Health Care 2024: REESE JACKSON

Since 2016, Jackson has led Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, which includes the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center and nearly 40 practice locations, as well as about 600 physicians serving southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina.

Sometimes the job requires Jackson to go to the mat; in April  he charged in a newspaper column that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield was paying his hospital 25% less than what it paid other local facilities for the same services.

Despite the public callout, the health system and Anthem managed to reach a multiyear agreement on insurance rates in June.

Before coming to Virginia, Jackson led Forbes Regional Hospital in Pennsylvania. He also worked at Saint Francis Health System in Oklahoma as senior vice president of operations and completed a brief stint as chief operating officer for Valley Health in Winchester.

Jackson received his bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University, his master’s degree in health administration from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Richmond.

In 2022, Jackson was named a First Citizen of Chesapeake, an annual award recognizing citizenship, leadership and enhancing the city’s quality of life.