David R. Jones

Board Chair  

Mr. Jones is president and chief executive officer of the Community Service Society of New York.  Mr. Jones has led CSS since 1986.  He is an outspoken advocate for low-income New Yorkers, and writes a bi-weekly newspaper column for The New York Amsterdam News titled “The Urban Agenda.” The column serves to educate the public and government officials on issues of importance to minority and poor communities. 

From 1983 to 1986, he served as executive director of the New York City Youth Bureau.  Mr. Jones was special advisor to Mayor Koch from 1979 to 1983 with responsibilities in race relations, urban development, immigration reform, and education. 

A highly respected New York City leader on issues of urban poverty and economic advancement, Mr. Jones was recently appointed to several prominent New York City commissions.  He is Co-Chair of the New York City Council Commission on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity that is making recommendations for the increase in state funding to city schools.  Mayor Bloomberg recently appointed Mr. Jones to the Commission for Economic Opportunity.  He was also a member of the Construction Industry Opportunities Commission.  He serves on the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Policy Advisory Committee.

Mr. Jones is an active participant in many New York City civic and cultural institutions.  Amongst his board affiliations are the New-York Historical Society, the Scherman Foundation, and the Nation Institute. 

From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Jones was chairman of the board of Carver Federal Savings Bank.  He served for 12 years on the board of trustees of Wesleyan University and is now a Trustee Emeritus.  Mr. Jones also served on the board of directors of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and was vice chairman of the Primary Care Development Corporation.

Mr. Jones was a founding member of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and for seven years was President of Black Agency Executives.  For over 10 years he served as a member of the board of directors of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. 

While receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University, Mr. Jones interned for the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C.  He received a Juris Doctor degree from the Yale Law School in 1974, afterwards clerking for Judge Constance Baker Motley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  Mr. Jones was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.  Prior to his nonprofit and public service careers, he specialized in corporate antitrust cases and contract litigation at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.