Shannon Jones is a Republican elected official from the state of Ohio. She served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009 and later served as a member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 7th District from 2009 to 2016. Jones was the first Republican woman in Ohio to serve in the leadership of the majority party in both chambers. She is currently a Warren County, Ohio Commissioner and serves as the Executive Director of Groundwork Ohio.
Early life and career
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Jones worked as chief of staff for Congressman Steve Chabot, as a regional representative for then State Treasurer Joe Deters, and as a district director for U.S. Senator Mike DeWine. She also served as the Executive Director of the Hamilton County Republican Party and as the campaign manager on the Congressional campaigns of Chabot and Mike Turner. When incumbent Tom Raga was tapped by Ken Blackwell to run for Lieutenant Governor, Jones was mentioned as a potential replacement, and she eventually declared her candidacy. In the heavily Republican district, Jones won easily in 2006, and reelection in 2008. She served as House Assistant Majority Whip for the 127th General Assembly.
Ohio Senate
, who had held the 7th Senate District since 2003, was unable to run again in 2010. Jones and former Representative Michelle Schneider both sought to replace him. However, Schuler died in June 2009, almost a year before the 2010 primary. The Senate Republicans had to appoint an interim senator to serve out the rest of Schuler's term. Among those who were named as potential appointees were Jones, Schneider and former Representative Tom Brinkman. Senate Republicans appointed Jones to fill the vacant Senate seat. In 2010, Jones won the primary over Schneider by over 8,000 votes. She handily won the general election in 2010. For the 128th General Assembly, Jones was appointed Vice Chair of the Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee. She was also a member of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor, Government Oversight, and Health, Human Services and Aging Committee. The senator was also appointed to the newly formed, six-member bipartisan Budget and Planning Commission, which is tasked with exploring long-term solutions to Ohio's budget challenges. In the 129th General Assembly, Senate colleagues chose Jones to serve as the Senate majority whip. Senate President Tom Niehaus also named Jones as a member of the Senate Rules and Reference Committee; Energy and Public Utilities Committee; Finance Committee ; Health, Human Services and Aging; and Insurance, Commerce and Labor. She also served as a member of the Controlling Board; the Joint Legislative Committee for Unified Long-Term Services and Supports; the Legislative Service Commission; and the Warren County Transportation Improvement District. Jones was re-elected in 2014, and ran successfully for county commissioner for Warren County in 2016. As such, she resigned from the Senate prior to the expiration of her term in January 2017.
Legislation
Jones introduced SB 5 in 2011, which limited collective bargaining for public workers. Americans for Prosperity commended Senator Jones for leading this effort, citing a study from the non-partisan Buckeye Institute that found that "state government workers today are paid much more than their private sector neighbors in 85 out of 88 counties" and that "total compensation packages for state government workers far exceeds their private-sector neighbors…" Jones was the primary sponsor of legislation that requires young children to be properly restrained in a booster seat to prevent fatal injuries. In an effort to improve Ohio's high infant mortality rate, Shannon led a statewide bipartisan fact-finding project that led to an efficient and effective process for investigating infant deaths, created a safe sleep education program, developed a policy to ensure a safe place for newborns to sleep upon hospital discharge, and created the Commission on Infant Mortality. She co-chaired the first Commission on Infant Mortality in the 131 st General Assembly which created and worked to pass of Senate Bill 332, which implemented the Commission's recommendations around evidence-based practices such as home visiting, Pathways Community HUBs, smoking cessation, safe sleep education, and birth spacing. Senate Bill 332 went into effect on April 6, 2017. She has been recognized throughout the state with numerous awards including the 2016 YWCA Woman of Influence Award; the 2015 Public Service Award of Excellence from the Ohio Hospital Association; the VOICES for Ohio's Children Health Champion Award; the 2015 Begala Public Service Award from the Center for Community Solutions; Champion for Infants Award by Premier Health; The Dayton Business Journal's Top 50 Most Influential Women in the Miami Valley list in 2014 and again in 2015 as well as many others.
In the spring of 2017, Shannon was selected as the Executive Director of Groundwork Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization in Columbus, Ohio that advances quality early learning and development as the most transformative strategy to improve school outcomes, increase the life-long success of Ohio's children, and lay a strong foundation for economic prosperity throughout the state.
