07/21/2026
Meet Mike Jackson, our Director of Operations, the man who keeps the shop running.
Mike's path to Great American started at a Holiday Inn Express, where he worked as a night auditor. Chris Walton, who would later become our Chief Product Officer, kept talking about this company and where it was headed. Those conversations stuck with Mike. He asked Chris if we were hiring, Chris said yes, and eight years later, the rest is history.
He did not start at the top. Mike learned this company from the ground up, fabricating products, managing inventory, and studying the business itself. Chris mentored him early, teaching him how to build the Vista Edge and, more importantly, how to lead. Today Lee Russell is helping him sharpen the business side. Mike has always been the kind of person who bets on learning, and it shows.
Now he runs the floor. He keeps the shop moving, puts out the fires before they spread, supports his managers, and stays on top of every customer and distributor issue that comes through. He also runs the culture, from shop meetings to grill Fridays to the Christmas activities he organizes alongside Lynsey.
Ask him what he is proudest of, and it is not a product or a process. It is the culture and structure he built. Ask him what "built to be trusted" means, and he does not hesitate: quality over quantity, every time. It is what he preaches, and it is how he believes trust gets earned.
When he is not at the shop, you will find him at the gym, which he calls his solitude, in the kitchen, where cooking is his real passion, or catching a game. And yes, he is a proud sneakerhead.
In his own words: "I love my job. It's great to be part of a team that values you. Every day I come to work, I feel like I make a difference."
That is Mike, and that is Great American. Trust the process.
Built to be trusted.