Growing up in Cleveland set Kennedy School student’s trajectory
At 32, Jay Finch, M.C./M.P.A. ’18, is one of the youngest among this year’s cohort of mid-careers, yet his relative youth belies an impressive list of accomplishments. Finch has worked in both the private and public sectors, having served in senior positions at the U.S. Treasury Department and the General Services Administration (GSA), and as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Born and raised in Cleveland, Finch calls himself a “platform-agnostic public servant” who is excited to tackle the many challenges facing the world. We spoke with him as he neared the end of his time at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Q&A Jay Finch HKS: Tell us a bit about your upbringing in Cleveland and how it inspired your early career trajectory. finch: I grew up on the east side of inner-city Cleveland. From a very early age, I was acutely aware of the struggles in our neighborhood and developed a desire to do something...