Throughout his life and career, Jim Kitchen has maintained involvement in a vast array of academic, professional, charitable, and personal endeavors, striving for excellence in each of his pursuits. Raised in South Florida, Mr. Kitchen demonstrated his interest in politics and community stewardship at an early age, sitting on his town’s community relations board and taking college-level political science courses while a high school student. Following high school, Mr. Kitchen enrolled at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he pursued a degree in Russian and Eastern European studies with extracurricular forays into entrepreneurship.

Before graduation he founded a full-service travel and tourism firm specializing in group tours to the Caribbean, student summer abroad trips and business travel arrangements. He operated this company for 18 years before it was acquired in 2005 by TUI Travel PLC, a publicly traded travel corporation for whom Kitchen would continue to work as Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for the Student Travel division.

Aside from his work in the hospitality sector, Mr. Kitchen purchased residential and commercial properties in the southeastern United States in the mid-1990s and continues to serve as President of Real Property Development. Among his holdings, Mr. Kitchen owns triple-net retail properties including CVS pharmacies and other retail properties, apartment complexes, and operates the real estate website www.nc-apartments.com .

Jim Kitchen returned to college in 2008, enrolling in The University of Tennessee’s Executive MBA Program, from which he graduated as class valedictorian. Since then, Mr. Kitchen has entered into The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, from which he will earn a Master’s degree in Political Management in 2012.

In addition to his own academic pursuits, Jim Kitchen serves on the Board of Advisors for the Educational Foundation, Inc. and the Board of Visitors at UNC, serves on the board of the Orange County Public School Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Kramden Institute, which provides computers to children. Recognized for his service to the community, Mr. Kitchen has volunteered his time, energy, and resources to a wide range of philanthropic efforts in the United States and abroad. Over the years, Jim Kitchen has served as Secretary of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Eastern North Carolina, fought global poverty as a Board member with Nourish International and on oversees volunteer projects, coached young entrepreneurs through Born Global, and at UNC-CH. When not working, Jim Kitchen enjoys running marathons and ultra-marathons, attends UNC sporting events, and plays golf. Married since 1996 and proud father of two, Mr. Kitchen lives with his family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.