Speaker Bio ::

Jay Fossett Long Island, New York

Jay Fossett is Vice President of Corporate Affairs with a firm based in New York where he currently manages a joint venture with a major international firm. Jay has spent the past 8 years working as a Senior Advisor, writer and speaker for governors, mayors, executives and Senators across the nation. His expertise has been used in national legislation on such issues as metropolitan transportation and infrastructure, housing and urban development, criminal justice and the creation of new ideas in other subject areas. Jay began working in local government in 1995 when he developed a prison reform project-training inmates in trade skills at the King County Adult Detention Facilities in Seattle, Washington. He subsequently worked with former Attorney General Janet Reno in drafting prison reform recommendations as part of a national effort. Jay has spoken and lectured at churches and colleges and worked with elected officials and corporate leaders around the country. He volunteers time on several non-profit boards and many community-based organizations. Jay grew up the son of a minister and landscaper and has learned the fundamental value of a hard days work in his family's business. Landscaping made a significant impression and his favorite hobby is garden design and horticulture. In addition to being featured as a lecturer during garden shows, one garden design has been published and another is currently a photographic subject for publication in a book within the next year. Jay and his wife Deborah have three daughters and now reside in Long Island, New York.