After serving in the US Navy, Jim joined Johnson & Johnson and then moved to can-making with Miller Brewing Company; advancing to Plant Manager at several locations. He then joined Reynolds Metals Company where he was the Business Unit Manager for Reynolds Can Machinery. There he was responsible for engineering, sales/marketing, and manufacture of the Reynolds line of can and end-making machinery. When Reynolds sold the business, he went back into can-making and held plant management positions with Ball and Rexam before joining Crown. At Crown, he successfully transformed the Cheraw, South Carolina beverage plant from a struggling business to one of the top performing plants in the Crown network.

When Jim was presented with the opportunity to get back into the machinery manufacturing business his comment was “This is my true passion".