Born to an American military family in Osaka, Japan, J. Robert "Bobby" Jones earned his bachelor's degree in finance and accounting at Florida State University in March of 1975. While at FSU, he served as both president and vice president of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, and was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, an accounting honorary, and Gold Key, an FSU leadership organization.

During his college years, Mr. Jones met and married Susan Miller Jones, a native of Havana, Florida, and a member of an entire "garnet and gold" family. Mrs. Jones' mother, father, and brothers are all FSU graduates.

After a successful career in financial services in North Carolina, Mr. Jones was a founder of The BISYS Group, Inc. in 1989, specializing in outsourcing technology for the financial services industry. BISYS grew from $40 million in revenue to over $1 billion annually during his tenure from founding the company to its sale in 2007 to Citigroup. Mr. Jones led its business development efforts including acquisitions to become a leading provider of mutual fund, 401(k), hedge fund, and private equity administrative services. He also led acquisitions to become a major distributor of life insurance products and commercial insurance brokerage services. Prior to his tenure at BISYS, Mr. Jones founded a financial software provider called the SLIMS Corporation, was Vice Chair and COO in banking with Scottish Savings and Loan Association, and began his career in public accounting with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co.

Upon the sale of BISYS to Citigroup on August 1, 2007, Mr. Jones joined the private equity firm Bluff Point Associates as a partner. He is responsible for Bluff Point's acquisition activities as well as an oversight role of Bluff Point's portfolio companies which focus on wealth management and retirement services.

Mr. Jones is one of the owners of The J. Peterman Company, the catalog retailer of "Seinfeld" fame, as well as Blue Heron Research Partners, a research company serving hedge funds and private equity firms. In addition, he is a limited partner in a number of private equity firms; was past president of a trade association for the financial services industry known as the Association for Financial Technology; and founded an all-volunteer organization, Golfers Against Cancer, which has raised $16 million to fund specific cancer research projects across the nation since 1997.

Mr. Jones currently serves as chairman of the Florida State University Foundation and since joining, he has been a member of the Investment Committee overseeing the University's endowment. He also served as chairman of the Finance and Trusteeship Committees.

Bobby and Susan Jones have made gifts to support College of Business scholarships as well as FSU Athletics. They make their home in Winter Park, Florida, and have two children: Benjamin and Katie. Ben graduated from FSU in 2001 and is a financial advisor with Smith Barney in Charlotte, North Carolina, while Katie is a University of Virginia graduate and an executive with Disney Cruise Line in Orlando.