Jim received an MBA from the University of Chicago and had a successful career in IBM finance. His wife Geri was diagnosed in 2012 with mild cognitive impairment, later clarified as Alzheimer’s disease. Geri and Jim have spoken to over fifteen thousand people across the US and in Europe addressing stigma, how to live well with dementia, and promoting clinical trial participation.
In September 2020, the couple was awarded the Perennial Hero Award by the Alliance for Aging Research (DC) for their Alzheimer’s advocacy. Jim is an FDA appointed Alzheimer’s patient advocate. In June 2021, he was appointed by Governor Cuomo as a patient advocate on the New York State Alzheimer’s Council. Jim serves as President and CEO of Voices of Alzheimer’s, a prominent advocacy organization founded in Sept 2022. VoA’s mission is to promote speedy and equitable access to FDA-approved diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease. In January Jim spoke in Davos, Switzerland at the Alzheimer’s Roundtable during the World Economic Forum.