Jim served as the Mayor of Fresno from 1993-2001. After eight years of focused leadership, Jim left the City of Fresno with a $20 million general fund surplus, a AAA credit rating, over a billion dollars of new business approvals that created thousands of new jobs, and a reborn reputation for achievement that the National Civic League recognized when it designated Fresno an All-America City in 2000. Jim spent most of his professional career as a businessman and broadcast executive owning and operating radio stations in California and Idaho. Jim and his wife Sharon have lived in Fresno for most of their lives, raising three children, and now four grandchildren in the Central Valley.