Derek “Pres” Jackson is the founder and CEO of the Collegiate Entertainers Group, INC. (NCEG).

Born in 1992, Derek came of age during Atlanta’s peak period for music superstars. It was this inspiration that led him to start his first entertainment-related business at the age of 15.

However, after finding some independent success, and seeking to gain more knowledge via the university system, Jackson was surprised to find a lack of institutional support for the entrepreneurial side of this multi-billion dollar industry. So, with the help of some like-minded peers, NCEG was established to launch a new frontier for the music industry. 

The National Collegiate Entertainers Group (NCEG) is a student-led movement designed to fundamentally change how talent is discovered in the music industry. Pioneered in 2013, on the campus of Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA), the organization establishes a standardized and replicable system for cultivating music professionals. As a result, students are given the opportunity to collaborate, innovate, and compare their results with peers from any college or university where a NCEG chapter is present.

Whereas traditional music business programs establish a basis for comprehending the industry at large, the NCEG system is unique in its ability to provide students with applicable skills training that subsidizes what they’re learning elsewhere. In other words, for the first time ever, students now have the ability to incubate their independent music business within the safety of the national university system regardless of their geographic location or area of study.

As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, the group’s primary objective is to establish a national scholarship program to support aspiring music professionals that will rival the level of opportunity and national recognition that the NCAA provides for college athletes.