Diana Lewis Jackson

Photo by Becky Jones Photography.

By Olivia Miller

From starting a company in the basement of her house with only her son as an employee to a team of over 300 employees serving clients in 11 states and Washington, D.C., Diana Lewis Jackson, founder and president of Action Facilities Management (AFM), embodies hard work and integrity.

“My father made sure I knew the meaning of leaving something better than I found it, and I am committed to providing quality services to customers, taking care of my family and employees and giving back to my community,” she says.

Jackson, a native of Clarksburg, WV, held a number of odd jobs as a kid, but her first paying job was at McDonald’s at 15 years old, where she worked for five years. During those five years, she prided herself on working hard at whatever she was tasked to do and learned the importance of customer satisfaction. After she graduated from Fairmont State University with an associate degree in banking and a bachelor’s degree in accounting, she began her professional career working at Norwest Financial, where she learned how to read customers and ask the right questions in order to determine how to best help them.

“I left Norwest Financial when my mom became ill, and I needed to take care of her,” she says. “After she passed away, Kenneth Jackson, whom I met when I was working at the bank, hired me to help register his company as a federal contractor. Once I fell into the world of government contracting, I never left.”

Kenneth, who is now her husband, encouraged her to form AFM. Jackson set out to specifically provide the government and military with a low risk, high reward partner for their most challenging, high profile and critical facilities.

Based in Morgantown, WV, AFM specializes in self-performing integrated facilities solutions, including operations and maintenance, janitorial and sanitization, administrative and security services.

“I give my son, Don Hill, so much credit—he was all in when I started AFM, even though he was still in high school, and today he is the driving force behind our business development and my CFO,” she says.

In 2020, AFM was named the National Prime Contractor of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Jackson has been awarded several other notable accolades, including West Virginia Minority Small Business of the Year Award by the U.S. SBA and Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the West Virginia Minority Business Administration.

Throughout her career, Jackson has taken on an industry dominated by men. As a Black woman, she frequently ran into customers who did not take her seriously at first.

“Although that has changed somewhat, it really motivated me to overachieve and prove myself by doing more,” she says. “It’s also helped me be grateful for every success and have the confidence that I can handle whatever comes my way. I remain focused on my goal, and I continually look for ways to improve the bottom line for my company and make future plans.”

In the future, Jackson’s goal is to improve AFM’s footprint, both ecologically—potentially working with electric vehicles—and geographically, with hopes to expand the company internationally.

Jackson contributes to several different organizations that are working to improve the lives of West Virginians, especially ones that are geared toward basic necessities, such as education and health care. To her, giving back is just the right thing to do.

Jackson is a current West Virginia University Cancer Institute council member, United Bankshares director and a commissioner of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. She also serves on the boards of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, West Virginia Regional Technology Park and Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation.

“I love West Virginia,” she says. “Aside from growing up here, I truly believe it is one of the most beautiful states in the country and the people are among the most welcoming.”