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Jones

C. Ray Jones

  • UWF BEI Chairperson

Biography

C. Ray Jones is a native of Rockingham, North Carolina. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina, he received a commission in the U.S. Navy through NROTC and completed Supply Corps School. He is a combat veteran in the "Brown Water Navy" in Vietnam.

His Navy obligation completed, he joined the Navy Exchange System in Yokosuka, Japan, next served in the home office then in Brooklyn, New York. He later became the district manager in Pensacola for the Gulf States Region that included all Navy bases in west Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi—with annual sales exceeding $100MM. He developed all of the current Navy Exchange facilities in the region (retail stores, service businesses and hotels), including the sitting/construction of the Navy Shopping Mall in Pensacola.

He earned an MBA from the University of West Florida in 1978.

Following retirement, Ray opened a financial and investment business that included the development of the Suburban Extended Hotel in Pensacola.

Ray is married to Hilda Jones (45 years) and they have two children: Alyson—Director of Dance at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, California, and Megan—U.S. Consul in Venice, Italy.

In the community, he helped establish the Ever’Man Food Co-op, served as President of Creative Learning Academy, President of the North Hill Preservation Association, President of the Japan–America Society, and currently serves as Treasurer of Christ Episcopal Church, Vice-President of the UWF Foundation and Chair of its Investment Committee, Pensacola Architectural Review Board, the Rotary Club of Pensacola (Paul Harris Fellow), and Treasurer of The Global Corer.