Drax Appoints Deidra L. Jackson as Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs for North America

MONROE, La., July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Drax Group, a global leader in renewable energy and carbon removals, has appointed Deidra L. Jackson as Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs North America, effective August 4. Jackson will be responsible for leading the corporate affairs strategy and stakeholder engagement across the region, including government relations, media, industry partnerships, and community outreach.

A seasoned executive with over two decades of experience, Jackson brings a distinctive blend of expertise in public affairs, corporate communications, and policy advocacy, honed through leadership roles at global consulting firms and major energy and chemical companies. Most recently, she served as Chief External Affairs Officer at Ridgeline Advocacy Group and Senior Advisor at FTI Consulting where she advised Fortune 500 clients on complex communications challenges, ESG strategy, and regulatory engagement.

Jackson has also held senior roles at BASF, ICF Consulting, Shell Oil Products US, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she led initiatives spanning stakeholder activism, crisis management, corporate philanthropy, and workforce development. Her ability to navigate the intersection of business, policy, and reputation has earned her recognition as a trusted advisor to corporate leaders and policymakers alike.

Based in Washington, D.C., Jackson is known for building high-impact partnerships across government, industry, and civil society. She has led multimillion-dollar public affairs campaigns, managed stakeholder coalitions in highly regulated sectors, and helped companies successfully position themselves within emerging markets such as clean energy, sustainable manufacturing, and carbon capture.

Deidra will report into Drax Group's Chief Sustainability Officer Miguel Veiga-Pestana, who welcomed the appointment: "Deidra brings a fantastic wealth of skills and experience to the company, and I'm looking forward to her joining the team. We have a great story to tell about how we are supporting local communities, economies, and energy security and she will be instrumental in leading our work in this area." 

Deidra commented "I'm honored to join Drax at such a critical moment in the global energy transition. I look forward to working with our partners across North America to build a cleaner, more secure energy future, one that delivers real value for communities, customers, and the planet."

About Drax

Drax Group's mission is to help meet the world's increasing demand for secure energy, sustainably, and to reach net zero by the end of 2040 across our value chain. By supporting biodiversity across our sites and in our value chain by the end of 2030 and seeking to make a positive contribution to the lives and livelihoods of our colleagues, communities, and workers in our supply chain, Drax is committed to being climate, nature, and people positive in our operations.

Drax's around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com/us 

Pellet production and supply: 
The Group has 18 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around five million tons a year.

The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests that deliver climate, nature and people positive outcomes, adhering to strict compliance, traceability, and third-party certification standards. These pellets are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.

Drax's pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK's homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.

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SOURCE Drax Group