Boland Jones was born and raised in the city of Louisville, Kentucky and attended Saint Xavier High School (class of 1978). From an early age, Boland began working at his father"s dry cleaning business working the counter or cleaning the machines.
He attended college at Miami University of Ohio on a tennis scholarship where he earned a degree in finance and accounting in 1982.
By age 14, he began cutting grass and at 16, learned how to resurface pavement and started repaving people"s driveways. In 1984, Jones started his first company, American Network Exchange (AMNEX). AMNEX sold calling cards, which Jones developed, to help military personnel connect with their loved ones.
The cards allowed users to bill pay phone calls to their home phones or cr cards.
Jones sold AMNEX in 1990. In 1991, Jones moved to Atlanta and founded a new company, Premiere Technologies, Incorporated., which enabled users to retrieve voice messages, make conference calls and send and receive faxes.
This business would eventually become Premiere Global Services, Incorporated., now known as PGi. Jones successfully took the company public on National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation in 1996 and on the New York Stock Exchange as well shortly thereafter.
Currently, Jones remains active as PGi"s Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and has grown PGi into a successful virtual meetings company, where he spearheaded development of PGi"s latest two virtual meeting solutions, iMeet and GlobalMeet.
Beyond his work at PGi, Boland has helped fund and launch more than 100 companies. Following PGi"s acquisition by Siris Capital Group in 2015, Jones stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of PGi. The Foundation concentrates its fundraising efforts to support cancer research, primarily breast cancer, and to aid disadvantaged children.
Boland is also committed to encouraging startups and entrepreneurship.
In 2001, Boland helped fund the Entrepreneurship Research Laboratory at his alma mater Miami University of Ohio"s Farmer School of Business. Boland also leads PGi"s Corporate Social Responsibility Program, sponsoring and supporting many local and global nonprofits worldwide.
Boland was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southeast Region in 1998. Boland has twice been ranked a Top Performing Chief Executive Officer by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, being named #5 in 2008 and #19 in 2009. In June 2012, Boland was awarded the Bronze Stevie Award for Maverick of the Year by the 2012 American Business Awards. In August 2012, Boland was awarded the Gold Stevie Award for Executive of the Year – Computer Software by the 2012 International Business Awards. In November 2012, Boland was awarded bronze for Executive of the Year in the Large (1001+ employees) category by the Best in Biz Awards.
