Born and raised in Ireland, James travelled to his first festival at the age of four with his family of nine in an old Morris Minor car, leaving him with a love of festivals and a dislike of car travel. He joined Festivals Edinburgh as their first Head of Innovation and Marketing following senior management roles with a number of organisations including Salisbury International Arts Festival, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and Arts Council England. In his current role with Festivals Edinburgh, he works to develop the position of Edinburgh as a world leading festival city—where the Festivals normally host over 25,000 world class artists, more than 1000 accredited media and audiences of 4.9m each year, while generating £313 million for the Scottish economy. James is also a Trustee of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust and sits on the board of New Media Scotland.