Most life stories make sense only in retrospect. Looking back, Jay Foster can trace a single thread through his own journey — a fascination with praxis, the idea that what we do should reflect what truly matters. It’s a concept he first encountered in philosophy books, but one he ended up living in ways he never expected.
Jay grew up on a horse farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, an upbringing far removed from the world of technology. There, curiosity wasn’t just encouraged — it was a way of life. That early sense of wonder eventually grew into a restless desire to understand the world, a desire that sent him outward long before it ever brought him home.
After high school, Jay climbed onto a Suzuki 400 motorcycle and crossed the United States alone. Not long after, he entered the engineering program at Virginia Tech, where curiosity again led him down surprising paths — including research on nuclear submarines and his first taste of international work. A college exchange program took him above the Arctic Circle in 1986 and opened the door to travel across Europe, Scandinavia, and even Leningrad, just before the Soviet Union began to fracture.
Travel kept calling. In 1988, Jay joined a Gandhi Peace Foundation program in New Delhi, immersing himself in India at a moment of immense social and political tension. That journey expanded into months of exploration across South and Southeast Asia. A year later, studies of Gandhi’s civil-resistance movement led him to Central America during the Sandinista era, followed by a solo trek to Peru and the sacred ruins of Machu Picchu.
Those experiences deepened Jay’s interest in ethics, justice, and the question of how people — and societies — choose to act. In 1989, he moved to Berkeley to study ethics and philosophy at the Graduate Theological Union. It was there that he discovered Aristotle’s definition of praxis: thoughtful, purposeful action aimed at the good. Even then, without knowing where life would lead, Jay sensed he had found his compass.
A year later, that compass guided him into entrepreneurship. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early surge of modern technology, Jay founded his first startup and named it Praxis. The choice wasn’t branding — it was intention. The company reflected what he hoped to build: practical tools shaped by values, grounded in clarity, and oriented toward positive impact.
But life’s most meaningful turns aren’t always professional. In the early-1990s, Jay returned to Virginia not only to pursue an MBA at Virginia Tech, but to marry his sweetheart and build a life together. Starting a family became one of the most defining chapters of his journey. His wife, their two daughters, and now a granddaughter are the parts of his story that bring the deepest sense of purpose and joy — a living reminder that meaningful outcomes aren’t only found in business metrics, but in relationships, commitment, and love that endures across generations.
In 1996, as Jay and Brenda began their family life together, they launched Foster Properties, and two years later Jay founded Flex-Metrics — a company built to help manufacturers improve operations with real-time data and continuous improvement. Over the next three decades, Flex-Metrics grew into a recognized leader in digital transformation, long before the term became commonplace, serving frontline teams across the globe. Jay exited the company in 2025 after 27 years filled with meaningful relationships, sustained innovation, and firsthand lessons in how proven practices drive better decisions, better actions, and ultimately better outcomes.
Looking back, the pattern is easy to see:
Seminary shaped a deeper sense of purpose.
Silicon Valley shaped an appreciation for decisive action.
Virginia shaped the value of meaningful outcomes.
That pattern is now the foundation of The Praxis Way — Jay’s framework for helping individuals, teams, and communities navigate life’s changing seasons with clarity, courage, and meaningful action.
Today, The Praxis Way isn’t just a philosophy. It’s a continuation of the journey Jay has been on all along — a path defined by purpose, curiosity, family, and the belief that a good life is built one meaningful action at a time.
The Praxis Way 