LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Incoming Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen, whose county includes Little Rock, has chosen Chris Jones to run its planning and development department. Griffen announced the pick Tuesday, Nov. 10, when he presented several of his picks to a Quorum Court committee that sets the agenda for county lawmakers. He takes office in January 2027.
Jones, a Democrat, lost the race for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District to Republican Rep. French Hill, who won a seventh term in last week’s election. He currently works as director of community and social innovation at BCT Partners, a New Jersey consulting firm, and he previously led the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub as its executive director.
His degrees include two master’s degrees in nuclear engineering and in technology and policy, plus a doctorate in urban planning, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jones was not on the list of appointees Griffen released the week before.
Data centers are likely to dominate the job. During his campaign Griffen called for stricter oversight of big data center proposals, saying the county lacks a defined way to weigh what they would mean for the area. Jones promised a clear and transparent process for those projects and for carrying out the new county ordinance that sets rules for them.
That ordinance is now in federal court. A company called AVAIO, which wants to build a large data center near Wrightsville, has asked a federal judge to stop the county from enforcing it. The next hearing is set for Friday, Nov. 20. If the rules stand, they require developers to get a permit from the county Planning Board before construction can begin, and Jones would help carry that out.
