Jim earned his B.A. in Music from Western Connecticut State University in 1989 and his M.S. in Education from the University of Bridgeport in 2000. What followed was a career built on showing up: over two decades as Band Director at Fairfield Woods Middle School, leading ensembles from small chamber groups of five to full bands of over 100 students — including guiding 8th graders through the isolation of the pandemic, culminating in a student-made forty-minute tribute video.
In 2022 he moved to Roger Ludlowe Middle School as Band Director, where he introduced students and parents to Dr. Marc Brackett’s RULER method for emotional intelligence and trained sixth graders directly in Peg Dawson’s eleven executive functions — skills like impulse control, task initiation, and goal-directed persistence that outlast any single class or concert.
Along the way, Jim built things that didn’t exist before: he founded and ran the Annual Western Regional Middle School Audition Festival for a decade, growing it to roughly 500 auditioning students a year, and spent over twenty summers building WCSU’s summer band camp from a single 50-person band into a program of four concert bands, four jazz bands, and fifteen chamber ensembles.
Since 2024, Jim has served as the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s Western Region Director, overseeing auditions and festivals for 240 members and roughly 2,000 auditioning students a year — and most recently stepped in as substitute Band Director at Fairfield Warde High School, and as an Executive Functioning Trainer leading workshops for teachers, administrators, and parents across the region.
“Every group I’ve ever led — a sixth-grade band, a room of teachers, 900 anxious eighth graders — needed the same thing first: to feel seen before they’d listen.”
My approach to leadership training didn’t come from a certification program. It came from standing in front of real students and real staff, year after year, and learning what actually changes behavior.
I believe leadership is a set of skills, not a personality type — which is why I teach the eleven executive functions researched by Peg Dawson as practical, learnable habits, not abstract theory. I believe emotional intelligence, through frameworks like RULER, is what turns a group of individuals into a team that trusts each other. And I believe the hardest conversations — about anxiety, stress, and the things young people carry quietly — are the ones most worth having openly, because I’ve watched what happens when a room finally gets permission to be honest.
Whether I’m in front of a middle school band, a district’s teaching staff, or an auditorium of students, the goal is the same: give people real tools, built from real experience, that they can use the moment they walk out the door.
Leads regional auditions and festivals for 240 members and ~2,000 auditioning students annually.
Led executive functioning workshops across two elementary schools; stepped in as full-time band director at Fairfield Warde High School.
Introduced the RULER emotional intelligence method and Peg Dawson’s executive functions to sixth-grade students.
Two decades leading ensembles of 5 to 110+ students; multiple invited talks on anxiety, stress, and professional development.
Built an annual festival from the ground up to roughly 500 auditioning students per year.
Grew a single band and jazz band into a program of 4 concert bands, 4 jazz bands, and 15 chamber ensembles.
University of Bridgeport — Bridgeport, CT, 2000
Western Connecticut State University — Danbury, CT, 1989
With Joanne Freiburg, Trumbull, CT — repairing and restoring relationships post-conflict.
Fairfield, CT — 2017–2020, communication & healthy professional relationships.