Dr. J. Stephen Jones is President and CEO of Inova, Northern Virginia's leading nonprofit healthcare system and the greater Washington, DC, region's largest private employer. A board-certified practicing urological surgeon, he is also a Professor of Surgery at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In 2026, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger appointed Dr. Jones to the Governor's Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, which advises the governor, her cabinet and legislative leaders on financial and business conditions in the Commonwealth.
Under his leadership, Inova became the first large health system in the United States to have every hospital rated five stars by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – an accomplishment that has never been matched. In 2025, Inova was recognized as Health System of the Year by Press Ganey, the nation's foremost authority on healthcare experience and performance, and in 2026 Glassdoor listed Inova as the 11th best health system "place to work" in America. Inova also has one of the lowest employee turnover rates of any health system in the nation and is one of only six health systems in the United States with an AA+ credit rating.
Over the course of Dr. Jones's tenure, Inova has continually expanded access to care, serving more patients each year, enhancing quality and outcomes, and ensuring care is available regardless of ability to pay. Under his direction, Inova has also launched an unprecedented capital reinvestment to modernize facilities and broaden access across its service area including two new hospital campuses to replace Inova Alexandria Hospital and over 30 Inova Cares sites designed to reach underserved community members.
Inova has emerged as a national leader in the responsible and secure use of health data, becoming the first health system in the nation to earn both the Responsible Use of Health Data Certification and the Data Secure Certification from The Joint Commission. Inova also became the first healthcare organization to participate in the FBI's Talon program, strengthening collaboration around threat awareness, information sharing and cyber preparedness.
Dr. Jones previously served as President of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. Before that, he was Cleveland Clinic's Chair of the Department of Regional Urology, served as Vice Chair of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, and held the Leonard Horvitz and Samuel Miller Distinguished Chair in Urologic Oncology, which has since been renamed in his honor.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and his medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, followed by a master's in business administration from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After completing his residency training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, he joined the Springfield Clinic/St. John's Health System in Missouri. Under his chairmanship, the Department of Urological Surgery at St. John's Health System became the highest rated community urology program in America, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Dr. Jones was editor-in-chief of the American Urological Association journal Urology Practice from 2020 to 2025 and has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 40 book chapters and two books for the lay reader. He is also the editor of five medical textbooks. He has been editor of Urology and Kidney Disease News, was associate editor for Urology as well as Renal and Urology News, and served on the editorial boards of the British Journal of Urology and Urology Times.
Named one of Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare, Dr. Jones has also been recognized as Leapfrog/Cost of Care's CEO of the Year; earned the Arne Sorenson Leadership Award from the Economic Club of Washington, DC; was honored with the "Imagine a Virginia" award for patient safety from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association; and was the inaugural recipient of The Joint Commission Award of Excellence.
He was most recently elected to the American Hospital Association's board of trustees, with his term beginning in 2027. Dr. Jones chaired the American Medical Group Association's board in 2024. He also currently serves on the board of the Greater Washington Partnership and the Economic Club of Washington, DC. From 2018 to 2022, he served on the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association board as well as on multiple hospital and health system boards including those of Cleveland Clinic and Inova.