James is originally from Minnesota and attended Iowa State University, graduating with a B.S. in Meteorology & Atmospheric Science. After college, James worked in media as an on-air meteorologist and then a forecaster for Northwest Airlines. James returned to Iowa State for graduate school, focusing his studies on climatology and the growing need for fire weather forecasting. James joined IBM in 2017 as a Sales Engineer for The Weather Company, focusing on weather strategy within the retail industry. Currently he is the sales engineer for the Global Business Partner Channel.