Jay Lender is an American television writer, storyboard artist and director. He is a former writer and storyboard director for SpongeBob SquarePants. Previous to his work on SpongeBob, Lender designed and drew backgrounds for Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. He is the son of the founder of Lender's Bagels, Murray Lender. Since leaving Nickelodeon, Lender has written scripts for video games with his writing partner Micah Wright, and continues to develop animated series concepts as well as drawing the occasional SpongeBob comic strip for Nickelodeon Magazine. Most recently, the duo worked together on Robocalypse, a real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS. Lender spent two years studying at the Rhode Island School of Design before transferring to CalArts where he specialized in animation. Lender has also directed two seasons of Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb.