Jackson M. Smith, JD

Executive Director
Jackson M. Smith is proud to join Bastion as its new Executive Director. After growing up in Washington DC, Jackson moved to New Orleans in 2003 and has called the city his home ever since. A graduate of Tulane University, Jackson was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps in 2008. He served on active duty for the next eight years as an infantry officer, completing two deployments to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 followed by additional deployments around the world. In 2011 he was recognized as the Second Marine Division’s Platoon Commander of the Year.

In 2015, fed up with missing every Mardi Gras and Saints season, Jackson returned home to New Orleans to attend Tulane Law School on the GI Bill. While in law school he met his future wife Leigh, and the two were married in 2020. Earlier this year they welcomed their first child, Adele, who has been the center of their universe ever since.

Coming to Bastion after several years as an attorney, Jackson is overjoyed at the opportunity to take part in America’s first intentional community for recovering veterans and their family members. It is his honor and privilege to serve those who have given so much in service of this country, and to do so as part of an organization that is, from humble beginnings here on Mirabeau Avenue, blazing a bold new trail in the world of veterans’ care.