Jay Laabs

Executive Chair and Founder of Spaulding Ridge, Jay Laabs is a noted technology and professional services entrepreneur, executive, and early-stage investor. He is an advisor to many Fortune 500 CFOs and CIOs. Laabs has been recognized by Consulting Magazine as a Top 25 Consultant globally. As CEO, Laabs founded Spaulding Ridge in February 2018 and under his culture-first leadership has scaled the firm to more than 700 consultants globally. The firm is a recognized global leader in cloud strategy, serving top platforms like Snowflake, OneStream, DocuSign, Salesforce, and Anaplan. Spaulding Ridge has received numerous accolades from major media outlets including Consulting Magazine, Inc., The Chicago Tribune, Crain’s and Gartner. Laabs also currently serves as an Operating Partner at Shore Capital. Prior to Spaulding Ridge, Laabs gained industry distinction by founding Blue Stone International in 2005, scaling the firm to one of the largest Hyperion/Oracle firms globally. In 2013, Laabs sold Blue Stone International to Huron, where he stayed on to grow the Oracle business by 5x in both people and revenue. Laabs also spent time at Hyperion Solutions (now Oracle), Davis Capital, Societe Generale, and The Alcar Group. Laabs actively works with entrepreneurial leaders to scale their businesses through board roles, project work, and executive coaching. He currently has advisory board roles at Courser, Optis and Moonnox. He has previously served as an advisory board member and/or mentor for Acliviti, Lev, Mavens Consulting, Ignite Journeys, and One North Interactive. He is also a member and former officer of Young President’s Organization (YPO) and Hyde Park Angels. Laabs has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions through his own successful exit at Blue Stone International, his time at Davis Capital, the acquisitions he led at Huron, including ADI Strategies, Cloud 62, Threshold Consulting, and Rittman Mead India, and Spaulding Ridge’s acquisitions of Data Clymer, Plan Rocket Consulting, Silvr Linings, CIS Consulting, Solistic Decision Sciences and Buan Consulting. Laabs graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Finance and specialization in International Business. He is a former member of the School of Business Dean’s External Advisory Board and current member of the UW AI Hub board.