Jon has served in a variety of leadership positions in higher education, business, and the public sector. Most recently, Jon held a number of senior executive positions at Laureate Education, the leading global higher education company. He served there as CEO of the Online division and President & CEO of Walden University, the leading online graduate school in the US. He served on the board of Coursera as an observer and on the boards of a number of other higher education organizations.

Earlier in his career, Jon practiced law as an attorney at Covington & Burling, a leading international law firm. He previously served as special assistant to the President for economic policy in the White House under President Bill Clinton and as an aide to US Senator John Kerry. Jon is also a lecturer at Georgetown University in higher education leadership and ethics. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College with an AB in government and received his JD from Boston University School of Law where he was an editor of the Boston University Law Review.