Ronna-Reneee Jackson grew up in an IBM family and spent more than two decades in IT-related management jobs for IBM and Unum before venturing into nonprofit tech groups in Chattanooga. But for all her tech savvy, Jackson hasn’t written a line of computer code or spent time with much hands-on hardware or software design. Her genius is in identifying how businesses can use technology and how technology can better understand and serve business needs.
“I’m an interpreter,” she says. “I really like to be at that intersection of business and technology.”
Those skills made her an ideal candidate to help analyze and later lead the Chattanooga Technology Council over the past three years. Jackson has worked to build the local association’s membership and programs to help develop and serve Chattanooga’s growing tech community and its business needs. The Chattanooga tech council is one of 56 in the country that are a part of the Technology Councils of North America, including other tech councils in both Nashville and Memphis.
ChaTech, as it bills itself, has about 100 member companies and is working this year to bring back the devLink Technical Conference, which grew in Chattanooga from 2006 to 2014 to include more than 800 software programmers from around the globe. ChaTech, which meets every month for luncheon meetings, also sponsors seminars, awards and job networking programs.
Jackson is also helping to build future talent for technology, especially to help other girls and women follow in her path.