Jay Ritchie serves as the Gulf Coast Liaison for the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Administrative Unit's Communication Team. He also serves as the Social Sciences Coordinator for the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI). He is charged with enhancing the social science research activities of the NGI.

Mr. Ritchie has over 20 years of experience in the areas of data management, complex data systems analysis, data visualization, spatial technologies and their applications to the social sciences and management. Mr. Ritchie previously served as Health Data Librarian and Coordinator of the Monitor Laboratory at Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center (SSRC) and worked with NASA, the Southern Association of Agriculture Experiment Station Director (SAAESD), Mississippi Department of Transportation, and the Foundation for the Mid-South. He has also collaborated on a variety of projects with the Mississippi Department of Human Services; the Office of Highway Safety; the Rural Health, Safety, and Security Institute; and others.

Mr. Ritchie is also currently a doctoral student in the Human Capital Development Program, in the Economic and Workforce Development Department at University of Southern Mississippi. Mr. Ritchie has a Master’s and Bachelor’s Degree from Mississippi State University in History. He is a Research Fellow of the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University.