Marlynn R. Jones is a Title IX Coordinator and Equity Director with more than 30 years of higher education experience in intercollegiate athletics, compliance, and equity at public universities and an NCAA Division I Conference Office. Prior to joining Grand River Solutions, Marlynn served as the University of North Florida’s Director of Equal Opportunity and Inclusion and Title IX Coordinator where she conducted Title IX investigations as well as investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation involving students and employees and led campus-wide trainings on Title IX and equity topics. Before serving in this role, Marlynn was the Assistant Director of Equal Opportunity Programs and Diversity and Deputy Title IX Coordinator at Florida International University. She also served for a year as the Acting Director of Equal Employment Opportunity and Title IX Coordinator for North Carolina Central University.

For 17 years, Marlynn taught undergraduate and graduate students in seated, online and hybrid sports management courses at five universities. She also created and taught a CLE course on the Americans with Disabilities Act for ProLawCLE.

Marlynn received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and her master’s degree in mass communications and business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. While receiving her Juris Doctorate at the University of Miami School of Law, Marlynn was selected for Iron Arrow, the university’s highest honor and the Society of Bar and Gavel, the law school’s highest honor. In addition, she received the Roger Serino Award as the outstanding 3L graduate while serving as the only student member of the Faculty Admissions and Financial Aid Committee.

Marlynn is admitted to the State Bar of Florida and is an inactive member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in the US Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit, and was a Supreme Court of Florida Certified County Court Mediator from 2000-2004.

A published poet, author, and podcast host, Marlynn performs community service activities with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She lives in North Carolina with her daughter Faith and Bichon Frise Hope who share a birthday.