AJ Jones II was appointed executive vice president, chief strategic and corporate communications officer at Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), a leading sports and entertainment company.
Reporting directly to Ted Leonsis, the company’s founder, chairman, managing partner, and chief executive officer, Jones is now responsible for developing, executing and amplifying MSE’s brand and corporate narrative; leading ownership, financial, investor, and community-based communications; overseeing the company’s broader investor relations and stakeholder engagement strategies; and serving as a member of MSE’s leadership team.
Jones joins MSE from Starbucks Coffee Company, where he served in multiple leadership roles, including executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer, and executive vice president and chief communications and public affairs officer. In those roles he led the company’s global communications, partner (employee) communications and social media platforms; corporate and investor communications; brand-product communications and experiences; Starbucks Entertainment; global government affairs; Social Impact; and Starbucks Foundation teams worldwide. He also played a pivotal role in Starbucks’ global growth by fostering public-private partnerships to spearhead economic development.
Additionally, Jones served as lead executive for the company’s Board of Directors Environmental, Partner, and Community Impact Committee, was an executive sponsor of the Armed Forces Partner Network, and was a governing member of the Global Brand Council. Before his tenure at Starbucks, he held senior executive roles in Fortune 500 companies, top-ranked agencies, and leading philanthropic and governmental intuitions, working in Hong Kong, South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and Switzerland.
“The future of major league sports and media is increasingly global, with success driven by delivering highly personalized, premium services for consumers. AJ’s track record of working in senior communications roles with international brands that prioritize outstanding customer engagement makes him a perfect fit to contribute to our next phase of growth,” commented Zach Leonsis, president of Media & New Enterprises for MSE.
Jones currently is actively involved in the Washington Economic Club, Executive Leadership Council, World Fifty Group, and is an executive member of the Forbes Communications Council and Fast Company Executive Board member.
Damon Evans is the new director of athletics at Southern Methodist University. Evans takes over an SMU Athletics Department on the ascendancy. In 2023–24, SMU set a program record with eight championship teams, including a second straight National Equestrian Championship and seven conference titles. Mustang student-athletes won 28 individual or event conference championships and earned more than 100 all-conference honors across 17 programs.
Evans previously served as the top athletics administrator at the University of Maryland and the University of Georgia. He was named the Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics at the University of Maryland in June 2018. Under his leadership, the Terrapins won 49 Big Ten championships and tournament titles. The program earned seven national championships since 2014, when Evans joined Maryland as the executive athletic director and chief financial officer. He oversaw a department with 20 varsity sports, 500 student-athletes, a full-time staff of over 200 and an annual budget exceeding $120 million.
Before Maryland, Evans held several management roles in the private sector, including as managing partner at Evolution Sports Partners in New Jersey, vice president of fundraising at IMG College in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he was tasked with developing the company’s fundraising arm – and vice president of business development at the Markley Group in Boston, Massachusetts.
As the University of Georgia’s athletics director from 2004 to 2010, Evans oversaw a program with 600 student-athletes, a staff of 250, and an $85 million budget. During his tenure, the Bulldogs won 13 national championships and 19 SEC titles. Under his leadership, Georgia consistently ranked in the top 10 of the Learfield Director’s Cup and grew its athletic department reserve fund by more than $56 million, reaching $65 million in just six years. In 2009, Evans was named the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year for the Division I Southeast Region. He earned the Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” award in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
Evans was a four-year starter on Georgia’s football team, playing in three bowl games under the legendary Coach Vince Dooley. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in sport management, both from Georgia. He and his wife, Kerri, have two children, Cameron and Kennedy. He was recently appointed to a three-year term to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. He is also a member of the NCAA Transformation Committee and has served as chair of the NCAA Leadership Council.
