Jim dropped out of high school and joined the Army at the age of 17. After his discharge, he took advantage of the GI Bill to earn a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance. The bulk of his professional career was spent here in the Lansing area as part of The Christman Company’s executive management team where he served for 22 years, most recently as President of Christman Capital Development Company. He lives in East Lansing with Carol, his wife of 25 years, and has two adult daughters, Rachel and Marissa. In 2009, Jim formed Revel Custom Wine Cellars, which designs and builds what have been hailed as “The World’s Best Wine Cellars”. All of Revel’s cellars are based on unique, propriety and patented designs he has personally created. Revel has been featured in numerous prestigious publications such as Forbes, Bloomberg and Wine Spectator. Revel’s clients include some of the world’s most sophisticated wine collectors as well as celebrities and business leaders that are household names. Revel’s cellars are all made in Michigan, and shipped throughout the US and around the world. Jim’s talk will recount how his journey broke nearly every tenant of conventional business wisdom in order to create a new brand, using a unique business model that quickly became the gold standard, while having no formal design training or prior experience in the wine cellar business. |