No one knows excellence like Jeffery E. Lay. Lay is a 24-year veteran of the United States Navy, United States Air Force, and Ohio Air National Guard. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he served a highly decorated military career flying the F-14 Tomcat and the F-16 Fighting Falcon in his nation’s defense.

An accomplished Mission Commander and graduate of the lauded Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), he flew more than 50 combat missions, made over 400 carrier landings and accumulated over 3,500 flight hours during three combat deployments to Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Persian Gulf.

In February 1998 at the height of his career, Lay was diagnosed with an advanced form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and told he would never fly again. Determined to get back in the air, Lay fought the disease with unspeakable courage and chose to undergo an experimental form of chemotherapy. Within only nine months, he beat the cancer and returned to the cockpit on Veteran’s Day, 1998.

Upon retiring from the military, Lay made the leap from TOPGUN to Wall Street. He found the risk management skills, exacting discipline and uncompromising rigor of Naval Aviation to be the very foundation necessary to operate on the world’s largest financial stage.

Throughout his financial career, Lay has diligently forged his personal acumen as an educator, risk manager, and protector of client wealth. A Chartered Market Technician (CMT), he was a Wealth Advisor at Neuberger Berman – then a Lehman Brothers company – where he came face-to-face with the risks Wall Street takes.

Today he is a trusted advisor to select families, senior executives, corporations, endowments and foundations. A noted financial author, he mentors investment professionals on risk management, capital preservation and asset allocation, and hosts a renowned global wealth management symposium each year, most recently held at the New York Stock Exchange. Lay also serves on the Board of the Market Technicians Association in New York and is a Senior Advisor to the CMT Board of Governors. He was the first Director of the CMT Institute, and has personally mentored more than 400 financial analysts, portfolio managers, and proprietary traders during his Wall Street career.

In his first book TOPGUN on Wall Street, co-authored with Patrick Robinson, New York Times #1 best-selling co-author of Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor, Lay details his experiences as a Navy fighter pilot and describes the aura of accountability every naval officer lives with, and how their lessons can help others achieve excellence. The book is scheduled for release in May 2012.

At the podium Lay’s powerful story captures audiences with his charisma, credibility, and true grit and he instantly connects with them in immeasurable ways, conveying a sense of purpose and humility. His personal story inspires everyone to never give up and raise the bar on their own individual performance – in business, and in life. From his motivating story of beating the odds in conquering cancer, to the intensity of TOPGUN and its many lessons, his message will be on point in ways that truly inspire others to believe perfection is attainable, and excellence is a choice.

Raised in America’s heartland, Lay received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. Jeffery Lay lives in Cincinnati with his wife and daughter.