Jess Sweely was born to Elmer Sweely and Elizabeth Shope Sweely, a working class couple in Clearfield Pa. on May 28, 1938 He grew up in Cherry tree, Pa. and Clearfield, Pa. He served in the Virginia National Guard and received degrees from Benjamin Franklin University, American University and George Washington University while working full-time. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Graduate of the Realtors Institute (GRI) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

He was an executive with Fairchild -Hiller's Aircraft Division, General Dynamics Corporation and Kaman Aerospace Corporation before the age of 34.He also was the President of ILC-Steinhal, a manufacturer of parachutes for both private and government use at the age of 35. He founded his own real estate development firm and has taught at a Department of Defense school, DSMC, for Program Managers. In the mid-1980's he served as Executive VP of SMA, a government contractor specializing in installing administrative computers on US Navy vessels.

In 1988 he joined a small company that was overhauling railcars for the transit indutrsy and owned by Anthony (Tony) Welters. Subsequently they received a contract to supply the US Navy with "SeaSheds". A SeaShed was a 60,000 + pound large metal structure that fit inside the hull of a ship and was used to transport M-1 Tanks.Together with Tony and Edgar Rios, other ventures included operating a computer system integration company and finally AmeriChoice, a healthcare management company in 1989, AmeriChoice became the largest Medicaid HMO in the United States before selling to United Healthcare in 2002 with revenues exceeding $1 Billion. At the time of the sale, Jess was Vice-Chairmen and Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Jess retired to the family horse farm in 2005 at the age of 67, and preceded to establish a winery in Madison County that had the capability of producing 20,000 cases a year. The winery was sold to Steve Case (AOL) in 2010.

Today, Jess and his wife Sharon, of 61+ years of marriage, live on the family farm while daughter Robin runs the horse operation. Jess spends his time writing and is becoming an activist with respect to healthcare and business issues.He is the father of three children, Robin, Scott & Stacy, and a grandfather and a great-grandfather.