Richard L. Jones, PhD

Richard L. Jones, PhD has served in major leadership roles in the nonprofit sector throughout the country. In 2013, he served as the Senior Vice President of Community Investment of the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. He was responsible for leadership, planning and measurement and execution of United Way’s strategic investments in the areas of income, education and health. Jones also served as the Administrator of Employment and Family Services and the Cuyahoga Support Enforcement Agency for Cuyahoga County in Ohio.

Prior to this position, for 13 years, he served as President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services in Chicago delivering more than $290M in programs and services to more than 600,000 people during his tenure.

Dr. Jones’ leadership is recognized nationally and internationally. Prior to joining Metropolitan Family Services in 1998, he served as Executive Director of Boston Children’s Services in Boston, Massachusetts and also President and CEO of the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland from 1991 until 1998. Dr. Jones has received many awards and served in major leadership roles throughout his career. He was presented the Leadership in Non-profit Award by the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University in 1997; a fellowship to the Harvard Business School in 2005; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for the State of Illinois by the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in 2011.

He has lectured about non-profits in Nicaragua and Kenya and at Boston College, Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University. In the Spring of 2010, Dr. Jones was one of a select group of delegates to participate in the Congress on Social Work and in 2010 and 2011 he served as a co-leader of a delegation of social workers studying the social service system in Russia and Brazil.

Dr. Jones completed his MSSA and Ph.D. at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western University. He has served as the chairman of the board of directors for The Alliance for

Children and Families, The Chicago Alliance for Collaborative Effort, and Assurance Services which is the for-profit arm of the National Association of Social Workers. Previous leadership responsibilities have included serving on the Board of Directors of Leadership Cleveland and the Cleveland United Way; serving as the co-chair of the International Year of the Family and co-chair of the Commission on Chemical Dependency and Child Welfare for the Child Welfare League of America. Recently, Dr. Jones was honored with the title of President Emeritus of Metropolitan Family Services and a building named in his honor.

A graduate of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 1993, Dr. Jones is a member of the Visiting Committee of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University and a recipient of the NASW Social Work Pioneer Award.