Van Jones

Van Jones is a media personality, the founder of multiple social enterprises, and a world-class change maker.

A three-time New York Times bestselling author, Jones hosts two shows on CNN: “The Van Jones Show” and “The Redemption Project.” He is the host of CNN’s Incarceration, Inc. podcast series. In 2013-2014, Jones was a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," along with Newt Gingrich; he later hosted a special event series on CNN called “The Messy Truth.” He is the co-founder of Magic Labs Media LLC, a producer of the WEBBY Award-winning Messy Truth digital series.

Jones has also found success as a social entrepreneur. He has been a leader in the fight for criminal justice reform for more than 25 years. To achieve his goals, Jones co-founded a series of social enterprises, including: Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, ColorOfChange.org, GreenForAll.org, Rebuild The Dream, and the Dream Corps. The Dream Corps houses three social impact initiatives: #YesWeCode, Green For All, and #cut50. Today, Jones is the CEO of the REFORM Alliance, an initiative founded by Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and six billionaires to transform the criminal justice system.

In 2018, Jones and #cut50 led the winning campaign to pass the FIRST STEP Act -- a bipartisan federal bill that the New York Times called the most substantial breakthrough in criminal justice in a generation. This was not Jones’ first history-making legislative victory: a decade earlier, he was the primary champion of the Green Jobs Act of 2007. In 2009, he worked as the Green jobs advisor to the Obama White House.

Jones has won numerous awards, including the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader” designation; Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done”; TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in The World”; the 2010 NAACP Image Award; a 2017 WEBBY special achievement award; a 2019 Lumiere Award; and a 2020 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Interactive Program.

Jones earned a BS in communication and political science from the University of Tennessee at Martin and his law degree from Yale Law School.