Chief Executive Officer, Mythology
By Dawn Nolan
For Jeff James, West Virginia is not just his home—it’s his passion. He has an emotional connection to the state through his family as well as his vision that West Virginia is capable of doing more than the world believes the Mountain State is capable of doing. This is one of the main motivations behind his work as chairperson of Create West Virginia and vice chairman of A Vision Shared. The mantra of Create West Virginia is “Building creative communities for the new economy,” and with this organization, James aims to empower West Virginians to live up to the potential he knows they have so that they may be able to “place themselves among the most innovative, dynamic, prosperous, creative communities in the world.”
Of his childhood, James’ fondest memories date back to the first grade. His father was a student at West Virginia University working towards his Ph.D. in child development. During that time, they lived in an apartment complex with faculty members and other Ph.D. students from far-away places like Africa and Afghanistan, exposing this future entrepreneur to differing cultures. Some of the things that James remembers most about this time were the aromas of native meals that filled the hallways and how the children from many diverse backgrounds made friends so easily.
James grew up with the desire to develop communities and businesses and remembers drawing towns as a child and adding in where he thought businesses should go. The excitement of visualizing something amazing where nothing currently existed before was a rush, and James later learned the term for his passion: entrepreneurship. While he never lost the interest in planning and creating businesses and communities, in college James chose a bit of a different path. He attended West Virginia University with an interest in marketing and communications. It was during school that he got his first real job—he was hired at IBM as a part-time marketing coordinator. While at IBM, James met Paul Southerly, the man he calls his mentor. “Mr. Southerly took me under his wing and showed me the ropes of how to generate interest in yourself and your product.”
After graduating from WVU, James was hired by another computer giant, Microsoft, where he continued his career in marketing. While James ended his 14-year stay at Microsoft to start his own company, Mythology, he has not forgotten the people at Microsoft and continues to thank them for getting him to where he is today. “I got to where I am now because of the wonderful managers at Microsoft that gave me the space to try out my ideas.” In addition to those managers, James also credits his faith, his family and his team members for helping him succeed.
Some of the characteristics that James believes have been key in his career include his vision for seeing the potential in things that may not yet exist, very little fear about trying something new to make things happen and his communication skills—he is able to make people believe in him and his ideas. He believes his greatest success to be the people that he has been able to hire, train and manage that have gone on to bigger and better careers. He says he gets the most enjoyment out of the feeling of being a part of others’ achievements.
For James, big, bold projects are what keep him motivated, much like the task that lies ahead for West Virginia as a whole—finding its potential and using that to propel itself forward into a successful, prosperous future. “It’s fun to think what impact Mythology could have but even more fun to think about a time when West Virginia will be known as an innovative, prosperous region among the most beautiful scenery in the country.”
