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Today's Featured Biography
Matthew Jackson
Matthew Allen Jackson, Quality Manager, Drummer and Writer who lives in Houston, Texas. Also known for public speaking, teaching and acting..
EARLY LIFE
Matthew was born in 1957 in Houston, TX and grew up in the Heights. His tall parents are Paul (from Houston, TX: ht 6.4) and Jane (from Cleveland, OH; ht 5.10) Jackson. Matthew was named after his Great (3X) Grandfather on his paternal Grandmother’s side of the family, Matthew Gamble (1819 to 1864) who was killed while defending his Southern homeland during the war against Northern Aggression (commonly referred to as the “Civil War”). Matthew had his challenges to overcome during his childhood years. For starters, he was tall for his age and not well coordinated which made playing sports a little difficult for him. He also had some minor learning disabilities to overcome which got him off to a slow start in Elementary School. However, this tall guy who ended up 6’, 6” managed to pull it together and graduate from John H. Reagan High School in 1977 with a respectable ranking of 151 out of 328 classmates.
EARLY ADULT LIFE
At age 20 Matthew entered the Agape Force Training Institute where he began his studies in Ministry Communications. Upon successfully competing his initial 14 week trainig, Matthew went on to complete his studies during his 5 year stint in full time ministry with the Agape Force. Doing short term missions work that included a 3 week mission trip to Mexico, playing drums in a Christian band for one year and performing in a theatrical group for 3 and a half years are among the highlights during his five year stint. During his time in drama ministry Matthew participated in the production of two successful short length motion pictures and performed at Disneyland. This lanky kid guy who could barely walk without tripping over his own two feet while he was a young boy also learned how to juggle clubs and ride a unicycle at the same time.
RELIGIOUS LIFE
Matthew’s religious influence initially came from his mother, Jane Jackson who, grew up attending a Lutheran Church in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Subsequently, she continued with the Lutheran Church after she migrated to Houston and took Matthew with her after he was born. He did not get baptized as an infant which is the traditional form of baptism in the Lutheran Church because his father, Paul Jackson who grew up in the Baptist tradition insisted that Matthew get baptized if and when he expressed that desire on his own which happen when he was 10 years old.
Matthew went on to complete Lutheran Catechism was confirm at Zion Lutheran Church on Palm Sunday of 1974. When he was around 18, Matthew became disillusioned with the whole church scene and Christianity after being hurt by some people at church and rejected God and Christianity much to the disappointment of his mother. He dabbled on to smoking marijuana for a short time. After about two years, Matthew managed to come to his senses and realized that he was going down the wrong path and converted to the Evangelical side of Christianity when he ran into some people with the Agape Force. On June 13, 1977 Matthew re-dedicated his life to Christ and after he prayed the prayer, he immediately dumped the bag of marijuana that he just bought a few hours earlier. In the following October, Matthew entered the Agape Force Training Institute.
LIFE AS A MUSICIAN
Matthew has been playing the drums since he was in the 7th grade and has experience playing Classic Rock, Country, Pop, Gospel, Contemporary Christian and Praise music. He is currently playing in the Praise Band at his church. Matthew's top single stroke roll speed is 660 strokes per minute. One of his unique abilities is that he can ride with either hand. Matthew, (a right handed person) can ride the hi-hat with his left hand, and rides cymbal with his right. Matthew can also ride with both hands at the same time while maintaining a back beat and put together a variety of double ride combinations. Matthew is the first to design and develop a device that acts as a drum set case that folds out into a platform and can be moved while folded up into a case or folded out as a platform. Matthew also writes for a blog for Praise Drummers called The Praise Drummers Forum http://praisedrummers.blogspot.com/.
LIFE AS A PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST
In the late 80s to early 90s, Matthew was a Pro-Life activist who participated in Pro-Life demonstrations and rescue missions. He has been arrested 8 times. Also, Matthew is the first Pro-Lifer to devise and utilize a portable cement block that could be imported into an abortion mill. After the block and Rescuer was in position, the Rescuer to lock himself to the block, thus making it more difficult for the Police to make an arrest. Matthew was the 1st Pro-Lifer in Harris County, TX to serve a jail sentence (8days) for participating in a rescue mission. In 1992, he published his first book entitled, The Pro-Life Position.
FAMILY LIFE
On May 24, 1986, Matthew married Sara Jane Lever. They had two girls and one boy during their 15 year marriage which ended in divorce on November 15, 2001. Matthew re-married on April 2, 2004 to Horacina Rios Chiminazzo and they are still married to this day.
WRITING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Matthew is the author of two books. His latest is, Are You A HEREDEWOSO?, published in 2008 by Xulon Press. In 1992 Matthew self published his first book entitled The Pro-Life Position. Matthew honed and developed his writing skills by publishing a series of quarterly newsletters from 1989 to 1993 entitled Jackson’s Journal. He currently writes for two blogs: http://mjacksonsjournal.blogspot.com/; and http://praisedrummers.blogspot.com/.
One of Matthew’s foremost writing accomplishments came in 1993 when he won a Guilded Quill Award, for best Short Non-Fiction. The winning piece was entitled, The Master Clown. It was a biographical piece on Lou Jacobs who was a Clown in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. Most of that piece has been republished on the internet on Wikipedia.
CAREER PATH
After Matthew competed his studies in Ministry Communications with the Agape Force in October of 1982, he returned to his hometown of Houston, TX and entered the work force. Matthew worked at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant as a Crew Member, Crew Chief and Maintenance Man. In October of 1984, Matthew landed a job at a metal company starting out as a Driver and Warehouseman and later becoming a Bar Saw Technician until he left the company in November of 1992. In 1993 Matthew made a career change to Technical Writing. Then, in July of that same year he landed a job working for a Quality Consulting Firm where he learned how to write Quality Policies and Procedures.
Throughout much of the 90s, Matthew worked as a self employed Quality Consultant and wrote and implemented quality programs for small to medium sized businesses. During the lean times he built web sites, did free lance drafting, played gigs as a drummer and janitorial work. From 2001 and forward, Matthew’s fortune changed for the better and was able to find more steady and profitable work as a Quality Manager.
CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS A QUALITY PROFESSIONAL
8 years of Quality Consulting experience (1993 to 2001)
10 years experience as a Quality Manager (2002 to Present)
Participated in 24 ISO 9000 projects.
Managed 12 ISO 9000 projects.
Achieved ISO 9000 certification for 7 companies.
Place 3 companies on PDVSA’s AVL.
Completed and passed the 36 hour Lead Assessor Course.
TESTIMONIALS FROM PREVIOUS CLIENTS
"Matthew helped us achieve ISO 9001 certification. In so doing, our top line has increased by 40 to 45 percent and opened up markets for us that were previously untouchable. It has also helped us make a better product."
Jeff Kandle, President of Kandle Oilfield Products
"The ISO 9002 program that Matthew developed and implemented makes us follow procedures, which have enhanced the consistency in the quality of our product and the effectiveness in delivering our product in a timely manner."
John G. Mobley, Business Manager of Arnco Technology & Trust
"Our ISO 9001 program has enabled us to better evaluate and improve our processes. Before Matthew implemented this program, things were done in a haphazard manner with no fixed reference points. Now, we have established procedures that we can hold our employees accountable to."
Frank Rodriguez, Manufacturing Manager of Triten Corporation (APG Division)
"We were feeling market pressure to obtain ISO 9001 certification. The prospect of continuing operations and finding the time to develop a formalized quality program was overwhelming. Matthew helped bridge this gap. His rates are very affordable, and his knowledge and experience with the ISO 9001 requirements are second to none."
Michael Gandalfo, Operations Manager of OHM International
"We hired Matthew to formalize and install an ISO 9002 quality program. Since the success of this program was primarily dependent upon total acceptance, he was given the additional responsibility of training and ensuring that everyone bought into it. Matthew exceeded our expectations in both areas!"
"Matthew took the lead role in developing solutions to several costly and frustrating problems. The resourcefulness, creativity, and sound reasoning that he exhibited in solving these problems have resulted in reduced staff overtime, better utilization of resources, and potential cost savings."
James R. Dunn, Vice President of Texas Pipe & Supply
“Matthew has done an outstanding job and I compliment him on all his work. Our training program has never been better and we received compliments from the National Board and Lyondell during their audits. Matthew has very good organizational skills and a good work ethic.”
Bob Donalson, Service Manager of Tyco Valves & Controls
“I found several advantages to outsourcing the management of our Quality System to a Quality Professional as opposed to having an Administrative Assistant doing it in-house. The most notable was Matthew’s common sense approach and how he made our system more efficient and concise. As a manager, it’s a pleasure to work with someone like Matthew, because he brings answers, not problems.”
Scott Ransom, President of Associated Transport Lines
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