“I’d Like to Pave the Way for Younger Donors.”

Riley Jones IV ’17CC didn’t wait until graduation to launch his career. He was a sophomore when he co-founded Bloc, an organization designed to help students of color find jobs and internships after graduation.

Today, his company is known as Sector Software, and Riley serves as its CEO. Based in Washington, D.C., he and his company remain dedicated to reducing the unemployment rate for college graduates of color through software that connects job seekers to employers. For this work, at age 23, Riley was recognized by Forbes’s 2019 list of “30 under 30” for achievement in social entrepreneurship.

Columbia gave him the opportunity to build a career as an entrepreneur. Riley chose Columbia because, in his words, “I thought it would take me out of my comfort zone” after growing up in Chicago’s South Side. “I was enamored with New York’s breadth of opportunity in politics, business, and civic life,” he said. “Columbia was a community of intellectuals and practitioners that pushed my thinking, and vice versa.”

A political science and government major, Riley immersed himself in campus life. He was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and winner of the University’s George William Curtis Prize in Persuasive Oration. He served in student government, including the Activities Board, where he represented Black, Latinx, and Native American and Indigenous Peoples student groups. He joined the Roosevelt Institute, a student-run policy think tank, which took him on his first trip to Washington, D.C. He sang in the Gospel Choir. In addition to his many academic and extracurricular activities, he started a company that reflected his commitment to fostering career success among students of color.

After graduation, Riley earned a degree from New York University School of Law but practiced for less than a year. Instead, he turned his full attention to Sector Software, which had continued to flourish. Now, as CEO, he encourages and empowers business-minded individuals like himself by funding social entrepreneurs in Washington and teaching social entrepreneurship.

His college experience has been instrumental to his career. Columbia “gave me an ability to navigate complex institutions,” he said, “and it pushed me to communicate difficult issues in a way that could solve problems.” 

Riley has remained active in Columbia since graduation. He joined the Black Alumni Council in 2017 and became its president two years later. He is involved in the Columbia Alumni Association’s (CAA) Shared Interest Group Community, the Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA), and in various efforts to make the University more inclusive. He also served as a member of his 5th Reunion Committee.

His commitment to Columbia has been strengthened by his ongoing connections to alumni. Three of them, like Riley, were leaders in the Black Alumni Council.

The late Gerry Sherwin ’55CC offered Riley encouragement early on. “I was fortunate to receive the honor named for him—The Sherwin Young Alumni Service Award—last year,” Riley said. 

Riley and George Van Amson’74CC were fellow members of Alpha Phi Alpha, the historically African American fraternity. Roger Lehecka ’67CC, ’74GSAS, a professor and mentor, wrote his law school recommendation. 

“Professor Lehecka’s course, “Equity in American Higher Education,” was one of the most important in my time at Columbia,” Riley said.

Riley has also given Columbia his financial support, largely in the form of annual gifts to the Black Alumni Council Scholarship through the Columbia College Fund. More recently, he made a legacy gift, naming Columbia the beneficiary of his life insurance policy.

“Because I already had an insurance policy, it was easy to establish its value,” Riley explained. “A non-cash gift like this is easier for younger alumni to make because we already have an instrument available to put to work.”

Riley has designated his legacy gift to the James R. Priest Scholarship, which holds a special significance for him. A scholarship winner himself, Riley discovered—through his own research—that Priest enrolled in Columbia in 1873 and was its first Black graduate. “I’d like to support this scholarship because of its significance to the community and because I played a role in its creation and promotion,” he said.

Gifts like his, he says, are among the easiest ways to make a long-term impact. “I’d like to pave the way for younger donors and for alumni who have felt marginalized,” he said.