Tom Jones is the area director at the UGA Small Business Development Center in Gainesville. He joined the Gainesville team in 2025 and brings more than 30 years of experience helping companies of all sizes grow and thrive in a variety of markets and conditions.

Tom's first business experience was working on the launch of a family member's retail business, followed by roles in sales and account management with a small marketing firm. He later went on to lead marketing teams for companies that included a $1B school supply distributor, a private equity-owned tool distributor and an international wire and cable distributor that grew from $250M to $1.2B in revenue in just four years.

Tom has built and led marketing teams and has experience in branding, marketing communications, value proposition development, brand transitions, acquisitions, website optimization and digital marketing.

In addition to his corporate career, Tom served as an adjunct marketing professor at the University of North Georgia, where he taught MBA and undergraduate courses.