Jay Schlinsog is the owner and managing principal of Downtown Professionals Network. Jay has twenty years experience in community and economic development, management, and downtown revitalization. Working as a private consultant since 1992, his clients include local, state and national downtown organizations, non-profit groups and private businesses. He established Downtown Professionals Network in 1999 as a consulting group for community, economic development and downtown revitalization specialists that collaborate to provide highly tailored planning, design, research, management and marketing services.

Jay’s areas of specialty include management, organizational development, market research and analysis, grant writing & administration, technical writing, public relations, marketing, image enhancement, tourism development, and strategic planning.

Jay’s community and economic development experience includes tenures as Executive Director of the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce (Walla Walla, Washington), Old Town Pocatello, Inc., (Pocatello, Idaho) and The Downtown St. Charles Partnership, Inc., (St. Charles, Illinois). He also served as Administrator of The Chief Foundation, Inc., and Pocatello Redevelopment Authority (Pocatello, Idaho), and as Program Manager of Main Street Marshfield, Inc. (Marshfield, Wisconsin). His background includes experience in retail management and marketing.

Jay serves a clientele that includes local, state and national downtown revitalization organizations, community development agencies, and private businesses. He has served as project manager on a variety of projects including urban design plans, strategic plans, and market research, analysis and feasibility studies.  He has been retained as a consultant by the National Trust’s National Main Street Center and numerous regional and statewide Main Street organizations. 

In Wisconsin, Jay facilitated and authored a market analysis study that received the Governor’s Wisconsin Main Street Award for Best Business Recruitment project. In Idaho, he was certified by the Idaho Department of Commerce as a Community Development Block Grant administrator.

Jay’s work has been featured in various regional and national publications. He served as a charter Advisory Board member for Downtown Promotion Reporter, a publication of the Downtown Research and Development Center in New York, and as a member of the Editorial Review Board for Idaho State Journal.  He is a certified graduate of the Main Street Certification Institute in Professional Downtown Management, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Center in Washington, D.C.