Kevin Jones

Kevin Jones is the Director of External Affairs for Columbus City Councilmember Nicholas J. Bankston. Columbus is the 14th largest city in the country. Councilmembers serve over 900K residents daily. Kevin’s office spearheads Economic Development, Small and Minority Owned Businesses (SMB’s) and Technology for the City of Columbus.

In 2022- the office successfully created over 1300 jobs, invested over $17M in SMB’s, over $630M in private investments, totaling $1.86B in capital improvements and $300K in technology expansion to close the digital divide in just the first year. His analytical and strategic leadership has helped spearheaded the city’s first SMB Policy Roundup with over 200 stakeholders in the room and he’s worked diligently to foster an environment of equity and inclusion in city Government and accessibility in public service. In 2022 he provided seed funding to multiple organizations and initiatives across the city, yet most notably for We Are Elevate U Foundation, a technology foundation that works to provide capital to small entrepreneurial businesses.

As a Columbus native and civic engagement leader, he has focused on ensuring equitable access and opportunity for underrepresented minorities and residents of the community, whether that be those in poverty and in low income or the new age middle-class. He previously served as the Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of the Central Ohio Young Black Democrats, a Board Member of the Young Professionals Council of Nationwide Hospital, a Board Member of TedxKLB, and Board Member of the RoadMap Team for the Ohio Urban Resource System (OURS). Today, he currently serves as a Board Member of Renew Homes Ohio and as the Civic Engagement Chair for the Columbus Urban League Young Professionals.

In his downtime he enjoys painting, cooking, bowling, traveling, enjoying the company of friends and running his Marketing Strategizing company, KJ Management Firm LLC which also has a subdivision called ImPower Academy which focuses on advocacy opportunities and training for everyday residents and organizations.