The View from the Top: Jay Parry (Fin’80)

Leadership is more than just a core set of skills. More than ever, it demands adaptability as ways of work change and challenges become more complex. Leeds alumni share the leadership lessons that have helped them motivate, inspire and problem-solve. Read other leaders' stories here.

Jay Parry (Fin’80)
President and CEO, 2024 Men’s Final Four Host Committee

In sports, there’s nothing harder than winning the championship. Except for repeating it.

Jay Parry knows all about it.

Before she accepted her current assignment to run the Final Four Host Committee, she twice led the host committees for the Super Bowl when the game was played in Arizona. And while the learning experiences of running a successful Super Bowl XLIX, in 2015, were helpful for this year’s event, it also meant she needed to find ways to motivate people to deliver an even bigger experience for fans, players, brands, the NFL and the media.

For Parry, success comes down to setting expectations upfront, being as collaborative as possible when setting a strategy, celebrating individual and team victories, and leading by example—even when that means arriving to a kids’ football clinic or a tree-planting event first thing on a rainy Saturday morning.

“When you’re surrounded by the best team, you want to be that point guard or quarterback who finds ways to help make the very talented people around you even better.”