Born/Raised:
Jay was born in New Orleans and grew up 50 miles north of the city in Folsom, La.
Education:
Jay graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in Broadcasting and minors in English and Geography.
Work Experience:
WJRD (PAX) Tuscaloosa, AL 1998
WTOC (CBS) Savannah, GA 1999-2001
WPTV (NBC) WPB, FL 2002-Present
Jay has been working for WPTV as a news reporter and anchor since 2001. He recently celebrated his 21st anniversary at the station. Jay is a four-time Emmy Award winner from the Suncoast Chapter. He has been nominated for 22 Emmys over his two-and-a-half decades in local television. In May 2022, Jay was awarded a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, considered among the most prestigious awards in news, for his story on two Boca Raton teenagers preparing for the Olympics. He has also won multiple Associated Press awards.
Jay took a keen interest in scuba diving shortly after arriving in South Florida. He helped launch a series called "Underwater Wednesdays," which featured and promoted stories surrounding coral reef and ocean awareness. That series also earned Jay a community service award from the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force in 2004 for increasing public awareness on coral reef conservation. Jay has drifted in ocean currents over multiple wrecks and reefs in the Keys, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Bora Bora, Cayman Islands, Bonaire, St. Thomas, the Dominican Republic and South Florida.
Jay has covered a wide range of stories in his career as a journalist. He took the ride of his life in 2000 when he flew with the Blue Angels. He was one of the first reporters to hit the ground in Haiti hours after the disastrous earthquake of January 2010 and was on the white sand beaches of the Florida panhandle that same year following the devastating Gulf oil spill. Jay extensively covered the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, which battered South Florida. He also covered the most personal story of his career in 2005 when he traveled back home to help his family dig out and recover during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Jay was the first local news anchor on the ground in Marsh Harbour, on Great Abaco Island, after Hurricane Dorian leveled the entire city in 2019. He's taken a stronghold over the last decade-and-a-half covering environmental reports including the deterioration of the last living reef in the country in the Florida Keys and tracking pythons and Tegus in the Everglades, along with investigating the record number of manatee deaths in 2021. Among his many stories, he has featured numerous people in South Florida with inspirational stories of achievement and determination.
Jay enjoys running, surfing, swimming and biking. He and his wife have two children, their son, Cruz, and daughter, Ella. They also rescued a 180-pound Great Dane (their gentle giant) named Jake from the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. Jake passed away in 2019 but his story helped lead to many more adoptions in the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast.
Jay is a 1997 graduate of the University of Alabama, which means on Saturday in the fall you can find him enjoying Alabama football. Roll Tide! Jay has competed in multiple triathlons since 2013, including the Loggerhead Sprint and Turtleman triathlons in Jupiter. He's an avid member of Orange Theory with his wife. He promotes healthy living, family and always gives back to his community, emceeing numerous events throughout the year for many charities. Those include Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Palm Beach County's Business Development Board, the Mayor's Ball for Palm Beach County, Jupiter Medical Center Foundation, Easter Seals, the South Florida Fair and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Palm Beach County. He met his wife, Kelly, in 2008 at the Palm Beach County Food and Wine Festival, which he has emceed for the last decade, helping to promote local chefs and inspiring South Florida cuisine.
