Born at Fort Lawton on Magnolia Hill in Seattle, Jay first made his home in Edmonds in late 1963, living on Edmonds Way, where the Goodwill store is today, when his father retired from the U.S. Army. After his military service in the Air Force, he lived in all four corners of America. His academic focus at Northeastern University was financial risk management (1979-1983), and his professional career before working on Capitol Hill was in the insurance industry, where he owned a dental insurance company. He returned to Seattle in 1986 with his family, settling permanently in Woodway and later Edmonds. He served as the President of the Washington State Association of Health Underwriters and later became president and CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters.

Jay later began working in Washington, D.C., and several state legislatures on insurance risk issues, and in the 106th Congress, he became legislative counsel to the State of Arkansas. All this changed shortly after 9/11. Jay’s port authority experience began with representing the American Association of Port Authorities and building a broad coalition of maritime governments as Director of the U.S. Port Security Council. In this role, he coordinated security legislative requirements and secured billions in grant funding for security and operational projects for U.S. port authorities. His work with port authorities and governments primarily focused on security and law enforcement projects, intelligence, and other operational issues such as incident management, pilot programs, and security evaluations.

In the earliest period of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Jay worked on federal legislative and funding issues, port security grants, port credentialing (TWIC), aviation screening systems, the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CT-PAT), and the Security Border Initiative (SBI) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program on the Arizona border, a $10 billion border security initiative integrator selection, resulting in the operational use of the first UAV on the Arizona border. During this period, he was an advisor to Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson at DHS – Border & Transportation Security.

After working with U.S. ports, Jay's focus became global when he was appointed Director and Secretary General of the INTERPORTPOLICE in September 2010. This role led to extensive worldwide authority work, including with AU, EU, UK, and US airports, seaports, and border police departments, as well as with other UN countries, to foster cooperation, training, and security programs. A key accomplishment is the Port Security Best Practices, a multi-national authority best practice focused on aviation and maritime public safety and critical infrastructure prevention, protection, and preparedness.

For the last seven years, Jay has been a FEMA law enforcement and integration stakeholder group member, focusing on first responder collaborative efforts. Since becoming a Commissioner, he has participated in West Coast and Snohomish County government programs related to various emergency management issues. Additionally, he has served as Vice Chair of the NATO CJOES COE Information Sharing Committee for the last four years.

Jay's work has required regular commuting to Washington, D.C., and internationally, but his home has remained here. As his travel waned, he was pleased to be asked to run for Port Commissioner for District 3, which includes Edmonds and Woodway. In 2021, he was elected Commissioner of the Port of Edmonds' 3rd District and is up for re-election in 2025.