Jackie is an active member of NCURA and has co-presented numerous concurrent sessions and workshops over the last ten years. She is a 2006 graduate of NCURA's Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and credits NCURA as her professional lifeline for a career in research administration. Jackie earned her B.A. degree in English from Benedictine College in Atchison, KS and is writing her thesis to complete an M.A. in Writing with an emphasis in Technical and Professional Writing from Missouri State University.

She has over 18 years experience in proposal development within not-for-profit and university settings. Prior to joining the University of Utah, Jackie worked for the Missouri State University Office of Sponsored Research and Projects as a Grant Writer. In this position she was responsible for faculty outreach and training in proposal development. She is the Technical Writer and Editor for the University of Utah Department of Pediatrics, a department with more than 230 faculty, and a current research portfolio of over $100 million. She was the lead writer for two of the University's National Children's Study contract proposals that were awarded in the amount of $14,470,000 and $18,124,000 respectively. Although she writes and edits grant proposals and manuscripts for junior and senior faculty, her primary interest is in providing proposal writing mentorship to investigators who are early in their research careers.