Dennis Jackman

Professional Bio

After graduating from Penn State, Dennis earned an MBA degree from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He was a senior legislative aide to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, after which he went on to senior government and public affairs positions in the biopharmaceutical industry. He retired in 2019 as senior vice president for global policy and public affairs from CSL Behring. Today, Dennis is a faculty member for Rare Diseases International and vice chair of the board for the National Association for Rare Disorders, where he also chairs the Strategic Planning Committee and serves on the Advocacy Committee. In addition to serving on the Liberal Arts Development Council, Dennis is a liberal arts mentor and a member of the boards of visitors for the Rock Ethics Institute, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, and the School of Public Policy. He and his wife, Gail ’77, established an endowed professorship, a dean’s fund, a graduate endowment, and a trustee scholarship in the college as well as an undergraduate research grant fund in the Rock Ethics Institute. In 2020, the Jackmans were named Penn State’s Fundraising Volunteers of the Year. Dennis notes his ultimate Penn State experience was meeting Gail, his future wife, which “changed my life in the most positive way forever.”