James graduated from San Diego State University in 1993, receiving a B.S. in Finance with an emphasis in Real Estate. He worked for Grubb and Ellis while in college and moved to East County Properties/ECP Commercial in 1993. He was a sales associate/broker at ECP Commercial from 1993 to 2001. While at ECP Commercial, James was the top producer for 1998, 1999, and 2000. James founded Inland Pacific Commercial Properties in 2001. From 2001 to 2019, Inland Pacific has been the premier Industrial and Investment brokerage company in East County San Diego. Working with over 20 top associate agents over that period, Inland Pacific has completed over 1.2 billion dollars of commercial transactions which included numerous deals in all parts of San Diego County and additional out of state transactions.