Biography
Dr. Jay Harding is a Business Architect with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), a fully funded state pension fund. He is also the President of Affinium Strategy Group, his startup consulting company, which focuses on transformative change and the implementation of large projects. Dr. Harding presently serves on the board of trustees of Fielding Graduate University as Treasurer and Chair of the Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee and Chair of Investment Sub-committee.
In his mantra, Dr. Harding professes that he succeeds at aligning business goals to operational reality. This alignment is done by creating a proper structure for change and a line-of-sight to the ultimate objective. As a consultant and in previous roles, he has exceeded his clients’ expectations through a strategic focus and a servant leadership mindset.
He is passionate about servant leadership and has weaved this style into all his roles. Bringing order out of chaos is just part of his experience. He knows that focusing on balancing the caring and requiring needs of people makes for successful interactions at all levels in organizations.
During his over 25-year professional career, Dr. Harding worked as the Chief Administrative Officer at Duff and Phelps Investment Management Company, an investment manager with over $12 billion in assets under management. At Duff & Phelps, he managed several departments including client service, IT, and operations. His previous work also includes being the Managing Director of Operations and Technology at Christian Brothers Investment Services, a $10 billion asset manager. Dr. Harding’s major initiatives while at Christian Brothers were spearheading a firm-wide structural transformational project and implementing an outsourced IT model.
Dr. Harding is passionate about volunteering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). As someone who has a lived experience with a mental health condition, he holds his ability to contribute through NAMI as one of his critical successes in life.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Indiana University, Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University, and a Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University. Dr. Harding’s dissertation focuses on the variance of meaning of the fiduciary construct by Chartered Financial Analysts at registered investment advisors.
