| Jeff Jones | |
| Birth Name: | Jeffrey J. Jones II |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Business executive |
| Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
Jeffrey J. Jones II (born 1967) is an American business executive. He is president and chief executive officer of H&R Block, and formerly held executive posts with Target Corporation, Uber and Gap Inc.
Jeff Jones is an alumnus of Fork Union Military Academy.[3] In 1990, he graduated from the University of Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts in communication.[4]
At The Gap, Inc., Jones was executive vice president and chief marketing officer. He led the company's global marketing strategy in addition to store redesign and experience, and consumer communications.[5] Jones led a move toward Web-based marketing and helped create partnerships with iTunes, Kodak and Borders Books.[6] Jones is also noted for tapping Sarah Jessica Parker to promote The Gap's fashion.[7] Jones also worked for The Coca-Cola Company, where he was global account director.[8] [9] [10]
In addition, Jones worked for the advertising agency Leo Burnett Company, Inc., where he performed work for clients including General Motors Company, MillerCoors, and Procter & Gamble Co. and founded a tech-focused subsidiary called LB Works.[10] [11] He also worked for McKinney, a Durham, North Carolina-based advertising agency where he was a partner and president, and served on its board.[10] [11] [12] At McKinney, Jones instituted a 10-percent rule, which stipulated that members of his team spend one-tenth of their time focused on non-client projects.[7]
Jones left McKinney for Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Target in 2012.[13] At Target, Jones was executive vice president and chief marketing officer.[14] Jones is credited with modernizing Target's brand.[13] He helped drive the brand's positioning through a number of campaigns and partnerships, such as The Holiday Odyssey adventure and musical events including the rollout of Target's exclusive edition of Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience and live music video commercial from Gwen Stefani during the Grammy Awards.[15] [16] He created Falling for You, a three-part short film starring Kristen Bell,[16] integrated the Target/Neiman Marcus collection into the plot of an episode of ABC's Revenge, and oversaw the campaign to promote Timberlake's album across radio, TV, Web, and social media.[16] Target underwent several struggles during Jones' tenure. He helped the retailer recover from a data breach in 2013. The data breach, which occurred shortly before Christmas, led to CEO Gregg Steinhafel's resignation.[9] The company also underwent a failed expansion into Canada.[17]
At Target, Jones stressed the need for content creation as a form of marketing and brand building.[10] Progressive Grocer called Jones the "architect of Target’s on-demand shopping experience".[5] He helped launch the savings app Cartwheel[18] and oversaw the extension of naming rights for the Target Center in Minneapolis.[19] HuffPost named Jones on its list of Top Social CMOs of Fortune 250 Companies on Twitter in 2013, The Wall Street Journal listed Jones on its 5 CMOs to Watch in 2015, and Mass Market Retailer awarded Jones as the 2015 Marketer of the Year.[5] Jones left Target in 2016 to join Uber.[17]
Jones first met Uber CEO Travis Kalanick in February 2016 at the TED conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[20] The two discussed ways that Uber could improve its reputation.[21] Jones left Target on September 9, 2016, to become the president of Uber.[15] In that role, Jones was in charge of the company's marketing and operations.[15] He was also tasked with improving Uber's reputation amid fast growth and increased scrutiny.[17] While at Uber, Jones was named one of Ad Ages 2016 Power Players.[22] Jones worked at Uber for six months before leaving the company in March 2017.[9] He was among several top executives to leave Uber during a period when the company faced numerous controversies, including sexual harassment in the workplace.[13] At the time, he was the highest-ranking departure.[17] Jones released a statement upon his departure: "It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business".
Jones took his first chief executive post when became president and CEO of H&R Block, a Kansas City, Missouri-based tax preparer, on October 9, 2017.[13] He replaced Tom Gerke, who was interim CEO following the retirement of former CEO Bill Cobb.[13] [9] Jones is responsible for growing the company to better compete with TurboTax by Intuit and other online tax preparers. He has said he sees H&R Block as a financial services company and a retail company, and aims to grow the company by diversifying its services.[9] He sits on H&R Block's board of directors.[23]
Jones is on the board of directors of Advance Auto Parts.[24] He is a former member of the board of directors of the Association of National Advertisers and an advisor to Zoove Corp.[25] In 2017, he joined media startup Brit + Co as an advisor.[26]
Jones and his wife, Margaret, have two daughters.[3] After being hired as CEO of H&R Block, Jones said he would move his family to Kansas City, Missouri.[27]