Jim started his education in the public school system of Indiana and Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in history from Northern Arizona University. After working in the Bell System for 16 years, he returned to school at University of Denver for graduate work in Business.  

Jim continued working for the Baby Bell and Qwest until leaving Qwest in 2000 to join a telecom startup. He returned to Qwest in 2001 and continued on as Qwest was purchased by Centurylink.

Jim directed product managers and handled long haul and international fiber optic services marketing. He has worked in locations ranging from Moscow, Russia to Hong Kong with brief assignments in Czech Republic and Bombay, India. He established a pricing organization in Hong Kong. Later in his career his duties included negotiating large contracts with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile for fiber optic connectivity to their many cell towers. He believes that the answer to many of society’s problems can be solved through better education.