As founder and CEO of Global Custom Commerce (GCC), Jay was an early mover in e-Commerce. In 1993 he bootstrapped his website, built for just $1500 and operated from his garage, into the world’s #1 online window coverings store, Blinds.com. In January 2014, GCC merged with The Home Depot, when he continued to lead GCC as its CEO and joined the Home Depot Online Leadership Team, driving and integrating GCC’s platform into Home Depot’s interconnected retail strategy.

Jay earned his BBA in Accounting with honors at UT (1976). After working as a CPA at KPMG and VP of Finance at Meineke Mufflers, Inc., in 1987 he and his wife started a small brick and mortar retail store selling custom window coverings. They sold their store in 2001 to go online exclusively.

GCC has been recognized multiple times as The Best Place to Work in Houston, Top 5 Workplaces in Texas, one of the 50 Most Engaged Workplaces in America, the American Marketing Association Marketer of the Year, and many others. Jay is an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and has earned a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Houston Technology Center.

Jay is currently on the Innovation Board of The XPRIZE, whose mission is to bring about “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity”, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, serves on the Advisory Council at The University of Texas’ Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center, is on multiple start-up boards, and supports numerous charities.

Jay still sings enthusiastically in his barbershop quarter, formed on campus in 1972 with three fellow UT students, called The 40 Acre 4.