Mike Jones, Senior policy advisor to St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, has been nominated to the Missouri state Board of Education.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced his nomination via press release today.
The St. Louis Beacon reports that Nixon pulled Jones aside to "pop the question" at the Mizzou-Vanderbilt basketball game on Dec. 6. Jones was among a group of China Hub enthusiasts invited to sit in Nixon's box that night.
The Beacon also reports that "Jones credits his strong public education in the city of St. Louis in the late 1950s and mid-1960s with giving him the tools to create an influential -- and lengthy -- career in regional government and politics."
Jones is also the current chair of the Lambert International Airport Redevelopment Commission and the Midwest China Hub Commission. Previously, Jones served as a St. Louis alderman, executive of the St. Louis Housing Authority and the Herbert Hoover Boys Club. He was also the executive director of the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.
"I want to give the hope that every kid in Missouri can have the same opportunity that I and others had,'' Jones told the Beacon, "This is something I owe the ancestors."
Nixon has nominated Jones for a term ending July 1, 2018.