Ella M. Jones

"Ella M. Jones has a rich heritage in service to the Lord, the church and the community. She is a proven leader with the skills, compassion and commitment to improve the quality of life for all residents."

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Ella M. Jones and her late husband Tim moved to Ferguson from New Orleans in search of quality educational opportunities for their daughter. She has been a resident for more than 40 years. Ella graduated from the University of Missouri at St. Louis with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Chemistry.  She has been certified by the American Chemical Society as a high pressure liquid chromatographer and a pharmacy technician. She was previously employed with Washington University School of Medicine in the Biochemistry Molecular Bio-physics Department as a Peptide Specialist and with KV Pharmaceutical Company as an Analytical Chemist.

 

Ella retired from  Mary Kay Cosmetics after 27 years.  She resigned her position as a Mary Kay Sales Director as of January 1, 2015 to serve her community full time. As an Independent Sales Director, she provided leadership to over 50 beauty consultants.  Her unit earned seven Mary Kay cars and their highest production in one year was over $230,000.00. As a small business owner, Ella knows how to lead, manage and build relationships. As Mayor, she will use her business acumen support business growth in our city, particularly small business--the backbone of all economic development efforts.

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Ella's faith is the root of her compassion for people. Her grandparents, Lester and Ruth Exkano were instrumental in establishing an African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.  Their dedication and commitment to African Methodism was instilled in Ella M. Jones at an early age. Ella is a member of the Missouri Annual Conference in the Fifth Episcopal District. She was ordained an itinerant elder from St. Paul A.M.E. Church, “The Mother Church of African Methodism west of the Mississippi.”  She served as an associate minister and provided a wide range of ministries to the church. Ella has served as pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Paynesville, Missouri; St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Charles, Missouri; and at Tri Union A.M.E. Church.  In October 1998, Ella Jones and her family stepped from complacency to action with a group of believers and organized Holy Trinity A.M.E. Mission and moved to 409 South Florissant Rd. in Ferguson then moved to another location which grew until 2002 when the church was absorbed into other congregations. She also served as a Missouri Conference Trustee for two years, the A.M.E. Ministerial Alliance Treasurer and 2nd Vice President. 

 

Ella's career in public service includes being elected as Councilwoman for Ward 1  in April 2015. She won nearly 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race. Her resounding victory made history as she became the first African-American to serve on the Council.  Ella's strong vision and ability to build coalitions has resulted in more than $8 million in investments for our City.  Ella secured $4.7 million through a federal grant to serve the needs of our youth. her work with WashingtonUniversity has resulted in partnerships that will support the implementation of the historic Department of Justice agreement to improve policing and other social justice issues in our community.

 

As your Mayor, you can count Ella to work full time uniting our city and building strong relationships that will attract resources to our community to strategically address our challenges and build on our efforts to keep Ferguson a true Community of Choice.