Jim is a 20-year veteran of the PR industry. He launched PR Talent in August 1998 after recognizing the growing shortage of PR agency and corporate talent and the increasing ranks of top-notch freelancers.

Prior to starting PR Talent, Jim served as executive vice president at Paine & Associates (P&A), one of the leading PR agencies in Southern California. He joined P&A in 1989 when the agency had just five employees. Jim's role was to oversee the agency's development of new business with an emphasis on adding consumer clients as well as managing client accounts. Upon leaving P&A in July of 1998, the firm had 35 employees and consumer clients including Miller Brewing Company, Taco Bell, American Suzuki Motors, California Pizza Kitchen, House of Blues, GT Bicycles, Gillette and others.

Jim began his public relations career in 1981 at Burson-Marsteller's New York office where he helped develop and direct public relations activities for General Electric's Audio and Video Divisions and Gillette's personal care products. In 1984 he moved west to work for Burson-Marsteller's L.A. office, before joining Rogers & Cowan in March 1985. While at Rogers & Cowan he rose to become senior vice president of the Corporate Division, overseeing a variety of consumer products accounts including Ford Motor Company, Armor All Products, Ticketmaster and Universal Studios Tour, among others before joining P&A.

Jim holds an MBA (marketing concentration) from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a B.S. in Business-Economics from the State University College at Oneonta.