George & Barbara Bush Foundation Announces Leadership Transition

New leadership is coming to the George & Barbara Bush Foundation.

Chief executive officer David Jones has announced his retirement, effective June 5.

Jones, who is in his fourth year with the foundation, will become a senior advisor focusing on the organization’s current fundraising campaign.

A search committee has been formed and a search firm has been hired.

Leading the foundation on an interim basis will be Andrew Card, a long time member of the foundation, a former Bush School acting dean, and a member of the staffs of presidents George and George W. Bush.

News release from the George & Barbara Bush Foundation:

The George & Barbara Bush Foundation today announced that David B. Jones is retiring as Chief Executive Officer effective June 5, 2020. Jones, 75, took over the CEO role in 2016 after retiring from Dini Partners, a leading nonprofit fundraising consultancy in Houston, Texas. Jones will become a senior advisor to the Foundation focused on the current fundraising campaign.

Andrew Card, long-time Foundation board member and former White House Chief of Staff, will serve as Interim CEO. Alexander Ellis III, who chairs the Foundation’s board of directors, said the Foundation has hired Heidrick & Struggles to conduct a search for the new CEO, and has formed a Search Committee which includes five board members and Mark Welsh, Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service and Tyson Voelkel, President of the Texas A&M Foundation.

“David has been a terrific CEO for the Foundation, spearheading key initiatives to expand the Presidential Center and Library, managing the Foundation through the loss of both President Bush and Mrs. Bush, and planning a key legacy fundraising campaign to help secure our future,” said Ellis. “We will miss his leadership but are very pleased he will continue to play an important role in the legacy fundraising campaign we have initiated this year. He has been a strong and loyal fixture in Bush Family initiatives for decades, including helping to raise the initial capital to launch the Bush Center and Foundation in 1993.”

“It has been a distinct honor for me to play a leading role in President and Mrs. Bush’s Foundation for these last four years,” Jones said. “They are two of the finest people I have ever met, and having the opportunity to work with them on their Foundation and its vision and goals has been a very special honor and experience.”

About the George & Barbara Bush Foundation

The George & Barbara Bush Foundation is headquartered in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University – a university with which it shares strong ties. The Foundation supports both The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum also located on the Texas A&M campus, while promoting President and Mrs. Bush’s legacies for the benefit of future generations. More information: georgeandbarbarabush.org