The Best Among Us

“I am someone who is weaving his path through life and trying to make

a difference at each stop.” 

Damon Jones, Chief Communications Officer for P&G, knows who he is and what his mission in life is.   Choosing a college in the early 1990s was another story.  

“My dad knew someone who went to Xavier University and 

asked ‘what about Xavier?’  So, I took the campus tour.  There was no a-ha moment.  There was no moment.  It just felt right.”

However, after checking into Brockman (Hall) and settling in, Damon  questioned that decision.  Everyone was a little bit different. First semester was tough, but he gave it a year.  By the second semester, he dove head first into campus life and leadership.  

“Sticking it out was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Classmates Malaika Abernathy Scriven and Jamil Stafford made the decision easier.   Two of the first students he met on campus, they remain his best friends to this day.  Jamil roomed with Damon both on and off campus.  

“Damon was always busy, going from class to student council meetings to campus activities,” recalled Jamil.  “But he was never stressed by doing so much.    He did love his sleep.  He’d curl up in a comforter and grab a quick nap.  Damon and Malaika both had great laughs.  When you hear ‘em laugh, you just have to smile.”

A Path with Purpose

It was while at Xavier that Damon began shaping the values that now define his work.   

“What impressed me most was the process of reflection and introspection. 

It wasn’t just theology and philosophy — it was about doing the right things and doing them the right way.   I think you can go and get a piece of paper (diploma) many different places.  The Xavier experience made me a better version of me,” he says. 

That grounding in values has fueled Jones’s rise at Procter & Gamble, where he leads a global team responsible for protecting and promoting the world’s largest consumer goods company and its nearly 100 brands.  He’s more than a spokesman — he’s a steward of trust, purpose, and progress. 

“Being a Force for Growth and a Force for Good pays off,” Jones says. “Economies grow, communities are healthier, businesses thrive, and the world is a better place.”

Jones’s passion for civic engagement has always been part of his story — a trait nurtured by his mother’s activism in the United Auto Workers union and honed further in high school and college through political involvement. 

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Malaika recalls Damon as “a natural leader at Xavier, a visionary on campus. He was involved in black student government and the first student in the university’s history to serve two consecutive terms as Student Government Association president.”

In 2008, he took a leave from P&G to serve as Director of Press Relations for the Democratic National Convention, supporting then-Senator Barack Obama. That “Yes We Can” spirit never left him. He brought it back to P&G and made it a central thread in his work — championing racial equity, gender equality, and authentic representation across media and marketing.

“I spend a lot of my time thinking about how we can bring Jesuit values to life,” he says. “Most of my work sits at the intersection of doing good and doing good business.”

Jones’s love for storytelling started in high school, working summers at a local public access TV station in Southfield, Michigan, just outside Detroit. He was “the guy with the camcorder on his shoulder,” producing award-winning shows and falling in love with the craft. At Xavier, he leaned into the TV side of things — learning from talented peers.

“As we put together shows and projects it was a good opportunity to see people who were better at things than I was.  That was highly motivational.   I want to surround myself with people who will make me better.”

As a Communications major, he spent plenty of hours in the TV studio —today part of Xavier’s Digital Innovation, Film and Television (DIFT) program — where classes in television production gave him both hands-on skills and collaborative experience.

“Damon was always good as a public speaker.  He was just as comfortable in front of the camera, serving as a co-anchor of “XU News and Views,”  reflected executive producer and classmate Heather Martin.

Leadership in Action

After graduation, he was almost ready to join WWJ radio in Detroit — until a Xavier professor tipped him off that P&G was hiring in PR. He was the first person they hired straight out of undergrad in years. The job was in Cincinnati, and for Jones, that meant staying close to friends and keeping the Xavier crew together.

Over the next three decades, he rose from Associate Director, Communications — Fabric and Home Care to managerial positions and then executive director roles, all laying the foundation for his current position.  Today the P&G veteran oversees more than 500 people and six major PR agency partners as he guides one of the most influential companies on the planet.     

In 2020, Damon became the first Black executive to top PRWeek’s U.S. Power List.

He explained to PRWeek that he got to the top comms position at P&G because of his ability to read the situation, understand the business landscape, the competitive context and the consumer environment and then to work side by side with multifunctional partners to devise a meaningful business strategy.

Damon has lived and led across Boston, London, Geneva, and Singapore, overseeing everything from grooming brands like Gillette to global advocacy campaigns recognized with Cannes Lions and Emmy nominations.

His motivation? It’s never been about the title or the spotlight.

“I’ve always been passionate about the individual voice and the collective voice,” Jones says. “I like to focus on how I can make what I believe as an individual clear and how I can align with other people that share those same values.”

He leads by example, as a board member for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, Mobile Infrastructure Corporation, and as a trustee for Xavier University itself.

 “Damon brings remarkable creativity, expertise and a deep passion for Xavier to his Board work and leadership,” said Xavier president Colleen Hanycz.  “As current Chair of the University Advancement Committee, Damon continually takes the opportunity to underline the importance of strategic messaging when it comes to branding, reputation and mission alignment at Xavier. I am grateful for his wisdom at our Board.”

Damon D. Jones weaves his path with purpose — rooted in reflection, driven by justice, and always focused on making a difference at every stop. 

“He  is one of those people that makes you feel like you can always do more, do better,” said his Xavier roommate Jamil Stafford. 

Fellow Musketeer Malaika Scriven concurs.

“Damon Jones is the  epitome of a decent, wonderful, brillant human being.”