Author Biography
Thomas G. Jones Ph.D.

Thomas is an award-winning educator and consultant who has served more than 2,000 small businesses and assisted in 600 startups since 1986. In 2007, Thomas co-founded the Ridgefield Institute (Washington) whose mission statement begins:
We are an assembly of talent organized to advance positive change. We are present-minded, future-oriented, and deeply-rooted in education initiatives presented to diverse fields.

Thomas is a past recipient of the Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education recognizing his innovative education work in service to the small business community. Too, he created the Greenhouse Program recognized by the United States Association For Small Business and Entrepreneurship as a model, best in class, program. Thomas also received the star-instructor award from Portland General Electric’s (PGE) Corporate University for his work with the Oregon Utility through Clackamas College and Eastern Oregon University.  He is also an adjunct faculty member for Marylhurst University where he teaches in the undergraduate and graduate business programs.

He is an active futurist researcher who has lectured since 1991 in the areas of futurism, technology, and society. In 1999, he was honored to keynote the annual Mark. O. Hatfield Institute on the topic, The Future of Government. His current “Frame the Future” series illuminates the fields of small business and education and their likely development.

Thomas has also created a simple and dynamic planning model and process that replaces cumbersome strategic planning methods. Over the past 15 years he has assisted hundreds of organizations to engage in positive change mechanisms that result in creating the future rather than just anticipating it.

His other major initiative has been in the area of turnaround leadership. Beginning in the early 1990’s he has assisted in more than six turnarounds annually to transform ailing organizations into vibrant enterprises.

But Thomas’ first and truest professional love is small business. The aim of the Ridgefield Institute is to expand the scope of his successful work in service to the small business community. Each fall, Thomas begins a 10 month journey with 40 small businesses that often results in transformational change and breathtaking success for the business owners. What Thomas has achieved with small business owners in the Northwest can be achieved on the national stage through web-based education and publication mechanisms.

Small business is a vital cog in the economic engine of the United States economy and a vibrant source of innovation. But it is much more than that. For millions of Americans, their small business feeds the soul, energizes the intellect, and pays the rent. But even beyond those satisfying elements, small business provides a canvas for self-expression and a harbor of humanity in an increasingly automated and impersonal world.