January 14, 2004 U.S. Department of Education Official To Deliver African American History Month Keynote Address

Brian W. Jones, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Education, will deliver the keynote address for the Library’s observation of African American History Month, at 10 a.m., Monday, Feb. 9, in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public.

Nominated by President Bush on April 30, 2001, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 14, 2001, Jones is the fourth highest ranking officer of the Department of Education. As general counsel, he serves as principal adviser to the secretary of education on all legal matters affecting the department’s programs and activities. He also serves as a member of the secretary's Executive Team, the principal policymaking body of the department.

Jones received a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a major in finance from Georgetown University and has a law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. He began his legal career as a litigator in San Francisco. This was followed by experience in federal and state government, and in the private sector.

Before returning to private practice in 1999, Jones served as deputy legal affairs secretary to California Gov. Pete Wilson and as counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, where he worked on nominations, constitutional law and civil rights issues. He also served as president of the Center for New Black Leadership (CNBL), a national public policy think tank in Washington, where he frequently wrote and lectured on a variety of issues and testified before the U.S. Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Labor and Human Resources. During his tenure at CNBL, he provided on-air political and news analysis to the MSNBC television network.