Jeremy Ball

Jeremy Ball is Vice President of Internal Communications, Philanthropy, and Events for Big Lots and Director of the Big Lots Foundation. Big Lots is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenues exceeding $6 billion. Big Lots is a unique, non-traditional discount retailer operating more than 1,400 stores in 47 states with product assortments in the merchandise categories of Furniture, Seasonal, Soft Home, and Electronics, Toys, Apparel, and Accessories.

Ball joined Big Lots in June 2007. He is responsible for the company’s internal and executive communications, national philanthropic initiatives, including charitable giving, associate volunteerism, cause marketing, community relations, and corporate events. During his tenure, he established a comprehensive philanthropic and associate engagement program and a public face for the company’s philanthropic initiatives.

In partnership with the Executive Leadership Team, Ball launched the Big Lots Foundation in 2014 to position the organization’s philanthropic goals for long-term sustainability and impact. In 2017, this team committed $50 million to construct the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion and Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, the only pediatric program of its kind in the country. Since inception, Big Lots Foundation has invested more than $45 million in nonprofit community organizations nationally.

His work includes directing the company’s annual fundraising event, which has raised more than $30 million over the last 10 years. In addition, he’s responsible for the company’s quarterly Town Hall events and national leadership conferences.

Prior to Big Lots, Ball was the Development Manager and Capital Campaign Director for The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio where more than $1.2 million was raised to establish a permanent home base for the organization.

Ball serves on the Board of Directors for Furniture Bank of Central Ohio and the Board of Trustees for Defiance College. He was honored by Columbus Business First in 2021 with a C-Suite award for being voted by his peers as one of Central Ohio’s most admired executives and in 2014 with a Forty Under 40 Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Defiance College and was honored with the college’s Harold A. McMaster Life Is Action Award in 2016, and the Young Alumni Service Award in 2009.