Mr. Clay began his career in the construction industry in 1984 as an engineer’s assistant at a design-build specialty contractor. Over the past 23 years, Jonathan has worked in the management of the construction process as a construction manager / general contractor, program manager and owner’s representative, as well as a specialty / trade contractor. His years of experience working for firms in these various roles shaped his unique perspective of the construction industry and resulted in his desire to create an entity that effectively manages these partners in a cohesive team working to meet his client’s construction needs.
Jonathan began working with his partners, Bob Feinstein and Larry Leroux in 1993 at midsized regional general contractor in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to leaving that firm in 2004 to form The Blue River Group with Bob and Larry, Jonathan had reached the level of Vice President of Operations of the company’s higher education market sector. In this role, Jonathan was responsible for all aspects of work associated with this market, including business development and marketing, estimating, project management and field supervision as well as safety, final product quality and client and partner satisfaction.
As principal and founder of The Blue River Group, Jonathan is responsible for the overall strategic direction and executive management of the firm. In accordance with its corporate mission, Jonathan provides principal level involvement in the day to day management of the projects for which he is responsible. In addition, Jonathan oversees the marketing and branding of The Blue River Group as well as leads the development of estimating, scheduling, project management and proposal preparation systems.
Jonathan completed coursework in Civil Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Computer Science coursework at Georgia State University before obtaining his Bachelors of Science in Construction Management from Southern Polytechnic State University.
Jonathan has been a frequent speaker at both regional and national trade conferences, and was instrumental in the development of the Southeast Regional Chapter of The Building Commissioning Association where he served as a founding board member and chapter vice president from 2002 through 2005. As chairman of Southside Comprehensive High School's Local Industry Council, Jonathan received the Atlanta Partner’s for Education 2003 A+ Award for Career Connections, and The Construction Education Foundation of Georgia’s 2003 Visionary Builder Award. Jonathan remains involved at Southern Polytechnic State University where he is a frequent guest lecturer, capstone panel judge, currently serves on the Construction Department’s Advisory Board and was its chairman in 2003 and 2004. Jonathan also has a long term relationship with St. Jude’s Recovery Center where he has served as a member of its board of directors since 2001. Always an active participant, while on St. Jude’s Board, Jonathan previously served as the board’s chairperson, its buildings and ground committee chairperson, and its resource development committee chairperson. He has also served on the organizations recent strategic planning committee and successful six million dollar capital campaign.
