Jay Coughlan jokes about his hardscrabble upbringing and says he probably should never have achieved the heights that he would ascend to in his life. “In our neighborhood,” he says, “A few kids were going to Penn State, but even more were going to the State pen.”

Born in suburban Philadelphia Jay was raised by a father who showed him how to work hard and how to play just as hard. “He always had three jobs and he always worked,” says Jay. “I knew he loved me, because he told me.”

In high school, he Jay was some version of a hoodlum and an underachiever. He graduated somehow, and then, one day he got hurt on a construction job and for some reason decided to go the local community college and take a marketing course. He knew immediately that he had stumbled upon something transformational. In his words, “I got it. The whole business world opened up for me, and I realized that I wasn’t dumb.” He would go on to graduate with a BBA in Marketing from Bloomsburg University and begin building a successful career in business.

But then, years later, after achieving some significant success, the unthinkable happened. He and his father stayed out one night drinking and he and Jay got in his car to try and drive home. They never made it. Jay’s father died in the accident, and Jay was severely injured. On top of that, he was facing four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter. In his darkest hour, he couldn’t forgive himself, but he found out that God could.

He decided not to let that awful moment define him. He would do his time, then be released from jail and become a successful CEO, business leader, and now, author. The irony is not lost on him as he ponders the broken road that led him to where he is today: “You hear about CEO’s becoming convicts, but you never hear about convicts becoming CEO’s.”

Jay lives in Eden Prairie. He is married to his wife of 29 years, Jule, and they have three children, Alexa, Derek, and Tyler.