Jim is a successful business executive with over 30 years’ experience in Fortune 500 companies, mid-size high-tech companies, and start-up organizations. His primary responsibilities have been in leading, training, and growing successful sales organizations.
Jim acquired his solid, fundamental approach to sales by spending 16 years at the Xerox Corporation, beginning as a sales executive and quickly moving into sales management. After five years in various branch management assignments, he spent two years in a regional sales operations position. He then took over the Sacramento Branch as the youngest Branch Manager in Xerox history and ran an organization of over 250 people with total profit responsibility. Jim was then asked to run the San Francisco branch, the largest at Xerox, for four additional years. During his Xerox tenure, Jim was a consistent recipient of top sales achievement awards, including leading one branch to #1 in the U.S.
As a Regional Director for Apple Computer in San Francisco, Jim led his team in establishing a Strategic Accounts organization, as well as re-structuring the distribution channel in order for Apple to deliver product and services in a more effective manner. He grew revenue by over 25% each year, and his sales accomplishments garnered him the U.S. Regional Manager of the Year Award.
He then became a partner at SoftIRON Systems, a systems integrator, and assumed the role of vice president of Sales, Marketing, and Operations. At SoftIRON, Jim grew the revenue to a run-rate of $16M in a little over two years; Houston-based Williams Communications subsequently acquired the company. He was promoted to National Sales Manager for data with Williams where he headed the convergence effort and, over the next three years, helped to integrate the voice and data sales organizations.
Jim then began to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities with Direct Commerce, an electronic invoicing start-up organization. As vice president of Sales, his team successfully secured multi-year contracts with five Fortune 500 companies to establish the business concept and build the credibility and revenue to pursue VC funding.
Jim joins The Language of Business executive team in order to continue to share his business expertise and to continue to help sales organizations grow successfully.
Jim holds a B.A. in Economics from Thiel College, and an M.B.A. specializing in finance and marketing from Kent State University. Jim is on the Board of FoodRunners of San Francisco, as well as a committee person at The Olympic Club of San Francisco.