Founder and President of Holmes, Radford & Avalon, Jim has steadily honed his fund raising and management skills for nonprofit organizations in a career that began in the early 1970s.

Following an extended tour of combat duty in Vietnam as a member of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Jim at that time created an Outward Bound-style program with returning Vietnam veterans and juvenile delinquents. From that project he later successfully led the Providence Program for juvenile delinquents, which ultimately became a National Exemplary Program.

While teaching anthropology and sociology on the university level, Jim consulted frequently on issues regarding fund raising organizational development and strategic planning. Working as Executive Vice President for a national firm in New Jersey, Jim provided counsel for a number of Catholic organizations on various fund raising initiatives.

Jim formerly served as Executive Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International as well as the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Foundation. For more than 15 years he has provided fund raising direction for educational institutions, religious organizations, theaters, hospitals, social service organizations and many other nonprofit groups. In addition to fund raising, he consults frequently on issues regarding organizational development and strategic planning.

Jim earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in anthropology and sociology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He and his wife Sharon, who have been married for 35 years, have five children and four grandchildren. In his free time Jim coached youth soccer for many years, and in addition is an ardent sailing enthusiast.