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After graduating with a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1979, Jay spent most of the 80’s on Michigan Avenue with Menaker & Wright and Campbell-Mithun advertising agencies.  As a copywriter, he created print and broadcast media campaigns for Kroger, Corona, Eaton, Veg-All, Halo, and Johnson’s Wax; helped name and position “SunChips” for Frito-Lay; volunteered for pro bono assignments for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and wrote radio and TV spots for Midway Airlines featuring Coach Mike Ditka.

Since 1990, Jay has served as an independent development consultant and freelance producer for many high-impact organizations, ministries and agencies around the world including Prison Fellowship, America’s Second Harvest, the Salvation Army, KidsPeace, and the National Center for Fathering.  Jay’s work has helped provide millions of dollars in aid to refugees in Africa and southeast Asia, recruit hundreds of volunteers for international relief work, and send thousands of Christmas gifts to the children of inmates here in the U.S.

Jay is the author of three books including Once Upon a Tandem (Simon & Schuster, 2003) and The One Year Life Verse Devotional (Tyndale House Publishers, 2007) and recognized on IMDb as the producer of the best-selling video, “Have You Been Left Behind?”   He is also a creativity trainer, storyteller and speaker who loves to encourage and challenge men to be the kind of dads their kids need.

Jay and his high school sweetheart, Rita, have five kids and an occasional foster baby and live in St. Charles, Illinois.

March 2008