Jay Penske

Born on May 5, 1979, in New York City, New York, Penske is the youngest son of Kathy, an English teacher and Roger Penske, a businessman who was the founder of the transportation services company Penske Corporation and a former race car driver. Penske is an alumnus of St. Mary's Preparatory, in the Detroit suburb of Orchard Lake Village in Michigan, after having attended Cranbrook and Lawrenceville.^[1]

At St. Mary's, he was named was named All-League, All-State, All-American,^[2] and Player of the Year by USA Today in lacrosse. Penske also played hockey and earned All-Region and All-State honors.^[3]

Penske graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School^[3] with a Bachelor of Science in Management of Information Systems and Finance.^[4] He is on the board of the Entrepreneurial School at the Wharton School as of 2007,^[4] and is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Library's Board of Directors.^[5]

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.^[4] The Firefly phone won the 2006 CES Innovation Award, presented by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).^[6] Penske also owns Dragon Books, Ltd., a Los Angeles-based used bookstore which sells rare and collectible books which opened for business in 1999.^[7]Penske is the Chairman and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC),^[8] a digital media and publishing company that owns and operates a number of media brands, data services, and live events, including Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard, and South by Southwest festival (SXSW).^[9] Prior to being named Penske Media Corporation, it began as an affinity marketing and internet services company called Velocity Services, Inc.^[10] The company acquired the Mail.com domain which was renamed to the Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC).^[11]

Penske joined the board of Vox Media in 2023 after PMC became the largest shareholder of the company.^[12]

Motorsports

Penske founded an IndyCar Series racing team in 2007, jointly with Steve Luczo, the Chairman of Seagate Technology.^[4] In October 2013, Penske Autosport signed an agreement with Formula E Holdings to be the fourth franchise team to enter the new FIA Formula E Championship.^[13] The team was runner-up in the 2014-15 season with drivers Jérôme d'Ambrosio (who ranked fourth) and Loïc Duval. Penske Autosport has won the first ever Electric Formula powered Grand Prix’s in the following countries: Germany, at the Berlin Grand Prix (2015); Mexico, at the Mexico City Grand Prix (2016); and India, at the Hyderabad Grand Prix (2023).^[14][15][16]

Under Penske's leadership, PMC was awarded as one of North America's top 100 private companies by Herring Research.^[17] He was additionally recognized repeatedly as both a 30 Under 30 and Under 40 Success Story from his alma mater.^[18] Penske was also added to Vanity Fair's New Establishment list,^[19] 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.^[20] Additionally he has been named a Vice Chair of the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2014 and in 2015 was named by the NY Observer newspaper as one of the 25 most powerful people in Los Angeles.^[21]

Penske has been compared to William Randolph Hearst, Si Newhouse, and Rupert Murdoch for his acquisition of media brands.^[22][23][24]

Penske became engaged to Elaine Irwin, the model and former wife of musician John Mellencamp, in October 2012.^[25] Their daughter was born in 2013.^[26]