Tonya Jones
In September of 1985 Tonya Jones started Mark IV Enterprises, Inc. with an $180,000 debt from her former partnership, $5,000 in cash and a $3,000 credit card “line of credit”, which at the time was all the money and credit she could access. During this tumultuous time, she was raising her two daughters, who were in high school (a challenge within itself). She started Mark IV out of the need to survive and to overcome the financial ravages of her partnership and divorce. At the time, every aspect of the business required creativity and innovation born purely out of necessity. At that point she needed a job to “get on her feet” and was truly afraid no one would hire her in her personal situation.
Tonya, not one to be fazed by industry stereotypes, plowed forward leaving a path that her oldest daughter, Mercedes, would eventually walk down. It took Tonya over 10 years to feel as though others in the construction industry recognized her success over her gender. In 1994, Tonya was named Builder of the Year by the local Home Builders Association then again, in 1995, by the State Association. She was inducted into the Associations’ Hall of Fame in 2007,the first woman so recognized. She always says those awards are her favorites; they mean the most, because they were awarded by her peers.
Tonya’s popularity extends beyond her many commendations. She is also a media favorite. Her near-famous experiences include being interviewed on the NBC Nightly News, featured on the cover of the USA Today Money section, US News and World Report, My Business magazine and is regularly asked to comment for the local Nashville newspapers. She starred in a nationwide National Federation of Independent Business commercial and is on the cover of the nationally distributed FastTrac ® brochure.
Tonya received Mayoral Appointments, under 3 Mayors, to the Building, Fire, and Mechanical Board of Davidson County from 1990-1998. Tonya has been a founding and elected Trustee of the Self Insured Worker’s Compensation Trust Fund for Tennessee Homebuilders since 1994. In 1994, Tonya was awarded the Reese Smith Jr. Memorial Award for Builder of the Year from Middle Tennessee. In 1995, Tonya was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Homebuilders and is now a Life Director. She served on the Board of Directors for the Better Business Bureau from 1996 to 1999. To this day she is a trained volunteer Mediator/Arbitrator for construction issues for the BBB.
Tonya was named Woman Business Owner of the Year- Industrial by NAWBO in 1997. Tonya also served on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity from 1997 to 2003.
In 1998 Tonya received a Gubernatorial appointment to the Board of Directors for Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Corrections and currently serves as Vice Chair.
In 1997, 1998 and 1999 Tonya was a finalist for Nashville Business Journal Business Owner of the Year in the 5 to 25 employee category.
She has been re-appointed as a Commissioner on the Metropolitan Planning Commission of Nashville, TN since her first Mayoral Appointment in 1999.
In 2003 Tonya was appointed to the Regional Board of Directors of US Bank. Also in 2003 she was a finalist for the Better Business Bureau Ambassador of the Year for Integrity and Ethics in Business Award.
In 2005 she was awarded the Tennessee Champion of Small Business Award by the NFIB. In 2006 she was named BBB Ambassador of the Year.
Most recently, in 2007, Tonya was appointed as a Board Member of the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation.