Currently, Jim is Chairman of Fleck Management Services Ltd., an investment advisory company; a Director of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Certicom, Inc. Prior to these positions, Jim was the Chairman ATI Technologies, Inc. before its acquisition by AMD in 2006, and Fleck Manufacturing Inc., manufacturer of wire and cable, power cords and wiring assemblies for the appliance, automotive and electronic industries, which was acquired by Noma Industries in 1994. He was also Chairman of Alias Research Inc., a 3-D computer graphics company, before it was acquired by Silicon Graphics in 1995.

Jim was on the Faculty of Harvard Business School, teaching first year finance in the MBA program from 1964 to 1966. He also taught, on a visiting basis, at Keio Business School in Tokyo, Japan; The European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard; and the University of Western Ontario. He presently holds a half-time appointment as the M. Wallace McCutcheon Professor of Business Government Relations at the Faculty of Management, University of Toronto. Jim has authored and co-authored several articles and books, the most recent being "Yankee Canadians in the Global Economy".

During the 1970's, Jim held several full-time appointments for the Government of Ontario, serving as Deputy Minister Premier's office, Secretary to Cabinet and Deputy Minister of Industry. During this time, Jim was also active as International President of the Young Presidents' Organization. He was presented the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1997. He is currently a member of the Chief Executives Organization and the World Business Council.

Jim is interested in the arts as a private collector, and in sports, particularly tennis. He is President of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Chairman of Harbourfront foundation, a Director and past Chairperson of Tennis Canada, a Director of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, and was founding President of The Power Plant, Contemporary Art at Harbourfront in Toronto. He led the private side of a public-private collaboration with the City of Toronto to create and build the Toronto Music Garden, inspired by the First Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suite as played by Yo-Yo Ma.

Jim received a gold medalist BA from the University of Western Ontario and was awarded a doctorate of business administration by Harvard University.