Jay Penske is an American media and publishing entrepreneur and auto racing team owner. He is the Chairman and CEO of

Penske Media Corporation Penske Media Corporation (PMC) () is an American digital media, publishing, and information services company based in Los Angeles and New York City. It publishes more than 20 digital and print brands, including '' Variety'', '' Rolling Stone'' ...

, a digital media and publishing company he founded in 2004.

Early life and education

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, Penske is the youngest son of Kathy, an English teacher and

Roger Penske Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur involved in professional auto racing and a retired professional auto racing driver. He is most famous for his ownership of Team Penske, DJR Team Penske, ...

, founder of the automotive conglomerate Penske Corporation and a former race car driver. Penske graduated from high school at St. Mary's Preparatory, in the Detroit suburb of Orchard Lake Village in Michigan, after having attended Cranbrook and Lawrenceville. At St. Mary's, Penske was named All-League, All-State, All-American, and Player of the Year by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' in

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

. Penske also played hockey and earned All-Region and All-State honors."St. Mary's Preparatory honors trio for athletic accomplishments"
April 15, 2004;

The Oakland Press ''The Oakland Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 Census, its ...

; Retrieved September 6, 2007 In 1997, he set the school records for the most goals, assists, and total points in lacrosse in the school's history, after which they retired his number in the school gymnasium. During his final season of lacrosse Penske broke Michael Powell's record of 194 points with 202 points in a single season. He remains the only player in lacrosse history to average more than 10 points per game, and break the 200-point barrier in a single season. Penske graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in Management of Information Systems and Finance."Jay Penske hopes to follow in footsteps of famous father"
Bruce Martin; May 21, 2007;

yahoo.com Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...

; Retrieved October 18, 2007 He is on the board of the Entrepreneurial School at the Wharton School as of 2007, and is also a member of the

Library's Board of Directors."Trustees' Winter Meeting Coverage"
February 27, 2007;

; Retrieved November 10, 2007

Career

Media and publishing

Penske co-founded Firefly Mobile, Inc., a wireless company that developed the Firefly mobile phone for children, and other youth targeted mobile products. The Firefly phone won the 2006 CES Innovation Award, presented by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Penske also owns Dragon Books, Ltd., a Los Angeles-based used bookstore which sells rare and collectible books which opened for business in 1999."Another Penske Wants to Make Name at Indy"
May 25, 2007;

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primar ...

; Retrieved November 10, 2007 Penske is the Chairman and CEO of

(PMC),"Son Adopts Father's Passion"
May 15, 2007; The Columbus Dispatch; Retrieved November 10, 2007 a

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ...

and publishing company that owns and operates a number of media brands, data services, and live events, including ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', '' Variety'', '' Billboard'', and South by Southwest festival (SXSW). Prior to being named Penske Media Corporation, it began as an affinity marketing and internet services company called Velocity Services, Inc. The company acquired the Mail.com domain which was renamed to the Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC).

Motorsports

Penske was co-owner of IndyCar Series racing team Dragon Racing, jointly with

Steve Luczo Stephen J. "Steve" Luczo (born February 28, 1957) is the chairman of the board at Seagate. In January 2009, Luczo, Seagate's chairman, was appointed president and chief executive officer, returning him to the role he held at Seagate from 1998 ...

, the Chairman of Seagate Technologies. Raphael Matos won rookie of the year honors in 2009. The team name is derived from Penske's love of books and business interest Dragon Books, Ltd., and his partner's last name."Entry List Examination"
; IndyCar; Retrieved October 24, 2007 For 2010, Penske's racing team had former Indy Lights champion Raphael Matos behind the wheel of the HP #2 car for the full Indycar Series circuit of events. In 2011, the name of the team changed to Dragon Racing, with Penske as the sole owner, and Paul Tracy was announced as the driver. In 2012 the team planned to run Lotus engines with a two-car team composed of Sébastien Bourdais and

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in '' Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantic ...

. Due to issues with the Lotus engines Dragon Racing switched to Chevrolet for the Indy 500. Dragon Racing's drivers for the 2013 season were Sebastián Saavedra and Sébastien Bourdais. In October 2013, Dragon Racing signed an agreement with Formula E Holdings to be the fourth franchise team to enter the new FIA Formula E Championship. The team was runner-up in the 2014-15 season with drivers

Jérôme d'Ambrosio Jérôme D’Ambrosio (born 27 December 1985) is a Belgian former professional racing driver, motorsport executive and former Team Principal of Venturi Racing in Formula E. He has previously driven for Marussia Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 in th ...

(who ranked fourth), Oriol Servià, and Loïc Duval. In the 2015-16 season, d'Ambrosio was fifth and Duval eight.

Philanthropy

Penske assists the charitable trust organization the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

, where he sits on the Board of Directors. Penske was added to the Paley Board in 2015 along with Yannick Bollore, Chairman and CEO, Havas and Devin Wenig, the CEO of

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

. Furthermore, Penske's racing team, Dragon Racing has donated over $250,000 of its race proceeds"Pit Notes"
May 17, 2007;

; Retrieved November 10, 2007—to benefit the charities and non-profit organizations founded by Baron Davis, Tony Dungy,

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American professional football executive and former quarterback who is the president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway played college fo ...

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

, Marcus Allen, Jackson Browne, Brandi Chastain, Ronnie Lott,

Jonny Moseley Jonathan William Moseley (born August 27, 1975) is an American freestyle skier and television presenter. He is the first person born in Puerto Rico to become a member of the U.S. Ski Team. He is also known for hosting three seasons of MTV's '' ...

, Chris Mullin, Kerri Walsh and Kristi Yamaguchi."The Associated Press--NBC
; May 24, 2007;

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

; Retrieved October 23, 2007

Recognition and awards

Under Penske's leadership, PMC was awarded as one of North America's top 100 private companies by Herring Research. He was additionally recognized repeatedly as both a 30 Under 30 and Under 40 Success Story from his alma mater."Young Entrepreneur
November 6, 2005; Wharton School of Business; Retrieved August 18, 2014 Penske was also added to ''Vanity Fairs New Establishment list, and in 2010 the magazine named Penske one of the 10 best dressed men in the world in their "International Best-Dressed List" of that year. Additionally he has been named a Vice Chair of the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

(AFI) in 2014 and in 2015 was named by the '' NY Observer'' newspaper as one of the 25 most powerful people in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Personal life

He became engaged to Elaine Irwin, the model and former wife of musician

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumen ...

, in October 2012. Their daughter was born in 2013.

References

External links

PMC official website

Dragon Racing official website

Dragon Books official website

Firefly Mobile official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penske, Jay 1970s births Living people Businesspeople from New York City Businesspeople from Los Angeles American mass media owners IndyCar Series team owners Philanthropists from New York (state) Formula E team owners Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Cranbrook Educational Community alumni Lawrenceville School alumni Variety (magazine) people Year of birth missing (living people) Penske Media Corporation St. Mary's Preparatory alumni American people of German descent