Jim retired from the Air Force after 27 years of service in a wide range of intelligence and information operations roles, deploying for 3 conflicts. He was a Latin America Foreign Area Officer and attended the Inter-American Defense College in Washington DC as part of his professional military education. After retiring from the Air Force, Jim worked for 6 years at the University of California at Davis, serving as the Chief of Staff in its office of Global Affairs…while running a micro-farm growing olives and pomegranates outside Davis. His education includes a B.A. degree is in Zoology with a history minor from Miami University (Ohio), an M.A. in National Security Affairs with a concentration in Latin American Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, and doctoral work in Comparative Government at Georgetown University. Much of Jim’s research in graduate school centered on Low Intensity Conflicts.

Jim is married to the lovely Sheryl Rix and has two kids, a son who’s an engineer in Indiana and a daughter who’s an accountant in California. Among his many interests include CrossFit, hiking and skiing, listening to music, travel, international education, and seeking to reduce political polarization in our community.