Jim is the first and only Executive Director of the Danville Business Alliance (DBA) in Montour County. He grew up in the Louisiana delta, is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University, where he obtained his B.S. in Business Administration, and Louisiana State University and Georgetown University, where he received his Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees. Before the DBA, Jim served as both an active duty and a civilian attorney in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, specializing in medical malpractice defense and multi-party settlements. In some ways, this was a preparation for the advocacy and collaborative efforts that have marked his time at the DBA. In addition to his service with the DBA, Jim has also served on committees and boards of numerous community and economic development organizations, including the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, Greater Susquehanna Chamber of Commerce, Columbia Montour Partnership for Community Development, Columbia Alliance for Economic Growth, and the Columbia Montour Visitors Bureau. He lives in Danville with his wife, Gerda, and their manic labradoodle.
Jim has guided the DBA and downtown Danville the last 10 years during a period of extraordinary growth, partnership building, tangible improvements to the downtown, and planning and fundraising for catalytic projects that will change the course of the community. In that time Danville has seen:
creation of a downtown master plan that has served as an organic strategic blueprint, guiding downtown growth in the last decade;
a net growth of 50 new and expanded businesses and over 300 new jobs in the downtown;
the establishment of the Danville Arts Council under the umbrella of the DBA, creating additional diversity in community life;
more downtown events that have enhanced Danville’s reputation as a regional destination;
increased tax and financial incentives as a result of Keystone Communities Main Street designation, overlay of a Keystone Innovation Zone, and passage of a business district tax abatement program;
national accreditation of the DBA every year by the National Main Street Center;
over $400,000 in streetscape improvements;
30 completed façade improvement projects;
plans for a downtown amphitheater and park that should be funded and construction ready in 2019, the first step toward a downtown arts district;
growing enthusiasm and financial commitment for a downtown community arts, events and conference center, including a $1.75 million capital budget authorization;
ongoing conversion of a quarter of vacant and underutilized downtown upper floors into market-rate apartments, inspired by a DBA study of potential vertical development;
the benefit of nearly $1.5 million in grants from a variety of federal, state and foundation sources generated by the DBA to jump start, build and complete badly needed revitalization projects; and
DBA collaborations with more than 40 for profit and non-profit partners to improve the downtown business climate and attract $20 million in investment and reinvestment since 2008.
None of these by itself has been key to Danville’s renaissance. Like much of community activism, it has depended greatly on the people of Danville, most of them volunteers. You get the community you deserve, and they have made all the difference, accomplishing much in a short amount of time and ever mindful that time is the greatest thief of unseized opportunities.