Philip B. Jones
Commissioner
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission

Appointed by Governor Gregoire in March 2005, re-appointed in January, 2011 and confirmed unanimously by the State Senate, Commissioner Jones is a member of the International Relations and Telecommunications committees of NARUC. He is Chairman of the board of Directors of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI), and is Vice-Chair of the Washington Action Program. He also currently services on the Executive Committee of NARUC, which manages its operations and strategy. He became President of NARUC in November 2012.

Jones served as a senior legislative assistant to former Senator Daniel J. Evans from Washington
state (1983-88). He staffed the Senator on a variety of issues, including energy issues before
the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and international trade and investment policies. He was responsible for a broad range of energy issues, including hydroelectric re-licensing, nuclear waste management, energy conservation and renewables, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement approval. He was actively involved in staffing the Senator on key international trade bills that were debated in the 1980’s, such as the textile and apparel bills, omnibus trade legislation, most-favored national treatment for the PRC, and the approval of the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement. He also traveled with the Senator on several CODEL’s to East Asia along with the U.S. Senate leadership to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China.

Fluent in Japanese, Jones studied and worked for five years in Japan and travelled throughout East Asia (1977-1982). He attended Waseda University for one year in its International Division, and then worked for several years for the State of Ohio/Economic Development Department in its efforts to attract Japanese foreign direct investment to Ohio and promote bilateral trade. Based in Japan, he was also responsible for managing trade and investment relations with other East Asian countries.

Jones is a native of Spokane, Washington. He graduated from Harvard College with honors with a degree cum laude in East Asian Studies. He also served as Administrative Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard from 1981-83, then directed by Professor Vogel. He assisted Professor Vogel and Harvard management in efforts in Japan and Asia on behalf of various schools/centers in Harvard University to raise funds and attract leading Asian researchers and officials. Recently, he assisted Professor Vogel during his tour of the West Coast in promoting his new path-breaking book on China, called Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (Harvard University Press).