Kate Jackson, who has worked in a variety of production positions since joining ESPN in 1999, was promoted to vice president, production, in September of 2022.
Jackson was named coordinating producer in July 2011, with her role expanded to coordinating producer, special events, in December 2018. Her primary responsibilities included oversight of the ESPYs, NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, The Heisman Trophy Presentation, Sports Humanitarian Awards and other special events, Special Olympics, and Formula 1 Racing.
Jackson oversees all planning and content for Special Olympics coverage that airs on ESPN and ABC, working closely with many areas of ESPN, as well as the event organizers.
In motorsports, Jackson is responsible for oversight of ESPN’s production of telecasts of Formula 1 races in partnership with SKY Media. From 2007-2014, she was a key figure in the production of ESPN’s live telecasts of NASCAR racing, first as a feature producer responsible for the oversight of all creative content including teases, features, and production elements. After being named coordinating producer in 2011, her role expanded to include oversight of the entire production, as well as producing telecasts of the pre-race program for many events.
Jackson served the same roles in ESPN’s IndyCar Series coverage through the 2018 season, expanding on her 2006 role of associate producer that included producing Indianapolis 500 features and tape producing during live race telecasts. She became the first female producer for the Indy 500 pre-race show. Jackson also previously oversaw the production of ESPN’s coverage of NHRA drag racing through the 2015 season.
Her previous experience with ESPN includes working with college basketball from 2015-2018, and he College Football Playoff in 2014 and 2015, as well as the 2019 CFP National Championship halftime show and traveling around the world as a figure skating associate producer in 2004-2005. Jackson also worked as an account executive in ESPN’s affiliate sales department.
In 2016, she earned a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage for the presentation of the College Football Playoff National Championship Megacast.
Jackson started her ESPN career as a production assistant on outdoor programming, later working on college football, NASCAR, Major League Baseball, the College World Series, and ESPN’s Summer and Winter X Games. Before joining ESPN on a full-time basis, she worked as a runner for four years for ESPN and ABC on remote productions including baseball, golf, college football and basketball, and the X Games.
Jackson is a graduate of the University of Iowa.
Featured in: Monday Future of Remote Production Workshop (12/12)
