Head of Georgia Kia plant dies on business trip; was Macon native

The head of the Kia manufacturing plant in west Georgia, a Macon native and well-known business leader across the region, died Friday while on a business trip, according to published reports.

J. Randy Jackson, a company vice president with nearly four decades of experience in the automobile industry, may have suffered a heart attack while on board a plane at the Seattle airport, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which confirmed Jackson’s death Saturday.

The newspaper said he was on a business trip to South Korea, where Kia is headquartered.

Jackson, who was in his late 50s, was the first American hired by the company.

He spoke to Macon-area manufacturers at a luncheon in April of last year.

Jackson, born in Macon, moved to Jones County with his family when he was about 9. He graduated from Jonesco Academy in 1975 and four years later earned a degree in industrial psychology at the University of Georgia.

Jackson told The Telegraph in a 2015 interview that as a high schooler he worked with Phil Walden at the famed Capricorn Studios.

“I learned a lot from those folks about how to negotiate contracts,” Jackson said.

Before joining Kia’s West Point facility in July 2007, Jackson worked for Toyota and Mercedes-Benz, where he was general manager of human resources.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Head of Georgia Kia plant dies on business trip; was Macon native."