Jim has had a fervent interest and involvement in education and providing children with optimal opportunities for over five decades. His first experience was as a full-time Summer volunteer in the Head Start Program in 1967. During his college years, he worked one Summer in the Model Cities Program during the first years of school racial integration in the American South, as well as a counselor in a camp for inner-city children from Newark, New Jersey. During the academic year, he participated in the Volunteers in the New York City Public Schools at a junior high school in East Harlem.Jim then went on to have a 13-year career as a teacher and administrator in independent schools across the US. Maximizing the availability to him of open summers, he co-founded an educational travel business for students and co-led several memorable trips in Europe.

He then accepted an opportunity to change careers and spent 33 years in healthcare planning, program development, and operations for both academic and community medical centers. A key focus for a significant part of Jim’s healthcare career was in improving access to care and in developing and implementing patient-focused delivery of programs.

Jim’s strong desire to be part of the mission of Annika stems from a trip to East Africa nearly 20 years ago. He was visiting the extraordinary Lewa Wilderness Conservancy in Kenya and learned of their sponsorship of a couple of rural schools. He asked if he could be taken to meet the headmaster and visit the school. He spent the afternoon with the most radiant children and teachers. Some of the children walked as far as 5 miles to come to school. He learned that evening that the children and teachers had extended their day to spend time with him. That memory fuels his desire to be a part of Annika’s efforts.