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By Pam King - The Madera Tribune

Madera High graduate Garrett Jones and wife Sandra pose at a Fresno State Lyles Center for Entrepreneurship function.

Photo by: For The Madera Tribune

When Garrett Jones went to Berenda Elementary School, he dreamed of being a fireman because he wanted to help people. As an adult, his motivation remains the same although he is a fireman of a different sort, putting out fires for corporate America.

After graduating from Madera High School, Jones received the Outstanding Graduate Award from the department of mass communications at California State University, Fresno, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, in just three years, through the exclusive Smittcamp Family Honor's College, a full-ride scholarship program affiliated with the university.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication, Jones minored in entrepreneurship and psychology, a winning combination that has allowed him to bypass the corporate ladder and create his own ladder to success.

"The barriers to innovation that one faces in the corporate world sometimes stifle creativity," he said. "You make a suggestion and the response is likely to be, 'That's nice but that's not the way we do things here, and your job is to run the register.'"

It was at college that Jones met his mentor, Dr. Timothy Stearns, director of the Lyles Center of Entrepreneurship, who inspired him and planted the seeds that took root and blossomed in Jones. Those seeds helped evolve Jones into the sought-after product development consultant that he is today.

"He taught me that you are only limited by what you can think," Jones said.

Jones also said that he felt connected with Stearns who told him, "I'm going to build a center and we're going to change small business forever."

Stearns took Jones under his wing and proceeded to do just that by developing his department at Fresno State into the Lyles Center for Entrepreneurs.

"Garrett Jones made solid contributions to the program, he was president for several years," Stearns said. "His tenacity and ability to solve problems is incredible."

After helping a group of local women in real estate develop a cell phone headset that they had been working on for years - by producing a working prototype, getting a paten and lining up production in China - Jones realized that his talent lies in helping other people to cultivate their ideas and bring them to the market place.

"I'm addicted to working with people who are really passionate about what they do," he said. "And that's what I found, in abundance, when I started working with entrepreneurs."

His successes include Bulldog Root Beer, National Raisin and Fresno State Wine. He has a proven track record for taking products through brand management, logistics, marketing and sales, and expanding the market through national and corporate chains throughout the country.

"Fresno State Wine is all over the place now," Stearns said. "That's largely due to Garrett."

Jones has been featured in the Wall Street Journal's Startup Journal as well as other publications and is a motivational speaker.

Jones is no exception to the modified saying, "beside every successful man is a successful woman."

As his career unfolded, he kept his life in balance, said his wife, Sandra. The couple met when they were students.

With both of their lives so involved with the Lyles Center, the couple married there. Sandra is currently employed as director of After-School and Summer Programs for the center's Kids Invent Program, while Jones sits on the Advisory Board and is, according to Stearns, the only mentor in the entrepreneur program under the age of 40.

"He works hard," Sandra said, "and he has a passion to help people."

The other Sandra in his life, mother Sandy Jones, an administrative assistant at Berenda Elementary School, said that Jones holds close family ties, especially with his brother Gregory, a Stanislaus County sheriff.

"He was a caring, funny, bright and motivated child. He is sound in scripture, and he knows who he is." she said. "As an adult, he has high ethics and can zero in on a problem very quickly."

Jones' short-term goals involve Laval Underground Surveys, a Fresno company that recruited him due to his entrepreneurial background and where he now serves as president. His goal is to take the 60-year-old company to the next level by "reinventing the whole brand image and tripling the company's size within the next four to five years."

According to Jones, his long-term goals have more of a global impact.

"I'd like to be able to fund an aid-group, in a large way, to enable thousands of people to contribute their skills and make a greater impact upon societal concerns like poverty and hunger," he said.

Offering a word of advice to the youth of Madera, Jones said, "If you fail, learn to fail quickly, learn something from it and get back out there!"