Jim Goodman

“My relationship with Jim, without exaggeration, altered the direction of my career. I absolutely thrilled to be able to write this recommendation for him, and in some small measure pay him back! I worked with Jim at Enbridge Energy, at a time when I was early in my career. Jim took me under his wing, sharing with me advice on work and pointed feedback on my professional development. From how to think about daily goals, to interviewing, to acting from a place of conviction and purpose through one's career. Aside from the explicit direction he provided me, over the two plus years I watched Jim practice what he preached. Jim routinely challenged the organization to think outside the box, bringing new ideas from outside Enbridge in. Always affable, warm, and generous, Jim created a pull with anyone who worked with him. I cannot say enough about Jim's intelligence, leadership, and approachability. If you ever have an opportunity to work with him - drop what you're doing to seize the chance.”

“Jim is genuinely curious and that leads to great questions. I walk away from each meeting with him with a mutual sense of direction. He's a willing advisor and believes in being a connector in his community. Thank you Jim, I feel lucky to know you”

“Jim was an excellent supervisor. Every day he would come into work with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. But what really set Jim apart from other supervisors I've had was his very affable personality and his passion for new and creative ideas. To the affable point - Jim understood very well that leadership is about guiding employees to success, not commanding them. Rather than getting upset when I would make a mistake, Jim helped me understand what I did wrong, how I could improve in the future, and helped me think about the idea in a different light. This helped create an atmosphere that I felt was very collaborative rather than hierarchical. His positive and encouraging words made me want to actively pursue bettering my engineering knowledge and at the same time challenged me to think critically and constantly challenge the norm. Jim helped me feel safe speaking up when I disagreed with team engineering decisions. Normally this can be somewhat daunting for an engineer fresh out of university, but on his team, I felt encouraged to voice my opinion. I felt that Jim was an excellent communicator and expectations were always clear. Additionally, I appreciated that Jim always made himself available to chat, have ongoing feedback discussions, and share candid advice from his wide breadth of life and industry experience. To the creativity point - Jim always had new, out-of-the-box ideas which he advocated to the team. I was impressed by the multitude of ideas: process improvements and engineering solutions through novel technology, exploring new business opportunities within the renewable energy space, and the creative re-purposing of older assets in ways which the company had not explored before. I believe Jim's encouragement to both explore my own career interests and constantly think outside the box was critical to my development as a new engineer. As a supplement to my core work I had many unique experiences under Jim's leadership that I believe I would not have had under a more restrictive leader – e.g. pursuing a business development opportunity with the City of Duluth, performing due diligence on a regional utility company, and an opportunity to engage external stakeholders and incorporate sustainability principles into my work. Overall Jim was a great supervisor and I really enjoyed my time working for him.”

“It's always a pleasure working with Jim. He is a very professional and loyal business developer. He pays special attention to the needs of the customers and always provides strategic perspective. ”

“Jim was a great CEO at Tryonmedia. He is an effective communicator with decision-making capabilities and leadership skills that brought incredible value to the company. Jim’s commitment and passion to help Tryonmedia succeed was present every day. His futuristic vision combined with transparency infused new positive energy into the team which contributed to continuous improvement and efficiencies. In addition, Jim’s ability to inspire, recognize and uplift employees for exceptional effort was second to none. This gave a level of accountability and responsibility among the team to not only get the job done but to also collectively bring forth unique ideas to become goals and carried through reality. Every day was a “winning” day. ”

“The first time the Tryon Media team met its soon-to-be CEO, Jim Goodman, he conjured a bottle of champagne to be passed around in honor of the Oscars. He’d had both the foresight and the thoughtfulness to bring the appetizing ice-breaker, which was an appropriate way to toast our company’s biggest night of the year. This introduction really set the tone for Jim’s crucial tenure at the Runway Manhattan office. We’re a pretty unusual company especially by Duluth standards and we required a unique type of CEO at that juncture. Jim provided calm leadership, he was transparent and supportive, and he trusted the team to do what it did best, he didn’t waste time trying to micromanage. I’m glad that I got the chance to work with Jim while he was at Tryon Media and I’ve since been lucky enough to collaborate with him on various projects for other clients, too. Jim is a go-getter, a true team player, and he brings a great sense of humor to every task.”

“Jim Goodman reported to me while executing windfarm design/construction at Firstwind but we operated as a partnership. Jim's willingness to dig into details, be a devils advocate and speak up is a great ( and often rare) asset. When combined with Jim's energy, bright demeanor, and ability to grasp the overall vision you have a valuable team member to move things forward.”

“Jim has served as Development Manager at Joseph Nease Gallery. Jim's varied background and approach has led to "out of the box" thinking that has led to some productive initiatives for us. His knowledge of the local business climate, and his extensive contacts have enabled us to reach a desired customer base. And his organization and regular focus keeps priorities and schedules ordered and front and center for us. ”

“Jim is well-versed in the many challenges facing the renewable energy sector. Specifically, he was a highly effective Project Manager for very difficult wind projects located in the northeast while working with me at First Wind. His energy and commitment to a high-quality and well-orchestrated project was motivational and impressive.”