Bio: Jesse R. Jones

As the President & CEO of the Ohio IT Alliance, Jesse Jones is responsible for establishing the vision of the organization and leading the implementation of the OITA’s overall strategies.

Jesse works with all six member agencies of the alliance (located in Athens, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo) to ensure alignment of initiatives, optimization of financial resources and aggregation of opportunities, both statewide and nationally.

An experienced and versatile executive, Jesse was formerly the chief technology officer for the City of Columbus where he managed the division responsible for the operation of the city’s 12 service departments with an annual budget of $540 million. Improvements Jesse made during his tenure with the city resulted in close to $5 million in savings, and the community programs he implemented brought documented success in increasing computer competency in the Columbus area. Jesse’s work in bringing over 200 city services together online also earned Columbus 11th place in Brown University’s ranking of top E-Government Solutions in the United States.

Prior to joining the City of Columbus, Jesse spent almost a decade working in federal government for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), in a variety of IT leadership roles. Notably, Jesse led the organization that provides mainframe executive systems, capacity/configuration, database and automation management services to support 254 Military Installation Commissioners, 150 Contract Administration Offices, 250 Internet sites, the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, U. S. Customs, all branches of the Military service, Defense Logistics Agency, and Defense Finance and Accounting.

Also while with DISA, Jesse co-authored the DISA (agency-wide) Information Technology Capital Investment guidance, working directly with the agency’s CIO to formulate the strategy and policy to satisfy key federal legislation mandates for IT Capital Investing.

Jesse holds a Master of Science in Information Management from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Wilberforce University. In addition, Jesse is a graduate of the rigorous Advanced Management Program and Federal Chief Information Officer programs at the Information Resources Management College of the National Defense University (NDU).

Jesse holds numerous technical certifications and has received many awards for his service in the IT Industry. He serves on the (Ohio) Governor’s Council for Electronic Commerce and participates in the PTI (Public Technology Incorporated) Telecommunication and Information Technology Task Force (TITTF). He is also the Chairman of the Education Subcommittee for the United Way of Central Ohio Information Technology Community Collaborative, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Central Ohio Breathing Association.