Jim helps nonprofits deepen their impact by managing our database services and consulting program as leader of our Database Solutions team. He also provides project management support internally for 501 Commons.

Prior, Jim served 501 Commons as an Encore Fellow after serving as a member of the Executive Service Corps for several years. He was awarded Coach of the Year for 2013, and he particularly enjoys working with individuals and teams to help them achieve more than they believe possible.

Jim’s family moved around the Midwest and South several times before settling in Connecticut when he was thirteen. Over the next several years, he finished high school, joined and left a Catholic Seminary, attended college and then entered the Army. He returned from Vietnam to be stationed in Oakland. A visit to a friend in Portland introduced him to the pleasures of the Pacific Northwest, and he finished his undergraduate education at Portland State University with a BA in Anthropology and a Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).  He then taught English in Spain and Japan. On returning to the States, he settled in Seattle and worked as a Veteran’s Representative for the Veterans Administration.

Jim returned to school for a Masters in English as a Second Language, then taught in Seattle and later Portland where he directed the refugee language program at Portland Community College. The program served 3,200 students at 10 locations in 3 counties around Portland. Jim sponsored the development of a basic literacy curriculum for non-literate Lao refugees. The curriculum was later adopted by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and used in the Philippine camps for the next several years.

Jim spent 20 years in corporate settings, generally as a project or program manager, often as the director of operations. He also owned a business as a business coach for 10 years.

Fun fact: He has practiced Tai Chi for 14 years, is a competent scratch cook and a steady and eclectic reader.