Joseph James
Economic Development
Joseph J. James is a former 33-year economic development professional who is now an ag-tech entrepreneur. He is involved in a commercializing a process by which one plants and then multi-tasks bio-crops and their resulting biomass to do good things, with less expense, for people and the planet.
Mr. James has traveled extensively in West and South Africa and has been involved in a variety of activities, including the Peace Diamond Alliance, Sister City relationships, his Liberia’s Hope Quilting Initiative, and his efforts to better connect Liberians and the people of the US. He is especially interested in connecting Liberians with those in the southern United States, from which so many African-Americans emigrated to Liberia just before and after the U.S. Civil War.
Mr. James has a B.S. in Science from Union College and has studied Law and Business Administration at New York University. He was awarded the Purpose Prize in 2008 for his work to engage poor, rural communities of color from the southern U.S., in the nation’s Green Economy.