A career spent building, running, and backing companies.
Gregory K. Jones has operated and managed four companies as CEO or President, including two publicly traded companies, building one business to more than $450 million in revenue in four years. His direct operating experience includes a publicly traded call center services company serving major corporations, including telecommunications, internet, and email.
- Internet commerce
- Business services
- Distribution (particularly pick, pack & ship) and direct marketing
- Technology-related businesses
Over more than two decades as a private-markets investor, he served as president of a firm with more than $4 billion of committed capital, helping finance more than 100 businesses and serving on more than 30 company boards, many as lead director.
- Technology
- Industrial & manufacturing
- Business services
- Healthcare
Full background
Gregory K. Jones is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of DawnAscent Capital, which he established with a small group of colleagues. DawnAscent is a family office that invests across asset classes, sectors, and structures, and welcomes introductions from prospective companies.
Before founding DawnAscent, he spent more than two decades as president of a Chicago-based private-markets firm with more than $4 billion in committed capital. Over that tenure he led more than 100 private-market transactions and served on more than 30 portfolio company boards, many as lead director, across technology, industrial and manufacturing, business services, and healthcare.
Earlier in his career, he held chief executive and senior management roles at three companies. He co-founded uBid.com, a leading online auction marketplace, and served as its CEO and Chairman, building revenue to approximately $450 million within four years and taking the company public; it was subsequently sold for nearly $500 million. Before uBid.com, he was Senior Vice President at APAC Teleservices, where revenue grew from $100 million to $276 million alongside a successful public offering. Earlier still, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of The Reliable Corporation of Chicago, a $200 million direct-marketing business later sold to Boise Cascade.
He is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago Commonwealth Club, and the Economic Club of Chicago. He received the State of Michigan Leadership Award and was named an Ernst & Young and KPMG Entrepreneur of the Year. He was inducted into the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, is an Entrepreneurial Fellow at Miami University, Ohio, and was named to Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40. A past Chicago Chapter Chairman of the Young Presidents’ Organization and a member of YPO Skyline. He is also a member of the Chief Executives Organization and served on its International Board.
He has held significant civic and nonprofit leadership roles, including past board chairman of Endeavor Health and board service with the Accelerate Institute, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Miami University’s Business Advisory Council. He received the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Leadership in Science and Education Award in 2018 and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation Self Above Service Award in 2021.
He holds a B.S. in marketing from Miami University, Ohio, and an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.