About
Staff
Sydney Gardner
Director of Finance and Development
Phone : 803.576.3785
Email : sydney.gardner@scbarfoundation.org
Olivia S. Jones
Executive Director
Phone : 803.576.3786
Email : olivia.jones@scbarfoundation.org
Olivia Stafford Jones is a native of Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from the South Carolina Honors College in 2001 with a B.A. in Spanish. After graduation, Olivia lived in Chile for a year on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, where she obtained an Associate’s Degree in Public Administration and became fluent in Spanish. Olivia graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2007. Olivia has previously worked as a staff attorney at the S.C. Administrative Law Court, a staff attorney at S.C. Legal Services, where she was named a Nelson Mullins Fellow, and an associate at a non-profit immigration law firm. From 2015-2023, she ran a solo practice, where she handled family law, family-based immigration, and probate work. In September 2023, Olivia began serving as the Executive Director of the SC Bar Foundation.
Olivia is a member of the Richland County Bar Association, the Lexington County Bar Association, the S.C. Women Lawyer’s Association, and the American Immigration Attorneys Association. Olivia is the chair of the Richland County Bar’s Public Service Committee and has served on that committee since 2008, a member of the S.C. Access to Justice Commission, a member of the USC School of Law Pro Bono Program Advisory Council, a board member for the Palmetto Center for Children’s Legal Access, and the 2022-2023 president of the Rotary Club of Five Points having been a member since 2009. Olivia volunteers at the Homeless Legal Clinic (H.E.L.P.) and the Divorce Help Desk in Richland County, and also teaches self-help divorce classes to the public. In 2020, Olivia was honored to be named the S.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year.
Sydney Gardner
Director of Finance and Development
Phone : 803.576.3785
Email : sydney.gardner@scbarfoundation.org
Sydney’s responsibilities include raising funds for the Foundation and managing them – both of which are crucial to the Foundation’s purpose and mission.
Sydney grew up in South Carolina and graduated from Presbyterian College in 2017, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in history. In 2021, she earned a master’s degree in public service and administration, graduating summa cum laude from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
Before joining the Bar Foundation, she worked with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust as event manager and office manager. Before graduating from the Bush School, she was a summer volunteer recruitment and training intern with Richland County Court Appointed Special Advocates.