About the Blogger
Jim Brandt grew up in Northern California. He was the first member of his family on either side to attend and graduate from college. His father was a civil engineer and his mother worked as a waitress. His mother and father worked hard and lived within their means so they could live life on their terms. They pay their bills and saved for retirement. His father had a strong influence on him about hard work and integrity. His mother was always there for him and made him feel like he could accomplish anything. His sister Edna was a constant source of support especially when things were not going well. This strong family life during the early years were very important.
Jim was very competitive in school both academically and in sports. He was very successful in three sports during high school and earned a full scholarship to college playing football. He was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He successfully completed flight school and earned his wings as a Naval Aviator. He earned his masters degree in public administration from the University of Southern California while serving in the Marine Corps. Jim served as a combat pilot and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
After the Marine Corps, Jim started a software development and consulting company that he ran for several years. Security Pacific National Bank purchased his software and Jim became Chief Operating Officer for Security Pacific Computer Solutions. He purchased his software back four years later and founded Pyramid Software, a software development and publishing company.
For the past ten years Jim served as National Practice Manager for the Thor Group. The Thor Group has put tens of thousands of people to work since 1975. The Thor Group provides financial, IT, and operations resources to corporations across America. Terry Thormosgaard is the founder and CEO of the Thor Group and the source of some of the processes described in this book. Planning and measuring effort through defined metrics is a major part of the culture at the Thor Group.
Jim learned about responsibility while raising his children as a single parent. Although he was blessed with tremendous support from his former wife, he did raise two of his three children during their junior high and high school years while running his own business. All three of his children graduated from the California State University system and they are all living productive lives making positive contributions to their communities.
Jim worked with Congressman Christopher Cox in the early 1990s. He developed software that tracked campaign contributions and expenses for the FEC report. He learned the details of how campaign finance works.
Jim has been very active in the Democratic Party since 1996. He was elected to the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee several terms. He was also elected to the California State Democratic Party Executive Board and he served many terms as an elected delegate to the California Democratic Party. He was also elected as a regional vice chair for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
He learned about campaign contributions while running for Congress in the California 46th Congressional District in 2004 and 2006. Both times he won the primary election and lost in the general election.
Jim has a rich history in both business and politics. Throughout this book he has introduced business concepts to advance government reforms and causes. He learned through the experience of running for Congress how the campaign finance process works. He also experienced the political nature of the congressional district boundaries. From his high school years where he worked on the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign to the present he has worked on over a dozen major campaigns. From the time of Jim’s early childhood he has made his life a quest to help everyone be represented by their government. This book is the beginning of a new phase in that quest.
