Arnita A. Jones was AHA executive director from 1999–2019. She joined the AHA in June 1999, after serving 11 years as executive director of the Organization of American Historians. Jones received her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and the MA and PhD in modern European history from Emory University. She was also program officer for planning and assessment at the National Endowment for the Humanities and was the first director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History. The AHA Council unanimously agreed to confer the title of executive director emerita upon her retirement.