Jay Umansky (Owner), C. Ped , L. Ped, OST
At the age of five, Jay asked his father for money. The response was…"you want money, you have to work". Jay found himself mopping the floor and putting away shoes in his fathers shoe store, West Shoes at 22nd and California in Chicago. His father later sold that store and bought Bormans Shoes where Jay was employed for 11 years from age 14 to 25. It was there that he started to pad shoes for customers to alleviate their pain and aid in properly fitting their shoes. At age 25 he went out to start his own Pedorthic facility in Lincolnwood IL; BOS Lab. He acquired quite a following, many of which he still sees today. After 4 years BOS Lab closed and he went on to service the University of Chicago Clinics working with Dr. Bragge and Dr. Toulan while employed at a Chicago area Pedorthic facility. It is there that he met and trained Ed in Pedorthics not knowing what the future would hold for the two of them. Jay started Birkenstock Solutions [Agony of De-Feet] in November of 2000. In addition to running a successful business, Jay does numerous on site talks, clinics and in-services to bring the field of Pedorthics to the public as well as attempting to merge the field with that of other allied medical professionals. People attending have even left these events with no shoes, why?.... they threw them in the garbage after learning why they were of no value. Jay has attended Ball State University in Indiana where he received his credentials as Orthopedic Shoe Technician (OST). His Pedorthic certification came from his education at Northwestern Medical School in Chicago. His many years of experience and understanding of biomechanics / anatomy give him a unique ability to explain things in terms that people can relate to. Oh, by the way, Jay's father still helps us out today.