Jim served as Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies, a $4-billion global enterprise. His broad technical background leveraged DuPont's strong materials and technology base to accelerate growth in the "high-tech" markets of electronics and communications. In this capacity, he led the research and development functions, coordinating long-term applied research efforts in corporate R&D centers and searching out new opportunities for growth. New business ventures emerging from this work, in flat-panel displays, PV, fuel cells, and photonics, were incubated under Jim’s guidance. In February 2003, he was elected to the DuPont Photomasks (DPMI) Board of Directors and remained through the successful acquisition of DPMI by Toppan in April 2005.
Previously, Jim was Vice President and Director of Motorola’s Physical Sciences Research Laboratories. During his tenure he directed long-range research in future integrated systems (memory, semiconductor materials, nanostructures, quantum devices, etc.), energy (thermoelectrics, fuel cells, etc.), lab-on-a-chip (microfluidics, DNA analyses, etc.), and various speculative "reach-out" initiatives. Other assignments at Motorola included directing the Wireless Research & Development Laboratory, leading the Microcontroller and Mixed-Mode Technology Center, and serving as Chief Technologist and Director of Strategy, all within Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector (now Freescale Semiconductor).