James B. Farnam is a graduate of Yale College and holds a Master's Degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. After working as a planner for the City of New York and serving as Director of New Haven's Office of Downtown and Harbor Development, Jim joined the New Haven consulting firm Holt, Wexler & Farnam (HWF) as a Partner in 1989. During his tenure at HWF, Jim developed a reputation as one of Connecticut's most prolific social service planning consultants. Jim has applied his passion for public interest and his wide array of experiences to promote improvements across education, workforce development, early childhood, and health care delivery systems. In 2010 on the disolution of Holt, Wexler & Farnam, Jim formed Farnam Associates, LLC.  Jim's planning work has resulted in major shifts in social service systems, including the development of Connecticut's One Stop Career Center System, the creation of a $230 million Empowerment Zone in New Haven, and the connecting of countless community-based organizations to larger efforts. Much of Jim's work involves facilitating diverse stakeholder groups, thinking creatively, and analyzing complex data sets. He is a founder of DataHaven and of the the Connecticut Data Collaobrative, and managed the Community Indicators Consortium from 2011-2012.