Chairman and CEO
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Ken Jones is the Senior Vice President, Managing Director and General Counsel of Communications Equity Associates and its affiliates. Ken assists in the management, sourcing, execution and closing of private equity, investment and merchant banking deals. He has particular expertise in the areas of technology, real estate, intelligence, homeland security, transportation, energy, and the federal government. He manages and oversees all relationships with outside counsel and ensures compliance with all laws and regulations for all business lines. Ken also provides active management and strategic advice for numerous financial investments for the family office of CEA’s chairman as well as one other private family estate.
Prior to joining CEA, Ken spent nearly a decade in high level legal and government positions in Washington, DC. Most recently, Ken served as the Chief Legal Counsel and Senior Staff member for former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and the Senate Rules & Administration Committee. While working for Senator Lott, Ken played a key role in the management, structuring, budgeting and allocation of more than $100 million in federal funding for all standing committees in the U.S. Senate. He also supervised the jurisdiction and oversight for a variety of legislative branch agencies including the U.S. Capitol Police, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, Secretary of the Senate, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Architect of the Capitol, and Government Printing Office with budgets totaling in excess of $3 billion. Ken held multiple top secret security clearances with SCI accesses. One area of expertise Ken focused on was security and intelligence matters. He worked on a regular basis with U.S. Government officials to evaluate and implement systems relating to U.S. Capitol and Congressional security. He was also involved in classified matters for ensuring the continuance of a Constitutional government and served as a security manager for classified information for the U.S. Senate. In addition to legislative branch agency oversight, other jurisdictional areas include federal election law and campaign finance matters, the Federal Election Commission, the Election Assistance Commission as well as Senate Rules governing floor procedure and the credentialing and qualifications for Members of the United States Senate. While working for Senator Lott in 2005, Ken also simultaneously served as the general counsel to the 55th Presidential Inauguration of George W. Bush.
Prior to his tenure in the Senate, Ken practiced at the Washington D.C. law firm Patton Boggs, the largest lobbying and public policy law firm in the U.S. Among his clients were the President, the Bush-Cheney Presidential Campaigns, the Republication National Committee, national trade associations, Fortune 500 companies and members the U.S. Congress. Much of his work centered on public policy, finance and election law as well as Congressional ethics issues. Ken also has experience in complex commercial litigation involving Constitutional law, corporate finance and intellectual property.
During the 2000 Presidential election, Ken served as counsel for the Bush-Cheney Campaign in Palm Beach, Florida where he participated in the overseeing and training of ballot observers during the Florida Presidential recount. Following the 2000 election, he was appointed Chief Counsel to George W. Bush’s Presidential Inaugural Committee. Ken began his career in Washington, DC at the Republican National Committee where he served as Deputy Counsel. Born in New York and raised in Florida, Ken graduated with honors from Florida State University with a degree in communications and criminology and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida.