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Benjamin F. Jones is the State Historian and 9th Director of the South Dakota State Historical Society. 

Jones was born in Sioux Falls and graduated from DeSmet High School in South Dakota. He earned a BA in history from South Dakota State University, an MA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a PhD from the University of Kansas. He served 23 years in the United States Air Force, where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and was stationed in several locations in the United States, the Pacific, Europe, and Afghanistan. He was a member of the History faculty at the Air Force Academy.

Jones was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Dakota State University from 2013 to 2019. While there he worked to enhance the General Beadle Honors Program and initiated the Cyber Leadership & Intelligence degree program.

Governor Noem appointed him Secretary of Education and he led the development of the department's 2019 strategic plan, which prioritized closing the opportunity gap for students in poverty and improving academic performance. He also led the department through the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. He supported legislation to improve civic education in the state, an effort he continues in his current position.

In 2016, Jones published Eisenhower's Guerrillas: The Jedburghs, the Maquis, and the Liberation of France. He currently is at work on a history of the state and hosts a bi-monthly podcast, History 605. He is married to Suzy and they have three children, Hannah, Elaina, and Henry.