40 Under 40: Jay Diaz
Assistant Regional Service & Parts Director; Campers Inn RV; With company: 1 Year | In industry: 18 Years
When Campers Inn RV acquired Lazydays in November 2025, it gained stores, employees and decades of institutional knowledge.
It also gained Jay, who within months was helping the acquiring company rethink how it trained and certified technicians.
Jay entered the RV industry in 2008 and spent 18 years at Lazydays in positions spanning three very different disciplines. As national RV rental and resort operations manager, he oversaw rental and resort operations, including budgeting, fleet processes, pricing and new location launches. He later became manager of service scheduling across Lazydays locations before moving into service operations systems support, where he worked at the intersection of IT, service and training.
That broad experience taught Jay to view service operations as an interconnected system versus a collection of departments.
After the acquisition, Jay initially joined Campers Inn as a technician trainer, where he brought in practices from Lazydays and rebuilt how the acquiring company certified technicians. He has since been promoted to assistant regional service and parts director and now covers Davenport, Collinsville, Ramsey, Airstream of Minnesota, Bismark and Minot.
“The result is that our technician program went from underperforming to producing at a rate we never have hit before, at exactly the moment we needed service capacity most,” Jay’s nominator says. “He then extended the same approach to technical training company wide.”
Since Jay took over technician certification, over 40 technicians have become certified, with another 20 expected to complete certification within 30 days of the nomination. Over 60 employees have participated in his training programs.
The operational results extend beyond certifications. The Ramsey location, which opened in November 2025, posted a 74.4% gross margin in service and parts during the first seven months of 2026.
His nominator says Jay’s approach is an example of how acquisitions can preserve and spread valuable knowledge. “He looked at how we were doing something, knew a better way, and made the case for it,” Jay’s nominator says. “Every technician we certify this year is a direct result of that.”
Jay is also Lean Six Sigma certified, a discipline that complements his focus on improving processes.
Outside work, Jay turns his attention to his family. He has six children, and Ben says they occupy his time away from the business.
For an RV industry struggling to recruit and develop qualified technicians, Jay’s contribution addresses more than an internal Campers Inn need. He supports the entire industry’s service side by establishing consistent training and certification and collaborating with manufacturers, suppliers and RV Technical Institute.
Jay’s advice for up-and-coming leaders in the RV industry:
Never stop learning and never think that having a title means you have all the answers. Some of the best things I’ve learned have come from simply listening to the people around me and taking the time to understand what they deal with every day. I’ve always believed in getting 1% better every day, because those small improvements add up over time. But the biggest thing I’ve learned about leadership is that it’s about people. There’s no better feeling than watching someone you’ve coached, trained or believed in grow in their career and become successful. To me, that’s what being a leader is really about.
What it means to Jay to be a 40 Under 40 honoree:
Being selected for 40 Under 40 honestly means more to me than I can put into words. When I started in the RV industry nearly 18 years ago, I was just trying to learn, work hard and build a career. I never imagined that one day I would be recognized like this. I’ve made mistakes, learned a lot of lessons and had some incredible people believe in me and help me along the way. So I don’t look at this as just my recognition; it represents all the managers, technicians, advisers, parts teams and mentors who have been part of my journey. This industry has given me so much, and being recognized this way just makes me want to keep learning, keep helping others grow and hopefully give someone else the same opportunities that were given to me.
