The Rev. Dr. L. Gregory Jones

Denomination: United Methodist Church (UMC)
Organization: Belmont University, Nashville, TN

The Rev. Dr. L. Gregory Jones is President of Belmont University, a position he has held since June 1, 2021. He was educated at the University of Denver (B.A. and M.P.A.) and Duke University (M.Div. and Ph.D.). He holds honorary doctorates from Lycoming College and North Carolina Wesleyan University. He is committed to serving in the Nashville and middle Tennessee region to strengthen partnerships and cultivating flourishing across the region.

Greg previously served as Dean of Duke Divinity School (1997-2010 and 2018-2021). Between 2010 and 2018, Greg served in a variety of roles, including Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Strategy and Programs at Duke University, and also as Provost and Executive Vice President of Baylor University. He has also served in strategic advisory roles with several foundations. He is the author or editor of 19 books, and authored more than 200 essays/articles. He is known for books on forgiveness (Embodying Forgiveness and the co-authored Forgiving as We’ve Been Forgiven), Christian leadership (the co-authored Resurrecting Excellence) and social innovation (Christian Social Innovation). His most recent book is the co-authored Navigating the Future: Traditioned Innovation for Wilder Seas (2021).

Greg is known as a leader and strategist whose creative engagement has helped institutions across the world and in local communities to create transformational resource models. Greg’s global imagination has guided business, education, and religious leaders in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. Greg has a particular gift for incubating talent, ideas, and networks across disciplines and sectors. He is passionate about re-shaping cultures within and across organizations and coined the term 'traditioned innovation' to capture how he re-frames complex challenges to seize significant opportunities. He is known for an entrepreneurial mindset as well as emphases on character and purpose in higher education. 

Greg serves on the boards of the John Templeton Foundation, the McDonald Agape Foundation, and the India Collective. He is an ordained United Methodist pastor. He is married to The Reverend Dr. Susan Pendleton Jones, also a United Methodist minister who currently serves in a variety of capacities at Belmont and in Nashville. They have three children, all married, and three grandchildren.