Jim Schmotter has been president of the Naples Council on World Affairs for three years and in 2023 chairs the Nominating Committee and leads strategic planning for the Council.

He enjoyed an academic career with a strong international focus. After completing his Ph.D. at Northwestern University, he served as associate dean and director of international studies at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, where he also taught courses on international business. He later held appointments as the dean of the business colleges at Lehigh University and Western Michigan University and, for eleven years, as president of Western Connecticut State University.

During these assignments he consulted for multinational corporations and U.S. government agencies, and developed and managed international education academic programs in the European Union, Malaysia, India, Japan, Singapore, Pakistan, Russia and China. The author of numerous publications on business education and international business, he has chaired the boards of the Graduate Management Admissions Council, the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Division III Presidents’ Council of the NCAA. 

Jim was for 11 years a director of Ethan Allen Interiors, an American home furnishings company with a strong international retail presence, including nearly a hundred stores in China. He also volunteers for Champions for Learning and is a member of Habitat for Humanity’s Family Selection Committee. Jim lives in North Naples with his wife Daphne Jameson, professor emerita of business communication at Cornell.  They spend summers at their Finger Lakes home in Ithaca NY.