Meet Arnold Jackson, associate director for the Decennial Census

by | Jun 10, 2010 | Politics, Topics

Why He Matters

When Arnold Jackson walked out the U.S. Census Bureau’s door in 1992, the chief information officer was pretty sure his work there was done. He had spent six years revamping the processing systems for the 1990 Census and was eager to resume his business consulting work.
He had even won a federal honor — The Hammer Award — for leading a team that launched the Census Bureau Web site in the mid-1990s.
But a decade later, Jackson saw the desperate management circumstances facing the upcoming Decennial Census and knew he couldn’t refuse the organization’s request for his return.
 

“It had fallen into a state of peril,” Jackson said. “This would be my final act of public service.”

Since 2002, Jackson has served as the associate director for the Decennial Census, providing overall direction, planning and coordination for all of its operations.

“I’m working with people–working on something meaningful.”

At a Glance

Current Position: Associate Director Decennial Census (since September 2002)
 

 

Career History: U.S. Census Bureau, Chief Information Officer (1986-1992); Arthur Andersen Government Consulting, Senior manager (1997-1998); James Martin Government Intelligence, President (1998 to 2002)

Birthday: April 16, 1946

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Alma Mater: Hampton Institute, B.S. (marketing/economics), 1968; Harvard Business School, M.B.A. (management), 1973

DC Office: 4700 Silver Hill Road, Washington, D.C.

Path to Power

Hailing from a family with generations-old Texan roots, Arnold Jackson left Houston when he graduated from Jack Yates Senior High School in 1964. He ventured to the Hampton Institute to study marketing and economics.

When Jackson decided to pursue an MBA, several recruiters pursued him. He ultimately enrolled at Harvard Business School where he studied management. Jackson graduated in 1973.

Jackson applied his skills to small business management at McKinsey & Co. in California and then Ferguson, Bryan & Associates in Washington. He focused on program development at the minority-owned management consulting firm, serving as both partner and director.

1990 Census

Impressed with Jackson’s business acumen, consulting experience and contract, logistics and performance management expertise, Jackson was recruited to the Census Bureau in 1986 to oversee its transition to a “new way of IT,” as he saw it.

“We had never done anything other than central processing,” Jackson said of the daunting task he faced. “This was before the Internet — breakthrough stuff.”

Jackson said the organization lacked transparency at the time and recognized the need to segue to decentralized technology.

As the first associate director and chief information officer on the director’s executive staff, Jackson helped establish the division that became the Decennial System and Contracts Management Office for the 1990 Census.

The Census adopted a host of new technology solutions, such as processing strategies and optical scanning.

Satisfied with his public service, Jackson left in 1992.

He resumed strategic planning, enterprise architecture, technology strategies and process reengineering. Jackson also advocated for the Clinger-Cohen Act, a 1996 law designed to improve the way the federal government acquires and manages information technology.

But when U.S. Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon (appointed during President George W. Bush’s second term) invited Jackson back in 2002 to help re-engineer the Decennial Census, Jackson couldn’t refuse a second round.

“I pledged to straighten out the whole issue–to fix, recover and somehow improve something,” Jackson said of his motivation to return.

In Their Own Words

“We’re pretty much out of the woods for things that can bite our heads off,” Jackson said of having overcome the obstacles that initially stood in the 2010 Decennial Census’ way.

The Issues
 

 

The 2010 Census

Inasmuch as Jackson succeeded in bringing the Census’ processing procedures up-to-date for the 1990 Census, those technological advances couldn’t alleviate the impending challenges facing the 2010 Decennial Census.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the country’s population–both its illegal and legal residents. The results are used to allocate Congressional seats, electoral votes, and government program funding.

But the organization confronted leadership issues when Jackson returned to the scene in 2002. This led to a demoralized staff that lacked confidence in the Census and its capabilities.

To bolster the staff’s morale, Jackson helped the secretary of Commerce to set up a task force. Jackson also implemented risk management systems.

He coordinated and ran a field test in 2008 and launched a canvassing system in 2009–the Census’ fundamental backbone. The Census hired about 150,000 people to fill these short-term, temporary positions.

The results have been promising: More than 98 percent of the addresses proved accurate and 72 percent of those contacted returned the forms.

Jackson is now aiding in the vacancy operations–following up with people who didn’t respond.

He feels confident that the Census has sidestepped the potential blunders it first faced in 2002.

The Network

The Census Bureau is housed in the Commerce Department. Jackson works closely with the six decennial division chiefs and two program office chiefs to provide overall direction for reengineering the 2010 Census.