About Our Company
JAMES T. SIMPSON, CAE
Non-Profit Executive | Interim Services Provider
Jim has more than three decades in nonprofit leadership and has extensive experience with hiring and leading high-performing teams. His direct responsibilities have included finance including budgeting, forecasting, internal controls, and investment policies. He has also been directly responsible for revenue generation and diversification, strategic planning, board development, policy research and a multitude of legal and governance issues. Notable achievements include the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, where Jim was the Chief Operating Officer and President of its for-profit subsidiary. Under his leadership, Kentucky became a Top 10 state chamber nationally for both dues and non-dues revenue even though the state ranked No. 38 in the number of businesses.
In North Carolina, where Jim was also the Chief Operating Officer of the NC Chamber, President of its for-profit subsidiary and President of the NC Chamber Foundation, Jim led initiatives and strategies causing revenues to quadruple during an 11-year period with substantial growth occurring during the “Great Recession,” and reserves in the organization surging from $0 to more than $8 million. The NC Chamber was recognized by its peers as the “fastest growing state chamber in the nation,” and received multiple awards for doing so including the inaugural “State Chamber of the Year Award.”
In Missouri, Jim was hired to replicate the outstanding results achieved in North Carolina. During the next year, Jim was part of the team that helped record one of the best financial years in the history of the Missouri Chamber.
In 2022, Jim felt pulled to another purpose and joined FEMA as a part-time reservist. He spent nine months in Louisiana and three months in Florida working on hurricanes IDA and IAN, helping communities with long-term recovery plans and resources including policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, and working with other Federal agencies to identify resources to assist impacted communities.
In addition to being a Certified Association Executive (CAE), Jim is a current and former small business owner which has given him a unique perspective on all aspects of business acumen including raising capital, measuring customer/stakeholder outcomes, information technology, finance, purchasing, human resources, and sales and marketing. He has worked on a number of issue campaigns including workers’ compensation, higher education, and infrastructure. He was also the Executive Director of an Education Foundation that served 16 of the top 100 poorest counties in the nation.
In the fall of 2022, Jim launched Strategic Interim Solutions which provides interim assistance for nonprofits experiencing a leadership change, and/or going to market with a different value proposition. If you would like to connect, please email jim@strategicinterimsolutions.com