Jay Strear

I didn’t come to this work through a certification program or a business school case study. I came through thirty years of being responsible in rooms most people only ever inhabit one of.

I was ordained as a rabbi and earned an MBA from the same institution, in the same years — not as two separate tracks but as a single conviction: that how we lead and how we live are not separate questions. My first chapter was as a congregational rabbi in Detroit, sitting at bedsides and standing at gravesides, learning that presence — genuine, unhurried, full-contact presence — is the precondition of every other form of leadership.

That formation followed me into every room that came next. Twenty-three years at American Jewish University, where I raised more than $200 million and learned that transformational giving happens when people feel genuinely known — the same thing that happens at a bedside. The presidency of JEWISHcolorado, where I led a community through the Tree of Life massacre, COVID, and the Marshall Fires while simultaneously restructuring the organization and completing a capital campaign. The founding of The Strear Group, where everything converges.

I know what leaders face because I have been in the chair — not as an observer, but as the person responsible when the ground shifted.

My approach is direct and warm, patient and willing to push. I give leaders room to do the work. And I pick up the phone when a direct conversation is required. Both are acts of care. Neither alone is sufficient.

I’m passionate about helping leaders and organizations turn their values and vision into measurable action. My specialty? Guiding teams to connect purpose with profit, building stronger, more resilient organizations and making real impact along the way.