LeRoy Jones serves as the current Chairman of the Essex County Democratic Committee. Prior to his chairmanship, LeRoy Jones joined 1868 Public Affairs after a distinguished career as a State Legislator, County Freeholder and municipal government administrator. He served four terms in the New Jersey General Assembly – including two years as Deputy Minority Leader – where he worked on the Appropriations, Regulatory Oversight, Solid Waste and Recycling, Financial Institutions and Local Government committees, as well as the Assembly Task Force on Foreign Banking and Task Force on Business Retention and Expansion. He also served on the State House Commission.
As a two-term Essex County Freeholder, Mr. Jones served as Chairman of the Budget Committee, on the Minority Affairs Committee and on the Essex County Planning Board. He served as the City Administrator of East Orange for seven years where he was responsible for developing the city’s $100 million operating budget, served as the chief liaison between the Mayor and Council and managed the city’s ten department heads. He also served in various positions at PSE&G in his professional career, including Business Development Manager, Director of Workforce Diversity and Public Affairs Manager. Prior to that he worked for AT&T Corp. as a Senior Accounting Specialist, Assistant Manager for Corporate Taxes and Internal Auditor.
Mr. Jones is an experienced local, county and state-level public servant and a distinguished corporate executive. His record of developing and implementing strategic and operational corporate plans gives him unique insight into the day-to-day issues facing our corporate clients. His experience as a Freeholder and Assemblyman give him an unparalleled ability to represent the interests of our clients at all levels of government.
Mr. Jones was appointed by Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver as a Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority in 2012.He is currently the East Orange Democratic Municipal Committee Chairman, a position to which he was elected in 2002 and has been re-elected to four times. Jones served as the Essex County Campaign Director for Governor Jon Corzine’s 2009 re-election campaign, where he helped lead Governor Corzine to one the largest Democratic voter pluralities in the history of New Jersey. He also served as Co-Campaign Chairman for Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, won re-election to an unprecedented third term in November of 2010.
Mr. Jones is a Trustee of the Essex County Democratic Committee, a post to which he was appointed by Essex County Democratic Chairman Philip Thigpen in 2002. He also an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University, where he has taught Public Policy for the last six years. He has appeared on numerous public opinion television and radio talk shows and is a frequent expert contributor on Fox Network/ My 9 “New Jersey Now”.
He is a past member of the American Red Cross Board of Directors, the North Atlantic Aviation Board, the East Orange Charter School Board of Directors, the East Orange General Hospital Board of Trustees, the Inroads of New Jersey Board of Directors, the Junior Achievement of New Jersey Board, and the Essex-West Hudson Labor Council.
A resident of East Orange, Mr. Jones holds a Master’s Degree in Business Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Seton Hall University.