10-26-2023 Howard - Flipbook - Page 12
3 THINGS
BY ALLANA HAYNES Howard Magazine
Jennifer Jones
CEO, Howard County Economic
Development Authority
PHOTO BY JERRY JACKSON
As the daughter of a small business owner
in Howard County, Jennifer Jones, CEO of
the Howard County Economic Development
Authority now works to help small businesses
in the county grow.
Overseeing business units that focus on different programs and resources for businesses
in the county, she is passionate about making
sure businesses in her community succeed.
Here are three things you might not know
about Jones:
She grew up in Howard County.
Graduating from Wilde Lake High School,
she followed in her father’s footsteps earning
her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
from Purdue University and her juror doctor
master of business administration degree
from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
Beginning her career as a senior consultant
at Ernst and Young, her work later took her as
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| Fall 2023 | howardmagazine.com
far as London.
Wanting to be closer to home, she returned
to the county to work in the office of County
Executive Calvin Ball as deputy chief of staff
and as a business development strategist,
visiting businesses across the county to gain a
sense of their needs.
Her previous roles in the county allowed
her to develop close relationships with HCEDA staff that made for a smooth transition
into her role as CEO.
“What attracted me to coming back to
Howard County is that I could take all of the
things that I learned throughout the world
and apply it to the county I love,” she said.
“I feel at home here, this is where I grew up,
so I could take all the things that I learned
and focus on making sure Howard County
businesses thrive.”
She lives in Columbia five minutes
away from where she grew up.
Living in downtown Columbia, she enjoys
eating at The Collective Offshore and GrillMarx Steakhouse and Raw Bar, listening to
live music at Merriweather Post Pavilion and
walking around Lake Kittamaqundi.
“I like that there’s a lot of things in walking
distance,” she said. “I’ve spent most of my
time in big cities and I still like that city-feel
where you can walk outside of your place and
hit things pretty quickly and not have to get
in your car and downtown Columbia provides
that for me.”
She enjoys looking through
her telescope.
“During the pandemic, it was very stressful,
so I bought [a telescope] off of Amazon and
was like, ‘Let me just do something where I
can kind of relax for a little bit,’” she said. “I’m
definitely an amateur, but it helped me.”