With over two decades of executive management experience — including in digital media consulting, in the music and entertainment industries, on Wall Street, and in journalism — James now provides leadership coaching to individuals and companies who are creating game-changing innovation in the world. His clients include innovation teams and leaders at large technology corporations, at innovative social entrepreneurial organizations, and at some of the world’s most promising startups housed at the Cambridge Innovation Center and Harvard’s iLab.
James is an accomplished business executive: At Citibank’s Worldwide Security Services he conceptualized and implemented the digital re-engineering of a content distribution community among clients across 62 countries, with 3.9 trillion dollars in transactions per year at stake. At Razorfish he managed delivery of a $1.5 million e-commerce solution for Estée Lauder, Chanel, and Clarins. At Bear Stearns he co-pioneered the firm’s first Internet, intranet, and e-commerce presences.
James is widely recognized for his work in helping people reap the benefits of mind training and meditation. He first learned mind-training in the early 1990s from the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, which helped him to overcome a life-threatening illness. He later continued meditation study — from Mindfulness and Insight to Christian Contemplation and Zen. His training took him from Kyoto to the Catskills and into the presence of Thich Nhat Hahn and the Dalai Lama. He quickly applied these mind-training techniques to achieving success as an executive on Wall Street and in consulting. James has taught meditation techniques at various places, including the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, where he also earned a Master Degree studying human transformation.
James is an award-winning writer published in The Huffington Post, on Boston.com, in the New York Times, and on NPR, and currently holds the position of editor-in-chief at Boston Spirit magazine.
James is a voting member of the Grammys and served as production manager for Peggy Lee’s last album. As an actor, he performed in Tales of Erotica, where Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino, as a dental hygienist, cleaned his mouth a little too familiarly. James serves on the Fenway Health Board of Visitors, and formerly sat on the board of directors at the Greater Boston Business Council.
James lives a rich, full life. He is passionately dedicated to assisting others to do the same.
Jim is a person who is truly living his passion in helping people maximize their potential for happiness, success and fulfillment in their professional lives. I found him to be dynamic, creative and truly inspiring to be around as we worked together on figuring out the next chapter in my career. He’s formulated a winning approach to career and business coaching from his extensive and varied business experience along with a huge amount of knowledge related to coaching/personal development.
James Ashton
Marketing Consultant
Working with Jim and innerOvation has been a rewarding experience that has delivered results for me. My journey started at a half-day workshop I attended that helped me assess my personal and professional goals holistically. That session was so powerful in removing inertia and helping me see opportunities from a different perspective that I signed up for coaching on the spot and haven’t looked back. Within just a few months of working with Jim, I had cleared “clutter” from my life, enriched my social life, and had made professional changes that brought new vitality to my working life.
Peter Zimmer
VP Product Delivery, Cloudant, an IBM company
I hired Jim as a Coach because I wanted to make some career changes but I didn’t know where to begin. Jim started off by collecting some information about my background, values, work history, and goals. Then we did a deep dive into my history to better understand my skills, passions and motivations. From there we set up a series of weekly tasks for my career exploration which allowed me to learn about various careers and determine what would be the best fit for me. Throughout this process, Jim kept me focused and motivated. He also assisted in my evaluation process by asking probing questions and reminding me of my specific long term goals. In addition, Jim was able to connect me with a lot of helpful people and resources along the way. Jim is very knowledgeable, thorough, thoughtful, and supportive. He has helped me to determine my next career path and to take the appropriate actions to find the best position based on my unique needs. This has been an extremely useful and rewarding experience. If you need help in any aspects of your life, I would highly recommend Jim’s services.
Jack Vendetti
Regulatory Affairs Recruiter, Dennis Partners
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