Jay Highland Joins WD Partners as EVP, Creative

(PRESS RELEASE) COLUMBUS, OH — WD Partners is excited to announce that Jay Highland will be joining our team as EVP, Creative, effective today. Jay will bring formidable leadership to our creative teams, our executive group, and our clients. Jay will focus on elevating creative product on all projects, present and future, fostering talent, and furthering our culture as a brand.

Jay spent over 17 years building teams, leading creative, and collaborating with all disciplines. His experience encompasses all phases of the retail strategy and design process, solving clients’ real-world business problems via “big ideas” in concepting, prototyping, and scaled implementation. Jay is a team and account leader—collaborating, listening, building, guiding, and doing. He has provided direction to the entire spectrum of creative disciplines and encourages innovation and big thinking from every team member.

Jay has built strong relationships with clients, fostering trust and serving as a bridge between business needs and creative solutions. Some examples of Jay’s relationships include Target, Verizon, Giant, M&M’s, Shinsegae/Emart, Krispy Kreme, Meijer, C&A Brazil, FAO Schwarz, El Pollo Loco, and Comcast.

Jay is a recognized industry veteran and leader. In 2019, he was recognized as an industry-leading Design Influencer in Design:Retail’s Portfolio Awards. He is a featured speaker with numerous appearances at industry events, such as the International Retail Design Conference (IRDC), GlobalShop, EuroShop, the Design:Retail Forum, and the National Retail Federation (NRF). Jay sits on the VMSD Editorial Advisory Board.

Jay’s early career was spent in Boston where he learned from several influential designers, including Philip Johnson, Clifford Stoltze, and Roger Sametz. He’s a University of Cincinnati grad with a degree in Graphic Design from DAAP.

Jay lives in Columbus, Ohio, walks over 50 miles a week (listening to a lot of podcasts), is probably a bourbon snob, is a diehard Red Sox fan, and gets emotional watching The Great British Baking Show.

We look forward to adding Jay to an already strong WD leadership team.

About WD Partners­­­­

WD’s mission is to drive and shape the future of customer experience. Our passion has been to solve our clients’ challenges and anticipate their future needs. We are customer fanatics that pride ourselves on being on the forefront of retail disruption. WD’s integrated services include: strategy & insights, design, operations strategy & design, digital and architecture & engineering. At WD, we create innovation at scale.