“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”
-Oscar Wilde

I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and am the second son of LaVonda and Gregory Jackson. I have an older brother (by five years) by the name of Anthony. He suffered severe head trauma when he was an infant and was removed from the home, so we didn't grow up together - I grew up as an only child. My mom divorced my father when I was an infant so I never really knew him growing up. My mom remarried, some time when I was around four or five. She married my dad, Ivory Greathouse, Sr. While they maintained an on and off relationship, my dad, well, he was my dad.

After I graduated from high school, I left Denver, to go to school in Atlanta, Georgia where I attended Morehouse College. After my mom's first diagnosis of breast cancer in 1994, I kinda gave up on the whole thought of school! I returned to Denver just a few months after my mom's passing in 1997. I picked up school from where I left off, changed my major a few times, and roughly 13 years after graduating from East High I received my bachelor of science degree in Independent Studies with a concentration in Nonprofit Administration in Urban Communities from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Currently, I am in the Master of Education - Adult Learning,Training and Development program at Regis University.

I have worked for several organizations as I have furthered my career. From 1999 through 2003 I served as the membership services manager for the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations (now known as the Colorado Nonprofit Association). In that role, I served as the primary contact for the organization's 1,100 nonprofit member organizations, as well as the more than 200 for-profit and student affiliates. I was also the on-site administrator for the organization's member database and was Web master for the organization's Web site. During this time, I also served as the interim executive director for Out4Life Colorado, from 2001-2002, a local community-based African-American health organization whose mission was to provide HIV/AIDS prevention education and to promote good health among the African-American community in Colorado. I left CANPO in 2003 to join the crew at the Gill Foundation where I served as National Program officer.

In this capacity, I reviewed grant proposals and made funding recommendations to the board president of the foundation. I also managed the foundation's Employment Equality Program, which helped to bring health benefits to more than 780,000 employees and their significant other of four Fortune 500 companies: UPS, Home Depot, Sprint and Dupont. Unfortunately in late 2004 due to restructuring, I was laid off from the foundation.

I joined the Denver Employment Alliance in 2005, a start-up nonprofit organization that serves the workforce development sector of Denver, as the Association Director. In September 2006, I joined the staff of the National Endowment for Financial Education. I am currently the Assistant Director of Grants & Research.

Outside of all of the work I find myself in, I still find time to volunteer on boards and committees of various organizations. I am currently a steering committee member of Element; an advisory board member of the Center for Nonprofit Administration at Metropolitan State College of Denver; the webmaster for my parish St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church; and a member of the American Mensa Marketing Committee.

In the past, I have been active with the following local and national organizations:

I am currently a member in good standing of American Mensa and the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). In the past, I have been a member of the Association of Black Fundraising Executives; Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy; Denver Young Nonprofit Professionals; and National Center on Black Philanthropy.

In my free time, and yes, I do have free time, I enjoy going for long walks, jogging, biking, hiking, camping, volleyball, softball, crocheting and working on my culinary skills, and entertaining while spending time with John and our cats: Tonka, Ember, and Ash, as well as our family and friends.

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