The journey began with an Apple IIe computer, gifted to James “Jay” Stocki, Jr. ‘90 by his parents when he was in the 8th grade. “After endless tinkering and learning new programming techniques from magazines, I knew my career would be in a computer-related field.”
Jay grew up on a dairy farm in Crivitz, Wisconsin, where workdays start at 4:45 a.m. and don’t end until the evening. “I have often joked that no matter what the job entails, it won’t be as difficult as the job I had before I graduated high school.” Jay’s work ethic was strengthened further when, at age twelve his father was diagnosed with cancer. His dad underwent six months of chemotherapy. During this time, it was up to Jay and his older cousin Mike to manage the family farm. This experience, however, also cemented his decision that farming wasn’t his future.
After realizing his passion for computers, Jay considered many colleges to attend, including the United States Military Academy at West Point. “In the end, it was an MSOE alumnus that convinced me that MSOE’s hands-on approach to learning would ensure I would get a solid job in computer engineering.”
Jay enrolled at MSOE and was selected for the honors program in computer science and engineering. One of the perks of the program was priority class selection, a benefit that Jay and his classmate, Kevin Schuh, strategically leveraged. “We realized that by selecting certain classes we could graduate a trimester early. While it was a brutal junior year, we were the first in the program to graduate in under four years.”
The relationships Jay built with mentors like computer science professors Matthew Treu and William Barnekow had a profound impact on his academic experience, especially during his courses and senior design project. “They pushed me to accomplish more than I thought possible, and I will be forever grateful for that.”
Equally important were the friendships he formed with classmates, which played a key role in both his educational and personal growth. “There is something about a shared challenge that can bring people together. Some of my closest friends today are the people I stayed up all night with working on a project or studying for an exam,” he says.
After graduation from MSOE in 1990, Jay started his professional career at Accenture as a strategy consultant. In 1995, he earned his MBA from the University of Michigan. During his career, his expertise for sales, marketing and business strategy touched several companies such as Yahoo!, Experian, Epsilon and Corio. One of Jay’s proudest career moments, he says, was being a pioneer in the programmatic advertising industry. Jay helped the system shift from traditional, fixed advertising placements to a more dynamic, data-driven method that allows for real-time decisions in placing ads, making the process more efficient and flexible. Now more than 90% of all online advertising is conducted this way.
Jay has been a champion for startup businesses, having served as one of the first product evangelists for NVIDIA during its early days. He is the founder and CEO of Talmont, an advertising consultancy, and a partner at Red Rocket Ventures, a consulting and advisory firm focused on startups based in Chicago. He is also a partner in the Illini Angels, a startup investment group. In his spare time, Jay runs a nationwide golf putting competition called The World’s Longest Putt and is the Guinness World Record holder for the longest golf putt ever made.
Despite these career accomplishments, Jay expresses greater pride in his personal achievements of raising two successful daughters with his wife Jill, being an active community leader and building a strong network of friends. Jay has raised more than $100,000 for his local education foundation and recruited more than 1,000 individuals to join the local Moose Lodge.
Looking back on his time at MSOE, he says several factors contributed to his success and he’s excited to be an inductee into the Wall of Distinction, amongst many other outstanding alumni. “You can accomplish anything through dedicated effort, solid time management and creating a great support staff around you.”
“I am proud and humbled to be inducted into MSOE’s Wall of Distinction,” Jay says. “It’s amazing to see how far MSOE has come since my graduation and I look forward to helping the university grow even more.”