James and I met way back in 1982 in British Columbia, Canada at the University of Victoria. Their alumni magazine, the UVic Torch, recently interviewed him for an issue themed “Bold Types”, about UVic graduates who have forged fascinating careers on their own terms, their own way.

Appearing in the current issue, the resulting article describes James’ unusual trajectory starting with “attending” the University of Oregon at aged 5, becoming a licensed auto mechanic, graduating with Honours from UVic’s Computer Science program, taking a small boat around the world and eventually becoming a Senior Vice President at Amazon. And rumor has it that during this career progression he may not actually have finished high school.

The current UVic Torch issue, Spring 2026, is available here (click Current Features or Download PDF to view the articles).