The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle EP004 - Jay Pierce
What if integrating your faith into your professional life could lead to groundbreaking success? Join us as we sit down with Jay Pierce, a Wisconsin native and seasoned entrepreneur, whose story is a compelling blend of faith, innovation, and leadership. From his roots in Fond du Lac to his impactful roles at Johnson & Johnson and These Three Medical, Jay's journey is nothing short of inspiring. We discuss how his upbringing and Catholic faith have been the bedrock of his values and work ethic, setting the stage for his impressive career. Discover how his education at the University of Wisconsin catalyzed his path to transforming healthcare through technology, ultimately leading him to Miami.
Navigating the rocky transition from corporate roles to entrepreneurship, Jay shares the highs and lows of launching successful ventures like OrthoSensor. This episode delves into the complex balance of managing shareholder expectations, customer needs, and family responsibilities—all while staying true to his faith. Gain insights into Jay's daily spiritual practices, which have provided strength and guidance throughout his career. Listen to captivating stories of how faith-driven partnerships have been instrumental in driving business success, offering a unique perspective on combining spirituality with professional ambition. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone looking to harmonize their personal beliefs with their professional endeavors.
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, Kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now, Right now.
Kendall Peterson:Hello and welcome to episode four of the Everyday Apostle podcast. Thrilled to be here with you once again to share stories of those people who are living out their faith in their daily lives and their daily work. It's been such a joy to be doing this for our fourth episode now. Didn't think we'd make it past the first one. Big thank you and a big shout out to all of those people who have sent me prayer requests and prayer intentions and all of those things, because they recognize the reach that we have, and also for those that are praying for us. This is a very special dedication that we have to sharing the good news and the gospel and our call to reach out to those in the world. I have a fantastic surprise for you guys with our guest today. He's a wonderful man that I consider a dear friend and a true brother in Christ, so without further ado, we're going to jump right into that. I want to read his bio because I can't do it justice on my own.
Kendall Peterson:Today, our guest is both an accomplished executive and a serial entrepreneur whose spirit and dedication to innovation have made a significant impact in the medical device, cloud computing and technology industries. Cloud computing and technology industries. Joining us is Mr Jay Pierce, who is currently the CEO of These3Medical, a company revolutionizing the industry with intelligent orthopedic implants, neurostimulation and diabetes management solutions, which recently completed a product acquisition with a Fortune 100 company introducing a handheld sensor system that assists orthopedic surgeons in knee replacement surgery. Super exciting stuff. I got a glimpse of it and it's truly, truly amazing. Before founding these three medical, jay was the driving force behind OrthoSensor, a pioneer in intelligent orthopedics, was acquired by striker orthopedics in 2021, and over his remarkable career, he has founded multiple successful tech companies and raised over 100 million dollars in venture capital and private equity funds.
Kendall Peterson:His journey began with an impressive 20-year tenure at johnson johnson medical, where he held various roles in sales, marketing, operations and general management, and served as international vice president. He was also one of the founding executives of Ethicon Endosurgery. Mr Pierce is not only a recognized leader in the healthcare industry, speaking at prestigious events like the Piper Jaffrey Heartland Summit and the JP Morgan Health Conferences. He was also named one of the power leaders in health care by South Florida Business Journal. He resides in South Florida, a devoted family man, married for 38 years to his beautiful wife, anna, and they have six children and one grandchild. He's also an active member of St Louis Catholic Church in Miami, florida, serving as the vice chairman of the parish council. Please help me in welcoming Jay Pierce.
Jay Pierce:Thank you, Kendall. It's an absolute privilege and joy to be here with you.
Kendall Peterson:So, as they do with everybody, everybody, I have a gift for you. Um, you know, but now you don't have to open it now. Um, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you being here and, uh, how much I appreciate the fact that I can call you a friend thank you, thank you very much so, jay, uh, we, that's a lot of life to go through just looking at your bio right, yeah, sounds really good.
Narrator:It sounds really good. I don't know who this guy is.
Kendall Peterson:So let's start with where did you grow up? You're obviously not a South Florida guy.
Jay Pierce:No, I'm not from around here. I grew up in Fond du Lac, wisconsin. My dad actually was from Fond du Lac, wisconsin. My dad actually is from Fond du Lac was from Fond du Lac. He quit high school in 10th grade, went in the military, went into the Korean War and when he was on leave back in Wisconsin, my mother, who was from Griffin, georgia, was temporarily in Fond du Lac and for for work and they met kind of across the street neighbors and they ended up having three kids. I've got two older brothers and I'm the youngest wow, that's amazing.
Kendall Peterson:So what's your favorite memory of growing up there?
Jay Pierce:favorite memory of growing up. Um well, I just tell you, you know, it's, when I think of Wisconsin and you've heard this before it's like, you know it's, it's, it's Brock's, it's cheese, it's beer and the Green Bay Packers. So my memory, so much of the memories around. You know football, you know, and, and then a very big Catholic family from my dad's side that was up there.
Kendall Peterson:Okay, so was the Catholic faith something that was pretty strong in your childhood and growing up?
Jay Pierce:Yeah, it was. I mean, it was, you know, going to Mass every Sunday, a lot of get-togethers with friends and family, with faith very present, and it was a very special time for me.
Kendall Peterson:So a lot of prayer on Sunday mornings for the Sunday afternoon game for the Green. Yeah, absolutely.
Jay Pierce:They'd have the priest in the church. Sometimes do a prayer for the Packer game to hope the Packers play well there you go. Sometimes do a prayer for the Packer game to hope the Packers play.
Kendall Peterson:Well, there you go. So obviously there's a lot of journey between Wisconsin and Miami, so why don't you talk me through that?
Jay Pierce:Sure, well, I ended up going to the University of Wisconsin and played football in college and then after I graduated with a business degree and moved to Atlanta and my first job out of college was there in sales. So I was realizing I had the ability to connect with people and did fairly well in health. This was a job in electrical appliances. I did that for about a year and I sold. I sold a lot of it. And then J&J was looking for somebody that had selling skills that they could train in anatomy and medical devices and that would go out and then be in sales. And so they moved me to Raleigh, north Carolina. I was there for two years, did very well, got the sales awards and so forth. And then they moved me to Miami, florida, and this was now in 84, 85.
Jay Pierce:And you know, it was like I'm not in Kansas, I'm not in Wisconsin anymore. I came down here and I was here for about nine months and a gentleman my brother-in-law now set my wife and I up on a blind date, and so that's when I really started assimilating into the Cuban community at that point in time and we ended up getting married. And so you've got this kid from a small town in Wisconsin and now Anna, the angel that was put into my life. We meet, we get married and we move to Atlanta and we had, we had moved in, you know, up the corporate ladder with J&J to Atlanta, to Southern California, orange County, all in, you know, as I'm getting promoted in, you know sales and sales management and working my way up the corporate ladder.
Jay Pierce:So I was a sales manager out in California and then I went to, we moved to New Jersey for a marketing position and so Chris was born in Atlanta, matt was born in California and then Natalie was born in Texas and Dallas. We were there for a couple of years and then moved back to Miami I still have stickers, moving stickers on my furniture at home and then up in Cincinnati I was a national sales manager, vp of sales, and then moved back to Miami where the last three kids were born Andrew, john and Sophia, and so it's just been a blessing and so it was also very good for us to you know. As we got married, we lived away for a while, focused a lot on the relationship and it was beautiful.
Jay Pierce:I'm a blessed man. That's quite a journey, yeah.
Kendall Peterson:So you're killing it in your professional career while you're having a family, which is hard to balance in and of itself. I'm curious if we go back to the college years, what was your faith like in that time period?
Jay Pierce:Oh, in college, you know, I have to be honest, it was not present in my life. I rarely went to Mass. I got so wrapped up in the college life and the sports and it would be when I went home for the weekend. You know my parents, they would need to go to Mass but it was. I really kind of walked from my faith for four or five years there.
Kendall Peterson:Okay, so walk a little bit from your faith started in your professional career, so I kind of know the story a little bit. But not to lead you too far down that path. You too far down that path as you're going in your professional career, did you? Was there any point prior to meeting Anna that you started to feel like you know you should kind of get back to your faith or bring that further in.
Jay Pierce:Prior to meeting Anna. No, I would say that my my introduction to Anna and her extended family was a big jolt and it's something that I started really embracing my faith more than. But it was really when Anna and I were on a if I may jump ahead a little bit when Anna and I were on a if I may jump ahead a little bit, we were. It was a J&J international meeting and I had to go to Italy, to Rome, for this meeting and I said, anna, why don't you come? I'll be there for the meeting five days, whatever, we'll spend an extra week in Italy. And went to the meeting and then, after the meeting, anna and I, you know, we said let's go to the Basilica and St Peter's Basilica. And so we walk in and I'll never forget this.
Jay Pierce:It was a very pivotal moment for me in my faith walk. We walk into the Basilica and Anna immediately, if you've been there, goes to the right, to the pieta right Mary holding the crucified Christ. And I just walked in the front middle aisle and I was just awestruck by the enormity of this church and it was very much of a homecoming for me and brought things together and I was just amazed as I started really getting into St Peter and understanding what you know getting the keys to the kingdom of heaven by Christ and I just felt like this is my rock and it was a very special call it conversion experience for me. You know my faith walk had been accelerated through my marriage with Anna, but it was that trip was very special. That was in like 1996 or so.
Kendall Peterson:Okay, wow, that's quite a story. So, so what changed? That's kind of one of those aha moments, right. What changed for you?
Jay Pierce:Yeah, what's really interesting is, soon after that, I was a parishioner at Epiphany at the time. The kids were, we moved back to Miami and Monsignor Doherty called and asked me to help lead this Emmaus retreat over at Epiphany. And so it was that process of going through going through an Emmaus retreat. Before you can lead one, you needed to go through one and it was. You know, obviously you kind of wake up during the retreat and you realize that Christ has been with you all along. You just never saw him. But it was that experience that really brought me out around, connecting in the church, in the school, in the parish and becoming more of an apostle, if you will, a disciple, and leading and getting up and kind of like Peter. Who do men say that I am right, you're the Christ, son of the ever-living God. And so that was a very pivotal time. That 96 trip to Rome and then leading, I don't know, maybe 10 of the Emmauses over at Epiphany. That really put me on this path to serving, reaching out and so forth.
Kendall Peterson:So then comes the challenge right, because once we know, we know, and you have to fit that into the rest of your life, right? So you've got to fit it into work, you have to fit it into your family. What did that look like for you? What started to change in those two worlds?
Jay Pierce:It was well and this has also happened to be when I'm transitioning from big company very big company, great, wonderful company to now become an entrepreneur, and so it was very much of a challenge in that it's exciting to start your own company, but you're raising money and so you've got shareholders looking for returns. You're building product and you have customers that are. You have employees and people in product development that are. You know the employees have needs. You have customers that you're trying to serve and a board of directors, if you will, and then you have your wife and your relationship and your marriage and kids, and so it was like sometimes I just felt like in the early days of entrepreneurship I was on an island. You get so many people calling you for attention or for detail or for time and connection and that I would struggle with that and inevitably I would, through the support of my wife, I would lean in my faith or my brothers at church to help me through.
Kendall Peterson:Yeah, there's nothing like owning your own business that tells you how much you need God.
Jay Pierce:And you realize you're never in control.
Kendall Peterson:Right, right. I highly recommend it for everyone. Tell me some of the things that you would do when you felt overwhelmed and lonely, and all of those things that we've experienced. How would you, what specific things would you do to bring Christ into that?
Jay Pierce:Sure, sure. So it's kind of a it's our routine and it's. I wake up in the morning and with Anna, we'll read Scripture, the Scripture of the day, go through I've got my Magnificat and I go through each of the readings and then we'll read the reflection and then we'll pray together. And so when Father Jim Fetcher married us at St Louis back in 1986, he said couples that pray together stay together. And so Anna and I have been routine in our daily life in praying together. So scripture, praying together, reflection, and you know, and then I'm in. We're in a Bible study that we've been in for actually we started back in Epiphany and the group is still together and just day to day, just being trying to. You know, morning mass when I can I don't go as often as I'd like, by the way way I went this morning and the mass reading was the disciples, you know, or the apostles are calling other 12 apostles. So pretty, pretty, uh, pretty special.
Kendall Peterson:But those are some of the things okay, um, so then you spend the next several years, um, on a roller coaster journey. I think you know a little bit of that story. Why don't you walk through your entrepreneurial life and what that looked like? And, if you can, while we're doing that, let's bring in where you brought God along with you and where you thought you could do it on your own, because I know for all of us that's part of what we do sure.
Jay Pierce:So fundamentally, what I've been doing over the last 15, 20 years is is around this convergence with technology if it's integrated circuits, microprocessors you know bluetooth communication sensors, you know Bluetooth communication sensors, you know this technology. Converging with medical devices if it's orthopedics or if it's an artificial pancreas or neural stimulation, and then type device and then taking the data out to the internet, the cloud, and working with that data to improve health and outcome, clinical outcome. So we've been doing that for a long while. Orthosensor we did it with orthopedic devices, we did it to help surgeons place a knee, do a knee replacement, put it in the right way, balance ligaments. In the case of neuro stim, it's stimulating the vagus nerve through the auricular branch, through the ear, to facilitate certain responses and solutions.
Jay Pierce:And then an artificial pancreas, which is the concept of trying to maintain homeostasis with your blood sugar, right, and it's just, it's natural People like type one diabetics or type two they have, they're challenged with that. The body doesn't do it, so they need to have assistance. And so you mentioned in the beginning about OrthoSense. Yes, that company was sold to Stryker Orthopedics. And then my partner, another very important person in my life, mark Stein is his name, he lives in Phoenix and he was a Medtronic technology fellow. He's got over 120 patents around neuro, stim and pacing and orthopedics and he is a tremendous man of faith. And after we, after OrthoSensor, we created this company.
Jay Pierce:These Three Medical it's not a typical name, you hear, right, and these three we could. You know, when I'm sometimes I'm in a business meeting, somebody says what's what's these three stand for? Well, it sense, analyze and deliver closed loop therapies in the body, like an artificial pancreas for us, right, you sense blood sugars, you release insulin and then you have algorithms that keep it in control. That keep it in control. But really, the true, the deeper reason is these three. It's 1 Corinthians 13. These three faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love, and it's been.
Jay Pierce:The walk with Mark over the last 15 years has been tremendous as well. Mark's the kind of guy that I could talk forever on this, but he's a brilliant man. But he is one of these few brilliant engineers that when he'll be working on firmware or embedded code and he just will hit a brick wall and brick wall won't get there. All of a sudden he gets it and he says, jay, I don't know. I said well, you mark, you're so brilliant. No, it's, it's all god's grace. And so he attributes everything there and he is this is my partner. So I've got, you know, I've got um, you know, anna, you know, and the extended family in Miami, my partner, mark, and you know his son's involved with the company.
Jay Pierce:But these are things that we've been going through and then, as we build the company, inevitably things don't work as you expect them to. You're developing products. If it's the artificial pancreas or whatever, right, it takes a while and you think you're in control. If you do this and this and this, you're going to get the result. Well, sometimes it just doesn't happen and you got to keep working it and you got to keep praying, and that's where prayer and coming together and being humble helps.
Kendall Peterson:So I hear two very clear themes, you know, as you're talking about that, and how you keep faith at the center of your life. I hear a very dedicated prayer life, whether that's, you know, memorized prayers, whether that is, you know, on the fly prayers, because things are, you know, falling, falling apart, but prayer is definitely one of them. The other is surrounding yourself with other people that have the same mind around faith absolutely, absolutely, and I will.
Jay Pierce:I will add that over the last 10 years you know, I kind of as, as you're making progress, there were some times when I just put so much work or effort into my work and look at my self-worth or my identity. It's not that I've been married for 38 years, I've got a wonderful wife, or I've got six kids, beautiful kids and a grandson, but it's like, well, I really want to, you know, sell the company or have a liquidity event. Until that happens, I'm not quote unquote successful and that's that is. You know. Obviously I've been looking at those years and the struggles and once I, you know, because I didn't connect as much at church there for a while, maybe in the 2000,. While I was creating these 2015 to 10 to 20. But I wasn't as engaged with my parish life as I would have liked to.
Jay Pierce:And then I was asked to lead another Emmaus here, you know, in March, and it turned out to be a huge. It was like over a hundred people, but it was like in preparation, when two or more gathered in his name. He's there and it's just. It was that peace that I, that Holy Spirit, that peace I've been looking for while I'm going through creating companies and, you know, and trying to either sell products or sell them, and that's really was instrumental here and I really awakening. For me it was like stupid, right? You know, the whole Emmaus thing is about the walk. He's always with you.
Kendall Peterson:You just don't see him and, uh, sometimes you just got to really go deep with your and connect at the parish level and with your brothers right and sisters yeah, it's easy to talk about faith right and say I believe in god or I'm spiritual or whatever language, um, it's another to live it in such a way that you can recognize in those moments that you are truly walking with him.
Jay Pierce:Right.
Kendall Peterson:And usually it's in those. It's in the toughest of moments, right, and in the toughest of moments it's hardest to turn away because you think I've got this, I know the solution, I can do this sure, yeah, there's a point where you know, as an entrepreneur listen, I sold my big home in Pinecrest.
Jay Pierce:I took that capital and put it in the company and companies and I found myself with very little left in the bank and the stresses and the anxieties, and you know my my brother-in-law is his mom I end up using her Honda Civic to drive. You know, it's like there was a point in time and it's like Lord help. You know I've been working this really hard for a long time but it's through prayer that gets you through, knowing you're not alone.
Kendall Peterson:That's for sure. So there are a lot of other people, not even just men, but people that are going through that same journey, right Entrepreneurship. I think living your faith in a corporate environment is extraordinarily tough, but living your faith as an entrepreneur has its own unique challenges. If you were to speak to the group of entrepreneurs who want to live their faith and want to bring Christ into the center of what they're doing, what advice would you give them?
Jay Pierce:What advice? So? There's different ways to live your faith. One is how you operate a company right and how you treat vendors, for example, and we have always everything we've done. You know, mark and I, through the years, has been around taking good care of our vendors.
Jay Pierce:You know, with these three. It's like paying ahead of the due dates, if you will right, and treating people right when you, you know, conflicts happen, roadblocks happen, and trying to work through things together is just like what would Jesus do, right? How would this be managed? These are some of the things that we would do or we've done in building the company, but it's also when you, with your customers. It's amazing how, when you open up a spiritual discussion, how there's so many out there that want to have those discussions and it's like, well, we're not really supposed to get into that here at the, you know, in the boardroom or whatever, but it's something that I think everybody opens up to, or so many people open up to, and so, not having fear, you know, just raising your hand, yes, I believe, and that's what we found to help.
Kendall Peterson:Wow. Well, thank you for that. Unfortunately, I don't know where the time went. But I don't know where the time went, but we're at the end of—I know it goes by quick, right? That is something that I've recognized as well, and that's why I wanted to start this podcast. Was I recognize that there are a lot of people that want to live with faith as part of their daily life, not just that thing they do for an hour on Sunday, and they need to know that. It's okay, right, we don't have to cram it down anybody's throat, but we can, person to person, know that we share that faith and that that's what makes us stronger. So thank you for sharing that.
Kendall Peterson:That message was very loud and clear. Again, jay, I've been looking forward to this literally from the beginning, and I'm glad that you were able to take the time to join us on the show. So, with that, guys, please like and subscribe. That's what we rely on to make sure that our numbers look good to those people who want to sponsor the show. The show simply can't continue if we don't have sponsors, and so please like, subscribe. You can watch on YouTube, you can listen on all of the normal podcast channels Apple, spotify, google, so on and so forth. So look for us, like, subscribe, follow, download, all of those things that you have to do, and let's keep this message going. Also, if you're interested in being a guest and talking about your journey of faith, please reach out with that as well. You can do all of that. Find us like, subscribe, sponsor and just have a chat. Share your thoughts by going to everydayapostlecom. And that's it for this week. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll see you next week.
Narrator:Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
