaster and director of institutional advancement at The O’Neal School, a private prep school in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Jackson has also served as an executive for North Carolina Federal Savings and Loan and Coca-Cola Bottling in Charlotte.
Jackson is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting.