AJ Jones II

AJ Jones II is a globally recognized corporate executive and communication leader with a professional background in media-entertainment, retail, financial services, celebrity entertainment, technology, investor relations, philanthropy, and international policy. AJ has significant executive experience in corporate, governmental, multilateral, and civil-society sectors. As a global professional, he has worked internationally in: Hong Kong, South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Switzerland. Furthermore, AJ has extensive business development experience in emerging markets and in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Currently, AJ is the Executive Vice President, Chief Strategic and Corporate Communications Officer at Monumental Sports and Entertainment (MSE) Company reporting to the Chairman and CEO. In this role, he oversees the development, execution and amplification of MSE’s brand and corporate narratives; corporate stakeholder engagement strategies; and the advancement of MSE’s corporate growth initiatives and implementation of its business objectives across the company’s media-entertainment and sports ecosystem including: National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), Women’s National Basketball Association (WBNA), professional esports gaming, Capital One Arena and other entertainment venues, and the MNMT media which is distributed on linear television and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. AJ also oversee all consumer, fan, employee, media-entertainment, and brand-experience communications, as well corporate marketing, financial communications and investor relations.

Previously, AJ was the Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Starbucks and reported to the CEO. He led the company’s global government affairs and public policy divisions, as well as Community Impact, Social Impact, Starbucks Foundation and Starbucks Alumni functions worldwide. Additionally, he co-led our continued expansion in international and emerging markets through public-private partnerships and government-focused initiatives. Furthermore, he served as the lead executive for our Board of Directors Environmental, Partner and Community Impact Committee, and governing member of the company’s Global Brand Council.

Before joining Starbucks, AJ was the Chief Corporate Affairs & Communications Officer for Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VNDA), a global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to this position, AJ was a c-suite executive at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation – one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world.