Tanner Jackson, an undergraduate and graduate program alumnus of Pfeiffer University, earned a B.S. degree in Business Management and Leadership in 2021 and an MBA two years later. Along the way, he minored in finance and took four courses in accounting — subjects that helped open the door to his becoming a Senior Construction Accountant at Benco Construction.

Benco, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., focuses on building residential apartment complexes. It’s a good fit for Jackson, who notes that “construction, especially in the Charlotte area, has just really exploded over the last couple years.”

Jackson’s principal charge at Benco is keeping projects, some worth as much as $50 million, on schedule and within budget constraints. It can be quite a challenge.

“Construction can be very volatile in terms of all the things that can go wrong and all the things that have to be tracked before a project begins,” Jackson said. “I’ve seen projects where one change alone can cost a couple hundred thousand dollars in extra work that wasn’t originally accounted for. It’s very important to try to capture as much risk and as many variables as possible before a project starts.”

Jackson, 26, aspires to become a Chief Financial Officer. If he achieves that goal, he’ll have likely followed a work ethic that took hold during his time at Pfeiffer: “the more you put in, the more you engage and the more willing you are to learn, the better your results will be in anything.”

Jackson’s also bullish on building relationships and communicating his ideas effectively. He notes that the business programs at Pfeiffer, which often required him to make presentations, helped him develop these skills.

Dr. Susan Luck is Professor of Business at Pfeiffer and Program Director of its Graduate Schools of Business. She served as Jackson’s advisor, and Jackson took several courses she taught, including Organizational Communication, Business Agility, and Strategic Management.

Luck isn’t surprised that Jackson has found success in the workforce.

“Tanner was always a solid student,” Luck said. “He paid close attention to details—a trait that is certainly a key in his success—and was almost always a step ahead of me. He could see where I was going with the coursework and why I wanted what I wanted from students as clearly as I could. That made him a joy to teach, but it also showed me how well honed his critical thinking skills were.”

Luck also praised Jackson’s work ethic: “I knew that he knew what he wanted, and that he knew that his success would depend totally on himself and his drive and work ethic. It showed a maturity beyond his years and a promise of a really terrific student.”

Jackson grew up near Pfeiffer’s Misenheimer, N.C. campus in Rockwell, N.C., where he still lives. His wife Lauren also followed the same path earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from Pfeiffer.

Jackson said he “instantly” fell in love with Pfeiffer during a visit to the University: “I liked the smaller school environment. I liked the fact that students enjoyed personal relationships with caring professors.”

One of those professors was Dr. Christopher “Doc” Howard. Howard, now Guest Lecturer at Hochschule Weserbergland in Hameln, Germany, was on the Business Management and Leadership faculty when the Jacksons were students at Pfeiffer. He also officiated at their wedding.

Jackson enthusiastically recommends Pfeiffer to prospective business students. The University “gives you practical knowledge,” he said. “I left there with an understanding of concepts that I could actually apply in the real world, and that has served me well.”