Elaine S. Jackson is a native of Birmingham and attended public schools.  She completed her undergraduate studies at Alabama A&M University, in Normal, AL, where she earned a B. S. Degree in 1978 and is a graduate of the Masters of Public and Private Management (MPPM) program at Birmingham Southern College, where her concentration was Public Sector Management.  Since joining the Urban League, Ms. Jackson has completed continuing education and leadership courses at the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Center for Urban Leadership, New York, NY; the Texaco Management Institute for Leadership Training, White Plains, NY; the Whitney M. Young School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA; and the National Urban League's Project Lead, Memphis, TN.  She is also a graduate of Leadership Birmingham.  

Prior to joining the Birmingham Urban League in March of 1998, Ms. Jackson was employed with AmSouth Bank from 1978-1997 where she held various positions in Corporate Marketing and prior to her departure the position of Vice President and Community Services Manager in Corporate Contributions.

Ms. Jackson serves on the board of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits (formerly Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama).  She is also a founding member and Board officer for the newly-established Birmingham Education Foundation.  Ms. Jackson is a member of Leadership Birmingham as well as a member and former regional officer of the Southern Region Association of Executives of the National Urban League.  Elaine was reappointed by Governor Riley, in February 2008, to the Alabama Workforce Investment Board.   She is featured in the 2006, 2008 and 2009 editions of Who's Who in Black Birmingham and was named the 2009 Alabama Black Achiever 'Nonprofit Executive of the Year'.