“Sometimes you have to leave home to see how wonderful something is,” said Lenwood Brooks ‘01, the 2025 recipient of the Jackson Academy’s Distinguished Alumni of the Year award. The alumnus who portrayed the Wizard in the school’s “The Wizard of Oz” production years ago was not speaking figuratively. Like Dorothy’s character in that tale, Brooks lived out a story of leaving and returning. Returning to JA, he said, made all the difference in his life.
Brooks delivered an inspiring address in conjunction with Senior Class Awards Day on April 22 at the Country Club of Jackson. The 2001 Mr. JA credits the school with making him who he is today. Brooks found his community after returning to JA for his junior and senior years. He had made such a mark in those two years that he earned the coveted title of Mr. JA, senior class president, and class favorite. He served as a pep rally emcee, a member of Encore, a JA Chronicle staff member, and equipment manager for the football team. Off-campus, Brooks wrote sports news for the Madison County Journal. He now sees these activities as profoundly impacting his confidence and preparedness, particularly serving as the emcee during pep rallies.
Currently the Vice President and Director of Government and Industry Relations at Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, Brooks frequently speaks on the topics of public policy and leadership. Prior to this role, he served as Chief of Staff for the National Credit Union Administration, which often put him in the spotlight, appearing as a spokesperson for the administration on national media such as CNBC and Fox News.
His earlier roles were with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, where he led the trade association’s external affairs as Vice President of Communications. He served on Capitol Hill as an advisor to Sen. Roger F. Wicker (R-Miss.), providing counsel during the Senator’s service on the Senate Banking Committee.
A JA student during his elementary years, Brooks transferred to another independent school beginning in seventh grade. He remembers those years away as ones where he floundered and lost confidence. He believes his most pivotal moment of persuasion, among all his public speaking assignments since, was when he convinced his parents to allow him to return to JA for his final two years of high school.
At JA, he got to shine in ways a student might not have been allowed at another school, he said. He accepted a summer student job with Coach Scott Branning that morphed from campus maintenance to technology. Brooks’ grandfather had given him a computer in his sixth-grade year, and he had learned how to build and fix computers and code. With personal computers in their infancy, he became somewhat of a tech support person for faculty and staff that summer. He helped code one of the early JA websites.
These opportunities to pursue individual interests developed skills instrumental to his future. He and classmate Alan Taheri ‘01 later began a computer company and dreamed of becoming the next tech giants. Taheri still operates a business that has technology as a key component.
Yet it was not just technical skills that Brooks remembers developing at JA. Faculty guided him in developing soft skills in communication and relationship building. After two years back, he felt well prepared for the next step, academically and socially.
“At every college preparatory school, you learn to be prepared for college, but at a JA, you are a person. It is much more deep, and there is a religious aspect to the community support,” he said. He remembered teachers and administrators who greatly impacted him, including Mrs. Currie, Bill Bunch, Keith Branning, and Peter Jernberg.
Brooks also developed skills during internships, which he highly recommends to students in high school but, particularly in college. His internship at Skytel in Jackson influenced his continued interest in technology. He later completed an internship in Sen Trent Lott’s (R-Miss.) office.
Brooks is the sixth recipient of the Jackson Academy’s Distinguished Alumni of the Year award. It is now a tradition that the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni of the Year presents to the senior class at its annual awards night dinner.
There, he talked to students about three critical ways JA changed his life. JA helped him develop competence, authenticity, and connection. Those lessons stayed with him, becoming important during his policy work in D.C. He noted that he believed the most effective individuals on Capitol Hill are those who lay it all on the table, who open the curtain and can develop trust. Authenticity matters, and Brooks believes he got a good look at authenticity while at JA.
The award is presented annually to an alumna or alumnus leading a life of purpose and significance through professional achievement, service to the community, and/or loyalty to JA. Eligible nominees will have graduated from Jackson Academy and been an alumna or alumnus for at least ten years before being nominated for the Distinguished Alumni Award.
