Jay Hardy Featured as Loveland Chamber Investor of the Month

December 1, 2010 Posted In

Vision is an exceptional trait for a business professional. The ability to create a vision, articulate, act on and drive that vision is a sign of a highly successful leader and is no easy feat to accomplish. However, Jay Hardy with McWhinney has this perfect mixture mastered.
Hardy, who ends his board term this month, has served on the Loveland Chamber board of directors since January 2006 and has continued to showcase his influential yet collaborative approach to business through a variety of board projects.
While Hardy represents McWhinney, one of Loveland’s largest businesses, he has always focused on addressing the needs of all Chamber investors, asking questions to assure that small business was also being represented by the board.According to Loveland Chamber president/CEO Brian Willms, one of Jay’s most popular questions was, “Have we asked our investors/members what they think/want?”
Hardy proved to be a vocal addition to the Chamber board, always one of the first to share his thoughts and successfully articulate the reasons behind ideas and actions. He has been one of few board members that had a knack for introducing suggestions that, more often than not, prompted action.
“Jay’s leadership was more often demonstrated by the high-quality questions he would ask – they were always well thought out and had purpose. Through his questions, the board obtained higher quality information and more clarity, allowing them to make a more informed decisions. His ability to ask good questions in a timely manner was one of his many great gifts to the board,” said Willms.
One of Hardy’s most recent and impactful projects has been the board’s strategic plan. Not only did he introduce a strategic planning process to the board but he also spearheaded the project, overseeing a board subcommittee through the development process. Hardy led this group of six other board members through an intense course of four meetings over eight hours of work to develop the first draft of the strategic plan. In addition to his time dedicated to the subcommittee, Hardy dedicated many more hours planning, prepping and capturing, compiling and organizing the thoughts shared during the actual sub-committee meetings.
“I have enjoyed working with Jay Hardy on the Chamber of Commerce board of directors. His insights and experience, both private and public, have been invaluable to us as a board. He has brought great insights and practical solutions to several issues we have been working on,” said Dave Clark, 2011 chair elect and owner of Clark Construction. “He has provided strong leadership to our executive committee as we work on revising our vision and strategic plan for the future. He has been able to lead us in meaningful discussions on some very challenging matters to help us reach some resolutions needed for us to move forward. I greatly appreciate his work and efforts on our behalf.”
“Jay has been a tremendous asset to the Chamber board and brings a wealth of experience from the public and private sectors to every discussion at the board level,” said Nathan Klein, board member and partner with Loveland Commercial, LLC. “I have enjoyed getting to know Jay through our time together on the board; he is a tremendous asset to the Chamber and the community at large.”
Hardy’s impact on the Chamber hasn’t strictly been through the board as he also served on the Local Legislative Affairs Committee. Through this opportunity Hardy was helpful in restructuring the committee to a 13-member, Chamber board approved committee. He brought a great deal of credibility to the group.
“Jay has brought great insight to the Chamber’s board of directors and contributed incredibly to the organization’s future planning. He will be greatly missed as he moves on to serve our state in great ways,” said Christine Kapperman, 2011 board chair and managing editor with the Loveland Reporter-Herald.