Jim Schmitt has enjoyed a long and productive career in corporate life, public life, and life as an entrepreneur . . . and he's still going strong.
      The Ladera Ranch resident currently serves as Editor and Publisher of the Ladera Times, a monthly news publication that is delivered to every home, business, and apartment complex in Ladera Ranch the Thursday on or before the first of every month.
     He is also a member of the Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corporation (LARMAC) Board of Directors, where he began a three-year term in December 2006.
     Jim and his wife Kathy Scholze moved to Southern California a few years ago from Pittsburgh where Jim was Editor and Publisher of Anchors Aweigh, a recreational boating magazine that he created to serve Western Pennsylvania and the neighboring waterfront communities of New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland.
     In this capacity, Jim was a tireless leader in promoting the safe, productive, enjoyable, and sustainable development and use of area waterways for recreational boating. Serving on the boards of several recreational boating organizations, he played a major role in improving both safety and enjoyment on Pennsylvania's rivers, streams, and lakes. For more information on this, click on:
      q Boating Initiatives;
      q Boating Fans Take to Rivers this Weekend;
      q No-Wake Proposal Creates Waves;
      q City Will Allows Boaters to Dock Overnight;
      q Future Plan for Point Discussed at Workshop;
      q Up-River Boaters Fear They'll Be Cast Adrift;
      On June 13, 1999, he ran an op-ed piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the need to improve the area's waterways, a few days after which then-Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy formed the Pittsburgh Riverlife Task Force, which has led to the redevelopment of Pittsburgh famed Three Rivers waterfront for commercial and recreational uses (see: "Let's kick-start waterfront development").
      Prior to starting the magazine, Jim was Director of Corporate Public and Media Relations for Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the top communications position in the company. His appointment to this position was the highlight of his 25-year-career with the Fortune 50 company, during which he was responsible for all areas of internal and external communications, public and media relations, and community relations.
      In the Spring of 2000, Jim ran for the United States Congress in the 4th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. As a first-time candidate running in a field of career politicians, he failed to win the nomination, but he finished strong in a field of eight candidates over a five-county district and pulled 50 percent of the total vote in his home county. More important, he was responsible for bringing a number of key issues to the dialogue.
      In addition to Anchors Aweigh, which he sold to local business interests prior moving to Southern California, Jim has owned and published numerous weekly newspapers, including the Holiday Park News (Plum Boro, PA), the Penny Pincher (Columbus, OH), and the Columbia Picayune (Columbia, MD).
      Jim and Kathy have four children, two sons and two daughters, three of whom live here in Ladera Ranch. They also have four young grandchildren, three of which are also here with their parents in Ladera Ranch.
      Kathy, a Registered Nurse, manages a home health care team for St. Joseph Home Health Care, and is also a licensed real estate agent with California Real Estate Services.
      Jim has devoted his life to pursuing strategic objectives and achieving significant quantifiable results, whether it be in corporate America, small business, community service, or public life.
       Over the years, he has served as secretary and board member of the Pittsburgh Safe Boating Council; board member of the Pennsylvania Boating Association; member of the Users Committee of the Pittsburgh Riverlife Task Force; charter member of Boaters Are Voters; member of the River Navigation Coalition; charter member of the Point State Park Planning Committee; member of the Public Relations Advisory Council to the University of Florida; public relations advisor to the Extra Mile Foundation of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, and member of the National Coalition on Health Care reform, among others.
      One of the things he is proudest of is serving as founder and past cochair of the Western Pennsylvania Boater's Regatta, a four-day waterfront event that raised $50,000 without a major sponsor and drew 100,000 boaters to Pittsburgh's Three Rivers in its first year. As chairman of the Westinghouse Southwestern Pennsylvania United Way Campaign, he raised $3 million or one-tenth of the total raised by that United Way chapter that year.
      He was recently profiled in an article in the Orange County Register (see: "LARMAC Board Member Continues a Lifetime of Service"), and was the subject of a column written by Orange County Register Columnist Yvette Cabrera.
      Effective goal-oriented communications and creative, out-of-the-box thinking have been the hallmark of his success, skills he brings to Ladera Ranch in his capacity as Editor and Publisher of the Ladera Times, as a Member of the LARMAC Board, and in other community relations activities.