Jay Clark - Founder, Wolfpack Communications

 

Thanks to a 25-year career, Jay brings a proven track record of improving organizational financial success in the Denver market. With a resume that includes nonprofit management, professional sports, telecommunications and trade association industry experience, Jay know and understands the value of building trust-based relationships and providing unparalleled personal service.

 

From 1994 to 2009, Jay helped build the Gold Crown Foundation, a Colorado youth nonprofit organization, from some ideas scratched on a napkin to one of Colorado's largest youth sports and education organizations. This gave Jay the chance to work with one of Colorado’s most respected businessmen, Ray Baker, and one of Colorado’s most beloved ex-pro athletes, Bill Hanzlik. In 2000, Jay became the organization's first Executive Director, overseeing all aspects of the day-to-day operations. Starting in 1994, the concept of the Gold Crown Foundation was to find and fill niches in youth basketball programming. This led to the creation of what is now the largest junior high basketball program in Colorado that more than 5,000 6th, 7th and 8th grade girls and boys play in annually. With Jay as Executive Director, the Gold Crown Foundation was twice cited in Westword Newspaper’s “Best of Denver.”

 

The dream for the Gold Crown Foundation was to one day oversee its own athletic and education complex. After 10 years of fundraising, marketing, planning, designing and partnering with other  organizations who shared a commitment to youth in the Denver Metro area, the dream became a reality with the construction of Coca-Cola All Star Park and then the Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, Colorado. First came Coca-Cola All Star Park, a championship quality baseball park modeled after historic Coors Field that opened in 1998 to coincide with the Rockies hosting the 1998 MLB All Star Game. Then came the Gold Crown Field House, a 56,000 square-foot indoor athletic and education facility on the same campus that is now the region’s premier indoor basketball and volleyball facility. Jay was very fortunate to serve as the Project Manager for both projects and oversaw all phases of the development and building of both these amazing facilities from start to finish. Both have had a positive impact on the community beyond all expectations and have served hundreds of thousands of people. The opening of the two facilities remain Jay’s proudest professional accomplishments.

 

Prior to joining the Gold Crown Foundation, Jay spent seven seasons in the Media Relations office of the Denver Nuggets, joining the organization in 1987 as an Assistant to Director Bill Young. After one of the countless ownership and upper management shakeups at the Nuggets in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Jay was promoted to Director of Media Relations in 1990 under Carl Scheer. After Scheer left the organization, Jay served the Nuggets for three years under two important mentors, President Tim Leiweke and Vice President of Marketing Shawn Hunter. Jay credits Leiweke and Hunter for being true marketing geniuses who pulled the franchise from its darkest days and saved the Nuggets in Denver. Both Leiweke and Hunter taught him how important public and media relations are to an overall marketing strategy. From 1992-1994, Jay served as the Midwest Division Representative to the NBA PR Advisory Board, which continually strived to recognize and implement best practices in one of the world's foremost major sports leagues, serving alongside industry titans such as Brian McIntyre, Kevin Sullivan, Bill Robertson and Alex Martins.

 

During his career Jay also had the chance to work for Denver Parks and Recreation, under Manager Lauri Dannemiller and Deputy Managers Erin Brown and Scott Gilmore. Other stops included ICG Communications during the boom time of the tech industry, which was a great peek into corporate America and the pressures of Wall Street where he learned a great deal about management from JoAnne Beebe, Mark Hafley and Lon Welsh. Jay had the chance to spend a season at Colorado Ski Country USA, learning the inner workings of one of Colorado's signature industries, working with John Frew, Melanie Mills and a great staff.

 

Jay graduated from Colorado State University with a B.A. in Technical Journalism in 1986 and grew a passion for sports information through working for Gary Ozzello, a legend in the field.

 

Jay is married to his best friend Jill and they have two beautiful daughters, Ellen and Molly. Outside of work, Jay loves to watch his daughters’ various activities, play rock music with friends in a garage band and follow his beloved Colorado sports teams.

© Wolfpack Communications, 2013