Kelly Jones

Chief External Relations Officer, A Better Chicago

Kelly Jones is the Chief External Relations Officer at A Better Chicago, a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that finds, funds and scales outstanding organizations providing educational opportunity for Chicago’s youth. In this role, Kelly is responsible for leading A Better Chicago’s marketing, fundraising and co-investment efforts to the end of raising $110M between 2015 and 2025. Kelly previously served as a Portfolio Director at A Better Chicago, managing a portfolio of six grantees toward the goal of meeting ambitious program and scale outcomes.

Prior to joining A Better Chicago, Kelly spent seven years at Teach For America- Chicago + Northwest Indiana, most recently as the Senior Managing Director of Partnerships. In this role, Kelly was responsible for managing relationships with key stakeholders, including district, charter and community partners. Earlier in her career, Kelly was a middle school teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kelly lives in Ravenswood where she is actively involved in the community as a yoga instructor and advocate for public schools. She holds a BA in history from Indiana University Bloomington and is an alum of the Greater Good Program for Nonprofit Leaders in partnership with the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and the All State Foundation.