Jay Faison

Jay Faison (born November 29, 1967) is an American entrepreneur and a conservative philanthropist from North Carolina. He was Founder and CEO of SnapAV.^[1] In 2013, he sold the vast majority of his shares in SnapAV and invested $175 million to start the ClearPath Foundation,^[2] with the mission of accelerating conservative clean energy solutions.^[3]

Family life and education

Faison was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1967. His father, Henry Faison, was a prominent real estate developer in Charlotte who founded and chaired Faison Enterprises.^[4]

Faison earned a BA in economics from UNC Chapel Hill, and graduated from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business with an MBA in 1995. He lives in Charlotte, with his wife and three children.^[5]

Career

After business school Faison started and ran Blockbuster Portugal, which had 27 stores. After meeting his wife Olga, he then returned to the U.S. and bought a small home technology company, which grew to be the largest in the Charlotte region.^[6] Faison founded SnapAV six years later, in 2005. SnapAV designs and distributes audio-visual equipment to integrators, from speakers to surveillance system.^[7]

In 2013, Faison was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southeast.^[8]

Philanthropy

ClearPath Foundation

Faison decided to sell his majority-share in SnapAV, and donate most of that money, $175 million, to create the ClearPath Foundation. "I sold my business because I wanted to get into philanthropy during the prime of my career rather than the end of it. It was time to give back."^[9] His goal was to support conservative clean energy solutions. “I always felt a little alone out there as a Republican,” Faison said in an interview, “and so I started ClearPath to create a dialogue around this in a way that hadn’t been done before and sort of be part of the solution.”^[10]

He runs the foundation as its Managing Partner. The ClearPath website displays its mission statement: “Accelerate conservative clean energy solutions.”

Political Donations

Faison has been a regular contributor to Republican political candidates. He donated $500,000 to New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, $50,000 to Jeb Bush, and $100,000 to Lindsey Graham in the run-up to the 2016 election.^[11][12] He has also donated to Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman, and to the North Carolina Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.^[13]

Media

Faison's philanthropy work has been written about in Politico,^[14] Forbes,^[15] The Washington Post,^[16] and the National Journal,^[17] among others. Faison published an Op-Ed with Senate Energy Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski in January 2016 titled: ‘Stop Wasting America’s Hydropower Potential.’^[18]

References

1. Hoffman, Lisa. "Zen In The Entertainment Zone". Greater Charlotte Biz.
2. Goode, Darren. "Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate". Politico.
3. "Welcome Page". ClearPath.
4. "About Faison".
5. "Money and the Meaning of Life". Giving Matters.
6. Morrill, Jim. "Jay Faison hopes his latest start-up can change minds on climate change". Charlotte Observer.
7. "Q&A Jay Faison of Zobo.tv, SnapAV".
8. "Ernsy And Young Announce Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013 Award" (PDF).
9. "A Message From Jay Faison". ClearPath.
10. Goode, Darren. "Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate". Politico.
11. "Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate".
12. "GOP climate activist gives $500K to senator’s campaign".
13. Faison, Jay. "I’m a Republican. I Want My Party to Tackle Climate Change". Politico.
14. Goode, Darren. "Republican pledges $175 million to push party on climate". Politico.
15. "Groups Aim to Lure Conservatives Out of the Closet on Climate Change".
16. "This businessman thinks he can change the GOP’s mind on climate change".
17. "A $10 Million Pledge to Push Republicans On Climate Change".
18. "Stop Wasting America’s Hydropower Potential". New York Times.