Jeff Jones

As the senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, Jeff Jones is responsible for partnering with brand leaders to identify and fulfill Ascend’s growth objectives, including researching the competitive landscape and identifying industry and customer trends; sourcing and developing acquisition and partnership opportunities; and providing direction and oversight to the product development process across Ascend.

Jeff was previously Senior Vice President, University Partnerships for Academic Partnerships, where he was responsible for developing new and managing ongoing college and university partnerships to help each partner build and grow successful online programs. Prior to joining Academic Partnerships in 2013, Jeff was Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Ellucian (formerly SunGard Higher Education) where he led the Advancement, Financial Management, and Human Capital Management divisions, three of the five major software segments of the company. Jeff set the future direction for all of the solutions in his portfolio by working closely with customers, partners, and his team. Jeff has held executive leadership positions in the higher education, financial services, venture capital, and healthcare industries in both mature and startup companies.

Jeff is passionate about helping students achieve their dreams and enjoys collaboration and working on cross-functional teams. He enjoys spending time with his wife exploring the Massachusetts North Shore region.