President
Jim is president of Sustain and was the founding publisher and editor of Conscious Choice. Under Jims leadership, Sustain has contributed to numerous national, regional and local environmental victories. Their strong images and creative campaigns have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, People and Time magazines, plus most national television and radio networks.
Jim and Sustain worked with the Organic Trade Association to develop the Keep Organic Organic Campaign, which helped generate 275,000 comments to the USDA encouraging the creation of strong organic standards. Jim and Sustain recently launched FamilyFarmed.org to build markets for Midwestern organic farmers. He was on the transition team of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and now sits on Illinois Governors Agricultural Advisory Council for Farmers and Farm Families.
Jim co-chairs the marketing and distribution subcommittee of Mayor Daleys Chicago Organic Committee, which is developing a plan to support organic food production, marketing, and distribution in Chicago. Conscious Choice has been recognized eight times by Utne Reader as a member of the Best of the Alternative Press. Whole Foods Market, CEO, John Mackey calls Conscious Choice the best publication of its kind. Conscious Choice recently merged into Dragonfly Media, a chain of monthly regional publications modeled on Conscious Choice. Jim is a member of the board and editor-at-large for Dragonfly and his skill as a social entrepreneur led to his designation in 1999 as one of Crains Chicago Business Forty Under Forty leading business and civic leaders