Jim received his BA in geology from St. Joseph’s College in 1960 and his MS in geology from Kansas State University in 1963. Jim’s interest in pavements and asphalt materials began in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in the 1970’s where he rose to the positions of State Maintenance and State Materials Engineer.
Jim was later the Pavement Systems Manager with Koch Pavement Solutions in the Southern Region office in Austin, Texas. In 2002, Jim joined Fugro and still serves as a senior consultant with Fugro and serves as principal investigator and project manager for several pavement related research projects including projects for NCHRP and FHWA. In February 2022, he retired as the long-standing Executive Director of FP2 Inc., a national organization promoting the use of pavement preservation treatments.
Jim had an extensive career in the transportation field with an emphasis in asphalt technology having worked with Koch Materials Co., the University of Texas at Austin, Exxon Chemical Americas, Lubrizol Corporation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. He worked for twenty years with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on various assignments. He subsequently spent five years in product development, technical marketing, and the application of asphalt modifiers with Lubrizol Corporation and Exxon Chemical Americas before joining the research staff of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin as the program manager for the SHRP Asphalt Research Program and then joined Koch Materials Company. Jim served on several Transportation Research Board Committees and is the Past Chair of the Bituminous Materials Section, AFK00. He was actively involved with ASTM D-4, Road and Paving Materials Committee and served as the head of the D-4 group, and the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists where he has served as President. He was chair of the advisory board for the National Center for Pavement Preservation at Michigan State University and was also a member of the University Transportation Center for Highway Pavement Preservation at the university.
Jim is a recognized international leader in pavement preservation and asphalt technology and has been active in several organizations throughout his career.