In 2018, Mayo Clinic received a $200 million gift from Mr. Jay Alix, noted philanthropist of Birmingham, Michigan. The endowment gift, the largest ever to Mayo Clinic, was designated to Mayo Clinic School of Medicine to expand scholarship opportunities and further innovation in the school’s curriculum. In appreciation of his generous gift, the school is now known as Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine across all three campuses.

Jay is the founder of AlixPartners, the global advisory firm and industry standard for providing comprehensive transformation solutions for companies “when it really matters,” involving complex corporate turnarounds as well as operating, financial, legal, restructuring, and investigation challenges.

Sought out by corporate and government leaders alike, Jay has led and advised on some of the largest and most complex restructurings and turnarounds of the past five decades, including leading the creation, design, and implementation of the highly successful restructuring and turnaround plan to bring General Motors in and out of bankruptcy in just 40 days. Today, he serves AlixPartners as an active board member and mentor to AlixPartners' leaders.

In addition to his past turnaround work and private equity investment experience, Jay has lectured widely, written many articles on turnaround management, co-authored two books on the financial issues facing companies in reorganization, and delivered many keynote speeches on various topics including corporate transformations, turnarounds, and the corporate revitalization process.

“This gift will further enable Mayo’s medical school to recruit the best medical students and to create a curriculum that trains them to harness evolving radical advances in medical science and technology to the greatest benefit of patients.” – Jay Alix

Former U.S. President Clinton appointed Jay to the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. He served as a strategic advisor to Dennis Archer, Mayor of Detroit. The Turnaround Management Association presented Jay with the Chairman's Award in recognition of his "pioneering leadership role" in helping to create and build the turnaround industry. The Japanese Association for Turnaround Professionals honored him as its Inaugural Foreign Member. He received the Harvey R. Miller Outstanding Achievement Award for Service to the Restructuring Industry. Jay was awarded Wayne State University's Michigan Executive of the Year award. He also received the Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement from Emory Law School’s Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

For more than a decade, Jay has focused on protecting the U.S. bankruptcy system, as well as on many creative and pro bono advisory activities, including producing six Tony-winning Broadway musicals and plays, award-winning documentary films, and Grammy-nominated music. He actively helped lead the restructuring of the Detroit Public School System and assisted the Norman Rockwell Museum to advance its mission nationally and internationally. 

Recently, Jay was a lead donor funding the building of a state-of-the-art indoor track and field facility at the University of Pennsylvania. He continues to donate his time and resources to projects he cares deeply about, through the Alix Foundation.

Jay completed the YPO/Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He holds an MBA degree in accounting from Rutgers University and a BS degree in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career as a C.P.A. with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in New York.