Jim was raised on a farm near Chester, Nebraska, with 7 brothers and sisters.  His parents were farmers and school teachers.  Jim was active in church and school, and was a 4-year letterman in 3 sports at Chester High School.  He started earning money at the age of 12 by driving a tractor and truck for a neighbor, and he saved enough money to help pay his way through college at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where he graduated with a degree in Finance.  Jim came to Waco to attend Baylor Law School, and eventually began a career in banking.  Jim helped establish the FirstCity Financial Corporation investment banking platform here in Waco, and assisted in making FirstCity a publicly-traded company [NASDAQ] in 1995.  Jim served as the growing company’s Chief Operations Officer and Corporate Treasurer for over 20 years.  FirstCity invested and managed over $5 Billion in commercial assets in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia; with over 30 offices and 1,000 employees worldwide.  Jim served as Director on the Boards of over 20 companies, including a regional railroad, an operating coal mine, an oilfield housing manufacturer, a Small Business Administration loan originator/servicer, a ceramics importer, and a multifamily cabinet manufacturer.  After the FirstCity platform was sold, Jim returned to community banking as a Senior Vice President with the First National Bank of Central Texas.  Jim is currently serving as a Business Consultant to O’Brien-Staley partners, a Minneapolis-based investment fund.