Jim is a California native. He has lived in Northern California since leaving high school and he has lived in Oakland since graduating from college. His life with his soulmate of 31 years, Michelle, his career involving new and clean energy technology and markets, his family, being a dedicated Warriors' fan and season ticket holder for 31 years and Jim's keen interest in the politics-of-the-day are important the highlights of his life.

Jim's entire 36 year professional career has involved energy efficiency, renewables, modular and distributed generation and other advanced energy technologies, with emphases on related concepts, valuation and markets. That put Jim at the forefront of the nascent "distributed energy resources" (DERs) movement for most of his career. DERs are just coming to the fore as both a revolutionary and disruptive phenomenon in the electric utility industry. For the last 25 years Jim has focused primarily on modular and large scale energy storage, with an emphasis on benefits, value propositions and market development.

Jim owns and is principal and senior analyst for E&I Consulting. He is a senior advisor to the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) and he served as Senior Analyst with Distributed Utility Associates for 13 years. Before that he held a range of positions with Pacific Gas and Electric Company related to advanced electric technology and concepts R&D, electric supply planning, and commercial energy efficiency services. He has an undergraduate degree with a double major in physics and management from Sonoma State University and an M.A. in management also from Sonoma State.