Jim is responsible for the overall management of USApple and execution of the association’s priorities. He ensures USApple programs, policies, personnel and finances are aligned with the strategic direction provided by the Board of Directors.

Jim has dedicated more than 35 years to the management of food and agriculture organizations, including time in the Reagan Administration as a White House political appointee in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Jim was raised on a northwest Iowa grain and livestock farm which has been in the family since 1909. He graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in agronomy – the science of plant genetics and physiology, soil and weather.