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Jerry Chase
President & CEO at Orion Industries
Professional Background
Jerry Chase is a distinguished leader and seasoned executive with a robust career spanning over three decades in technology and management. As the current President and CEO of Orion Industries, Jerry brings a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record of success in leading organizations through challenging environments. Prior to his role at Orion Industries, Jerry served as the President and CEO of Bsquare, a publicly traded company headquartered in Bellevue, WA, which is known for its innovative Internet of Things (IoT) software products and solutions. Jerry's leadership was instrumental in guiding Bsquare towards a path of growth and adaptation in the rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Throughout his career, Jerry has demonstrated a remarkable ability to turnaround companies facing significant challenges. His tenure as CEO of Lantronix and Terayon was marked by aggressive strategic initiatives that revitalized both organizations. Notably, Terayon underwent a successful transformation that culminated in its acquisition by Motorola, showcasing Jerry's expertise in corporate turnaround strategies.
In addition to his roles at Bsquare, Lantronix, and Terayon, Jerry also served as the President and CEO of Thales Broadcast & Multimedia, a division of Thales Group, a global leader in aerospace, defense, and security sectors. Beginning his journey with Thales in 1998, Jerry adeptly managed the US operations before becoming the worldwide head of the division in 2001, operating out of Paris, France. His broad experience in managing international teams and operations has greatly contributed to his extensive understanding of the global marketplace.
Jerry’s career commenced with various senior management roles at prestigious firms including Scientific-Atlanta and General Instrument. He honed his skills in systems engineering and program management while progressively ascending through these organizations.
Further enriching his diverse experience, Jerry also served as an Officer and Pilot in the United States Marine Corps, where he developed leadership skills and a profound sense of discipline that have shaped his professional ethos.
Education and Achievements
Education has been a cornerstone of Jerry’s success. He earned an MBA with honors from the prestigious Harvard Business School, where he developed advanced business acumen and strategic thinking skills. Prior to this, Jerry obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from East Carolina University, a setting where he laid the foundation for his future endeavors in the corporate world. Jerry remains actively engaged with East Carolina University, where he serves on the Board of the BB&T Center for Leadership Development, fostering the next generation of business leaders.
Jerry's commitment to excellence is reflected in his diverse achievements and memberships, including being a member of Mensa, the high IQ society. Moreover, he holds an Airline Transport Pilot’s (ATP) license and is proficient in conversational French, which further illustrates his multifaceted skill set.
In his personal life, Jerry cherishes moments spent SCUBA diving, where he experiences the beauty of the underwater world and embraces adventure whenever possible. This passion for exploration mirrors his approach to his professional career, where he continues to seek out new challenges and opportunities for growth.
Notable Achievements
- Leadership at Orion Industries: Under Jerry's guidance, Orion Industries has advanced in its mission to deliver innovative solutions, maintaining a competitive edge in the ever-changing landscape of technology and engineering.
- Restructuring Bsquare: Successfully transformed Bsquare during a time of turbulence, securing its position within the IoT marketplace and implementing strategies that paved the way for sustainable growth.
- Turnarounds at Lantronix and Terayon: Led both companies through significant challenges, with Terayon’s successful acquisition by Motorola standing out as a key achievement that underscores Jerry's capability in corporate turnaround operations.
- Global Leadership at Thales: Managed a division of Thales Group with operational responsibilities in the US and worldwide, which involved spearheading initiatives that enhanced the company’s presence in various international markets.
- Continuous Learning and Development: Jerry’s commitment to lifelong learning is evident in his academic credentials and professional affiliations, including his involvement with East Carolina University and his membership in Mensa.
Jerry Chase exemplifies a driven and innovative leader committed to achieving excellence across various sectors of the technology industry. His extensive experience, coupled with an impressive educational background, positions him as a key figure in shaping the future of technology and business leadership.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.