After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in agricultural business management from Illinois State University in 1982, Jim went to work for Velsicol Chemical Corporation, the original manufacturer of dicamba herbicide where he received global recognition for his contributions as part of the 11 man launch team responsible for the successful commercialization of Marksman® Herbicide at Sandoz Crop Protection. He also served on numerous sales and marketing teams in preparation for the launch of Clarity® and Frontier® Herbicides before leaving in 1994.

For the past 28 years, Jim has been at Precision Laboratories and is currently the vice president of product development. Precision Laboratories is based in Waukegan, Illinois, and is a leading provider of specialized chemistries applied to plants, seeds, soil, and water to maximize resource and biological performance potential while stewarding the environment.