Jim co-built a nationwide enterprise, maximizing quality of patient care and reduced costs in hospitals, that was acquired by a Fortune 500 healthcare company. Following this successful endeavor, he made his most consequential, long-term career change. The human services organization supporting people with IDD in community-based settings—where he sat on the Board of Directors—asked Jim to step up as their CEO. He decided to immediately and simultaneously tackle the most pressing challenges, which he came to understand as largely endemic to the industry overall: the poor nutrition/health of people supported along with haphazard compliance regarding person-centered choice; inexperienced, high turnover staff; and budget-strapped operations. Jim noted that these various needles hadn’t moved much—and certainly never in tandem—despite attempts over many years by a host of status quo “solutions.”
Jim quickly concluded that little in a group home day occupies as much time, passion, cost, and safety concern as does food. So a key priority centered on mealtime and its associated linkages. Within 18 months of Jim’s tenure, the organization received one of the first-ever, 4-year CQL accreditations and was financially robust for the first time in over a decade, with much healthier consumers. This transformation and its possibilities planted the seed for Mainstay, Inc. and its My25 brand . . . a holistic, integrated approach to Food as Medicine, tailored for people with specialized needs on a person-centered basis via digital supports.
Building strategic partnerships and collaborations with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), professionals from the Feinberg School of Medicine, Walmart, SNAP officials, and legislators, Jim pioneered My25’s launch and growth. The company now spans 37 states, with a suite of digital Food as Medicine products, as a for-profit commercial enterprise among the nation’s leading human services/healthcare organizations for tens of thousands of people in waiver, ICF, and supported/independent living settings.
Fueled by Mainstay’s highly-respected team, proprietary software—and now A.I. integration—Jim is focused on forging a broader base of partners to positively impact more individuals, stakeholders and funders. He recognizes amplified, broad-based need for simultaneous outcomes regarding clinical health, social health, engagement, education, operational efficiency, food (and additional) cost reduction, and Medicaid savings contribution. Jim often credits My25’s overarching success to the actionable data Mainstay tracks and trends in real time and “. . . figuring out how to stem the leakages long getting in the way of sustainable, affordable nutrition/preventive health on a person-centered basis for this vital population—not just the 5% most unwell, but a majority.”
Jim is a graduate of both Davidson College where he received his BA in Economics and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management where he received his MBA. Jim lives in the Chicago area with his wife, who helps catapult Mainstay forward as its COO and co-founder. Three adult children each live a stone’s throw away; they often meet up with Jim on the golf course, but are honor bound to promise no snickering at his short game.