2025 ACG NY DealMaker Series - January Edition

Jay Woods is the Chief Global Strategist for Freedom Capital Markets. Prior to joining Freedom, he was the Chief Market Strategist at DriveWealth Institutional. He also served as an Executive Floor Governor at the NYSE, the highest elected position at the Exchange held by only six NYSE members.

Jay spent over 25 years as a Designated Market Maker on the NYSE floor. He started with Spear, Leeds, and Kellogg, then joined Goldman Sachs for 14 years and moved on to IMC after Goldman divested their floor operation. As a DMM, he was responsible for several high-profile IPOs and led trading in some of the most active issues at the NYSE.A

s Freedom’s Chief Global Strategist, he has appeared regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business and Yahoo Finance. He has also been quoted in The Wall St Journal, Forbes, Business Insider and Investor’s Business Daily.

Jay received his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University. He received his CMT designation in 2017. He is heavily involved with the CMT Association and currently serves on their Board of Directors. He also as a mentor with the Scholars of Finance and regularly discusses financial literacy with local high schools and universities.

I’m an industry practice builder for our private equity, automotive, and plastics industries. As a part of our industry leadership teams, I focus on go-to market strategy and activities that enhance the Plante Moran brand and value proposition. I help with practice development by leveraging our “one-firm” firm approach to grow revenue across all firm services, regardless of geography. Within strategy and operations consulting, I lead projects primarily for manufacturing and distribution clients focused on strategic planning, commercial due diligence, market analysis, and business advisory.

My clients appreciate that I have a solid understanding of their industry, their business model, and the unique factors affecting their own businesses. Having spent half of my career working directly in the manufacturing industry and the other half of my career in consulting, I can bring a broad and balanced perspective that helps clients grow profitably.

Starting from my early days as a caddy, I grew up seeing how working hard, having technical skills, and building strong relationships were key drivers that could lead to a successful career. I've always been a car guy — I was born and raised in the Detroit area — so when I started at Plante Moran in the 1990s, I was driven to the automotive and plastics industry. This set the stage for me to branch off into nonaccounting aspects of the automotive sector when I left the firm in the early 2000s to work directly for automotive and plastics suppliers in sales, program management, and product launch roles. When I returned, I could apply my skill sets to strategy and operations consulting. I feel blessed to have a dynamic career, in an industry I love, working with great people.

I’ve been invited to speak at a number of industry events, including the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors (MAPP), Plastics News, and Precision Metal Formers Association (PMA). Topics have included industry trends and their impacts, business model analysis, and restarting operations after COVID-19. I received a B.S. in accounting from Michigan State University.

I love spending time with my wife and my four kids, golfing, watching almost any live sport, and socializing with friends. For personal travel, my favorite spot is northern Michigan. I’m an old soul when it comes to family vacations. Being by the water, going to local restaurants, having bonfires, and eating ice cream are the best.

Specialties: private equity, automotive, plastics, manufacturing, transaction advisory services, strategy