3 THINGSBY ALLANA HAYNES Howard MagazineJennifer JonesCEO, Howard County EconomicDevelopment AuthorityPHOTO BY JERRY JACKSONAs the daughter of a small business ownerin Howard County, Jennifer Jones, CEO ofthe Howard County Economic DevelopmentAuthority now works to help small businessesin the county grow.Overseeing business units that focus on different programs and resources for businessesin the county, she is passionate about makingsure businesses in her community succeed.Here are three things you might not knowabout Jones:She grew up in Howard County.Graduating from Wilde Lake High School,she followed in her father’s footsteps earningher bachelor’s degree in electrical engineeringfrom Purdue University and her juror doctormaster of business administration degreefrom Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.Beginning her career as a senior consultantat Ernst and Young, her work later took her as12| Fall 2023 | howardmagazine.comfar as London.Wanting to be closer to home, she returnedto the county to work in the office of CountyExecutive Calvin Ball as deputy chief of staffand as a business development strategist,visiting businesses across the county to gain asense of their needs.Her previous roles in the county allowedher to develop close relationships with HCEDA staff that made for a smooth transitioninto her role as CEO.“What attracted me to coming back toHoward County is that I could take all of thethings that I learned throughout the worldand 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 learnedand focus on making sure Howard Countybusinesses thrive.”She lives in Columbia five minutesaway from where she grew up.Living in downtown Columbia, she enjoyseating at The Collective Offshore and GrillMarx Steakhouse and Raw Bar, listening tolive music at Merriweather Post Pavilion andwalking around Lake Kittamaqundi.“I like that there’s a lot of things in walkingdistance,” she said. “I’ve spent most of mytime in big cities and I still like that city-feelwhere you can walk outside of your place andhit things pretty quickly and not have to getin your car and downtown Columbia providesthat for me.”She enjoys looking throughher telescope.“During the pandemic, it was very stressful,so I bought [a telescope] off of Amazon andwas like, ‘Let me just do something where Ican kind of relax for a little bit,’” she said. “I’mdefinitely an amateur, but it helped me.”
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