Jon Cole is a
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
businessman in Texas. He previously served as an aide at
White House ONDCP and the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...
.
Personal
Cole grew up in
Collin County. He later attended the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
and the
University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...
. He also studied economics at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
.
Cole is currently CEO of
Rally.org
Rally.org is an American social online fundraising platform for use by a wide range of individuals and organizations. It allows users to set up their own fundraising page, through which supporters can find information about their campaigns and ma ...
Cole was a finance attorney and partner in a Dallas merchant banking firm.
Staffer
Jon Cole served as a legislative aide to the Chairman of Appropriations
Jim Pitts
James R. Pitts (born January 1, 1947), known as Jim Pitts, is an American state politician and lawyer who served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1993 to 2015. He was the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee for four ...
of the Texas House of Representatives under Speaker
Tom Craddick
Thomas Russell Craddick (born September 19, 1943) is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives representing the 82nd district. Craddick was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from January 2003 to January 2009. He was t ...
. Following service at the Texas Capitol, Cole served as an aide in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Office of the United States Drug Czar. Previous to that, he was an intern for Governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...
in the Governor's Criminal Justice Division.
2008 Campaign
Cole, a 23-year-old law student, challenged the 16-year incumbent to represent Texas House District 67 in the Texas House of Representatives, Jerry Madden, in the 2008 election. At the time, he said that the effort was due to Madden's "catch and release" policies with criminals and his lack of leadership for the district. At the time, Jerry Madden was Corrections chairman under Speaker Tom Craddick. At the time, Cole was endorsed by numerous District Attorneys and local leaders. Cole lost to the Madden by 256 votes.
Policy Work
Jon Cole has been an active in Texas Criminal Justice Policy. Cole has worked as volunteer state coordinator for a Texas anti-Drug organization which fought Senate Bill 1818 in 2011. He was also one of 12 appointed by Senator
Florence Shapiro
Florence Donald Shapiro (born May 2, 1948) is an American politician from Texas, a Republican former member of the Texas Senate. From 1993 to 1995, she represented the 2nd District and from 1995 to 2013, the 8th District, which includes several ...
to serve on the
K2 Task Force banning synthetic narcotics in Texas. In 2010, he was awarded the
Drug Free America Foundation
The Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by former US Ambassador Mel Sembler, his wife Betty Sembler (), and Joseph Zappala as Straight, Inc., renamed The Straight Foundation, Inc. in 1985 and ...
's highest honor for supporting anti-drug issues and supporting drug prevention and law enforcement.
Jon has been featured as a speaker at the Southwest Prevention Center Training Institute.
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Jon
American chief executives
University of Texas School of Law alumni
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Living people
Businesspeople from Dallas
People from Plano, Texas
Year of birth missing (living people)