Jim has significant entrepreneurial, management, marketing and sales experience with technology-based companies.  He is a well-respected advisor and mentor for early and growth-stage ventures.

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He has been involved with numerous start-ups, including telecommunications, IT, retail, manufacturing and a number of non-profit organizations.  In April of 2008 he founded and became Executive Director of ITEN (www.itenstl.org) and served as the organization’s leader.  He joined the board of directors in June of 2017.   ITEN merged with Lindenwood University in early 2020.

To further advance the entrepreneur ecosystem, in 2009 he co-founded Startup Connection (www.startupconnection.org), the premier annual showcase for St. Louis’ startup community. 

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From 2003 to 2006, he was the President of the Technology Entrepreneur Center, a technology incubator in downtown St. Louis. He built TEC into a regional center for entrepreneurship and early ventures focused on information and communications technology. TEC has since changed its operating name to T-Rex (www.downtowntrex.org).

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In 1999, he became the CEO of Partner Communications, providing wireless internet services to apartment communities in the Midwest. Partner raised $15M from a combination of local and national investors. During that time, he also served on the Board of Directors of Intira Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based web hosting company.

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He joined the founding team of Brooks Fiber Properties in 1994 as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing and served in various executive roles at Brooks until the successful sale of the company for $3B+ in 1998.

Prior to joining Brooks Fiber he was with Nortel Networks, developing leading-edge technology and innovative financing solutions for the emerging Competitive Local Exchange market.

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Jim holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He pursued graduate studies in psychology and innovative management at the Institute for Comparative Studies, Gloucestershire, UK.