James Robert Jones

A Representative from Oklahoma; born in Muskogee, Muskogee County, Okla., May 5, 1939; attended Sacred Heart School, Muskogee, Okla.; graduated, Muskogee Central High School, 1957; B.A.., University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1961; LL.B., Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., 1964; served in United States Army Counterintelligence Corps, captain, 1964-1965; United States Army Reserve, 1961-1968; admitted to the Oklahoma and District of Columbia bars in 1964 and commenced practice in Tulsa; legislative assistant to United States Representative Ed Edmondson, 1961-1964; special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965-1969; resumed the practice of law in Tulsa, 1969-1972; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1984; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-third and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1973-January 3, 1987); chairman, Committee on the Budget (Ninety-seventh and Ninety-eighth Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundredth Congress in 1986, but was an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Senate; resumed the practice of law; chairman, American Stock Exchange, November 1989- 1993; appointed by President Clinton as Ambassador to Mexico and served from 1993-1997; is a resident of Tulsa, Okla., and Washington, D.C. Mr. Jones’ practice focuses on international trade, investment and commerce, business-government relations and financial services. A former U.S. Ambassador and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Jones has also worked extensively with global distribution and marketing organizations targeting Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Jones currently provides business development advice and consulting for clients primarily in Mexico and Latin America. For example, he provides strategic advice to Toyota and assisted them to enter the automobile market in Mexico. He works with energy firms such as Williams and ConocoPhillips in Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador. He represented MetLife in its purchase of a privatized Mexican insurance company, as well as a US-Mexico joint venture to build a water treatment project in Mexico. He also is assisting a U.S. developer establish projects in Mexico and a Class I U.S. railroad with transportation investments in Mexico and Panama. Additionally, Mr. Jones counsels clients on both business and government strategies in the U.S. Mr. Jones was only 28 when President Lyndon Johnson selected him as Appointments Secretary, the position presently entitled Chief of Staff.  He was the youngest person in history to hold this position. Ambassador Jones has been a director since 1998. He has been Co- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Manatt Jones Global Strategies, LLC, a global business consulting firm, since 2001. He has been Senior Counsel in the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP since 1998. He was President of Warnaco International, an apparel company, from 1997 to 1998. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from 1993 to 1997. He is also a director of Kansas City Southern.