WHM article: Jackie Griffith, VP of Gov. & Community Relations

As part of Women’s History Month, Delaware State University spotlights a few of its own – beginning with this article.

Jackie Griffith’s life story is proof that success is not determined by how you start out in life, but by the earnestness employed to overcome less than ideal beginnings.

As Delaware State University’s Vice President of Government and Community Relations and Special Assistant to the President, Ms. Griffith appears to be at or near the culmination of her 30-year career.

Those three decades include her beginning as a financial management analyst in the U.S. Air Force. She then transferred her fiscal number-crunching skills to the state government of Delaware, where her career path wound through a couple of state agencies before landing at the Delaware General Assembly, where she ultimately served as the Chief of Fiscal Policy in the Office of the Controller General.

Ms. Griffith’s career progression has overshadowed her humble beginnings – a childhood of unstable circumstances and periods of homelessness as she grew up in Charlotte, N.C., as Jackie Wilson (named Jackie after her grandfather).

“When I say homeless, I don’t mean that my siblings and I were living out on the street, but that there were times when we were in hotels or sleeping on someone else’s couch,” Ms. Griffin said. The fact that Ms. Griffith and her three siblings were raised by a single parent – a mother with issues that left her unable to care for her children at different points of their youth – was a prominent factor in their unstable circumstances.

“Between elementary school and high school, we changed schools eight times and moved about 13-14 times,” Ms. Griffith said.

While her sister was able to go to college on a track scholarship, for Ms. Griffith and her two brothers, the military represented their only way to access higher education.

Ms. Griffith enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where early on she was found to excel in administrative skills. That led to her assignment as a financial management analyst. During her seven-year enlistment, she took advantage of the military’s higher education opportunity and enrolled in Community College of the Air Force. She would later complete a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Management at Wesley College in 2005.

During her Air Force years, she also met and married Anderson Griffith, and they had their first child in 1994. He is currently a Medical Laboratory Scientist.

While she methodically worked toward her degree, Ms. Griffith completed her enlistment in 1999 and began her career with the State of Delaware, first as a Senior Accountant with the Department of Labor (working under then-Labor Secretary Lisa Blunt Rochester, now Delaware’s Congresswoman).

To work closer to home, Ms. Griffith transferred her skills to the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), starting as a Program Manager in its Finance Department. Five years later, she was elevated to Legislative Project Manager, which gave her the experience that prepared her for future positions with the state General Assembly and Delaware State University.

As the Legislative Project Manager, she managed the Community Transportation Fund (CTF) – which averages about $16 million annually – from which the 62 members of the Delaware General Assembly received state funds to spend on transportation and road-related projects in their individual districts.

“Part of my job was to be innovative,” Ms. Griffith said. “That means, I better not tell them no, but instead I better figure out how to help them use their (CTF) money.”

The rapport she developed through working with the GA’s elected officials led her to move over to the General Assembly in 2011, where she became a Senior Legislative Analyst. In 2016, her financial talents and legislative experience resulted in her elevation to Chief of Policy and Fiscal Analysis, a post in which she oversaw the study of all funding requests by state agencies to the Joint Finance Committee and the Bond Bill Committee.

With such talent nearby, Delaware State University began reaching out to Ms. Griffith and successfully persuaded her to accept a position in 2018 as the Director of Government and Community Relations under the Office of University President Wilma Mishoe. With that hire, the University effectively strengthened the University’s relationship with state and local governments.  

Since her arrival, Ms. Griffith has demonstrated her value in countless ways. She played an instrumental role in positive changes for the institution in the area of state procurements as well as the University’s success in persuading the General Assembly to add a fourth year to the state-funded Inspire Scholarship Program.

Her worth to the University and especially its leadership team led to the expansion of her responsibilities by also being named the Special Assistant to University President Tony Allen in 2020 and her elevation in 2021 to Vice President of Government and Community Relations. In addition to fostering a strong relationship between the University and state government, she has also become intimately involved with the preparation of budget requests that the University presents annually to the General Assembly.

Ruth Ann Jones, currently the Controller General at the General Assembly, worked as a legislative analyst under Ms. Griffith when she was Chief of Policy and Fiscal Analysis. She said all that she learned from Ms. Griffith was instrumental in the professional success Ms. Jones is currently enjoying in her present position.

“Jackie was a mentor at every turn. She is an inspiration when it comes to working with people,” Ms. Jones said. “With respect to legislators and staff, she has the best demeanor; but you can never forget how smart she is. She is very savvy.”

Her contributions also extend beyond the Del State campus. She currently serves on various boards, including the People Place, the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame, the Delaware Women’s Suffrage Centennial (chair), Jobs for Delaware Graduates, and the Slaughter Neck Community Center.

Ms. Griffith’s story of overcoming a difficult childhood is also the story of her siblings – which includes her brothers Air Force Col. Billy Wilson and Rodney Wilson, a Secret Service police officer, as well as her sister Tamara Wilson, an accountant.

Successful fruits also appear to be falling from her and her husband’s immediate family tree as well. Their daughter Jacqueline Griffith, an AP biology teacher at Dover High School, is slated to complete her Ed.D. this semester at Delaware State University. Their son Donovan is also close to completing his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science at Del State.

At first, Ms. Griffith thought an Air Force career would be it for her. However, parenthood and the desire to spend time with her children prompted her to leave the military. That redirected path through state government has led her to what she calls her “dream job” at Delaware State University, where she enjoys helping its administrators, faculty, staff and students, as well as finds great fulfillment in her instrumental role of serving as the University’s vital connection to the Congressional Delegation, state government, and the surrounding community.

“I came to the University to make a difference – to help the University have a better relationship with the GA, to give it a better understanding of the process and the opportunities,” she said. “I think I have been able to do that.”

Article by Carlos Holmes