The Rob L. Jones Endowed Excellence Fund in Finance was established by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on February 14, 2011, to benefit The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. Gift funds were provided by Mr. Rob L. Jones.

Rob Jones obtained a BBA in finance in 1980 and an MBA in 1986 from The University of Texas at Austin. He is a managing director and the head of Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking Global Energy and Power Group and principal of Merrill Lynch Commodity Partners, a private equity investing arm of Merrill Lynch for the energy and power sector.

Jones works extensively with a variety of energy and power clients, with a particular focus on the natural gas sector. He has been involved in over $80 billion of advisory transactions in the natural gas industry. Jones joined Merrill Lynch in 1993 from The First Boston Corporation.

Prior to graduate school, Jones was a financial specialist with Sun Exploration and Production Company. He is an active alum with the McCombs School, serving on both the deans and EMIC Advisory Councils. Jones and his wife Marianne reside in Houston, Texas and have four children; Hugh, Ann, Sarah, and Keith.