Jim also embraced the 5 C's in his personal life. Four and a half years ago, his grandson, Dray, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor right at the outset of COVID-19. As a leader with a reputation for getting things done and as a hands-on grandparent, Jim needed to help. As the adage goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention," and after much thought, Jim tapped into his passion for motorcycle riding; Ride 4 Dray, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was born.
In 2020, with the full support of RSM's senior leadership team as well as the RSM US Foundation, Jim took 60 days to ride across the Eastern half of the U.S. on his Harley-Davidson, visiting sixty offices, as well as eleven children's hospitals, along the way, while raising awareness of childhood brain cancer and funds for related research and treatments.
Fast forward to 2023, Jim recently retired following more than 42 years with RSM, but he continues to "Ride 4 Dray." In fact, Jim recently completed a ride across Europe after getting support and encouragement from RSM leaders there. Jim used the skills he learned and fine-tuned at RSM to create specific goals for the ride: (1) bring his kids' cancer awareness-building program to Europe, (2) leverage relationships within RSM to bring RSM Europe members together for a common cause and (3) influence children's cancer organizations to collaborate and share information and resources related to childhood cancer across Europe.
The challenges with this ride were different, given varying country regulations and cultures. Jim rode over 13,000 miles in 120 days, covering 35 countries, stopping by 44 RSM offices and more than 20 children's cancer hospitals and charities along the way—again, raising awareness and funds (more than $75,000) for childhood cancer research.