JIM KAESE
Jim is a nationally recognized entrepreneur and successful business leader who has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience via his diverse and unique career.
After graduating college as a first-gen student and paying his way through law school, early ambition and risk-taking led to Jim launching a Chicago law firm bearing his name two years after passing the Illinois bar exam. Growth skyrocketed upon his measured bet that internet search engines like Yahoo, Altavista, and Ask Jeeves (all predating Google), could become client recruitment tools. In 1996, after Jim’s law firm was one of the first in Illinois (and the country) to launch a website, it appeared at the top of search results for “lawyer”, “attorney”, and other similar terms. Business poured in from Maine to Hawaii while online legal competition was slow to arrive. After several lucrative and busy years, Jim merged his seven-figure practice and moved to Southern California with his wife, Erin, for further work and life adventures.
San Diego is the birthplace of triathlon and Jim’s first friend-groups included some of the sport’s most famous athletes. He began training 20+ hours/week swimming, cycling, and running. Over the course of several years, he earned corporate sponsorships, “All American” honors, multiple podium appearances, a runner-up placing at the USA Triathlon Long Course Championships, and he competed at Ironman Florida and Ironman Hawaii. Crossing the finish lines always felt much better than the blisters, stress fractures, and the episode of rhabdomyolysis, but the most significant takeaway from Jim’s triathlon racing was an idea that would begin the next phase of his career: creating a reliable resource to help frequent travelers follow healthy lifestyles while on the road.
During his business trips and vacations in the early 2000s, Jim found hotel fitness options to be woefully equipped and constantly misrepresented. Often, the “state-of-the-art gym” consisted of a broken treadmill, a bike with a front-wheel fan, and rusty dumbbells. And, the “Olympic-sized lap pool” was oval and without lane lines. Determined to identify the hotels that truly prioritized healthy lifestyles and share his findings, Jim set out on a three-month research trip to the nation’s fifty most popular travel destinations.
In 2004, Jim authored The Athletic-Minded Traveler: Where to Work Out and Stay When Fitness is a Priority. The 485-page book quickly climbed sales charts and became an Amazon best-selling travel guide. The groundbreaking resource sold well beyond traditional book markets, including 500+ Jamba stores, Walmart, athletic retailers such as Title 9 and Lucy Activewear, and hundreds of bike and running shops. Corporate customers like Accenture, KPMG, Merck, and PwC, pushed for an online version of the book’s content so the recommendations could be easily accessed as an employee wellness/work-life resource. Jim spearheaded the site development of AthleticMindedTraveler.com and continues to work as its Editor-in-Chief. He also leads the team’s custom jog/walk map program—now in use at more than 1000 hotels around the world (five languages).
The hotel industry took notice of Athletic-Minded Traveler’s popularity and the public’s strong appetite for Jim’s recommendations. Corporate Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG, began partnerships with AMT and Jim began to lead the transformation of hotel fitness and healthy travel on a national scale. This work included serving a major role on the original brand team for IHG’s Even Hotels—the first hospitality brand designed from inception to prioritize wellness—and authoring fitness brand standards for all Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express properties.
Jim continues to be widely recognized as the leading authority in the healthy travel marketplace. Health has recognized him as a “Healthy Hotel Expert”, Triathlete and Active.com have claimed him as their “travel expert”, and other national/international media frequently solicit his opinions on travel and fitness trends, including the Washington Post, USA Today, CNBC, MSNBC, Forbes, Self, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Denver Post and many more.
A proud U.S. citizen, Jim also enjoys Colombian residency status and is an investor in the South American country with hotel and real estate projects in Medellin. In San Diego, he continues his entrepreneurial pursuits as the largest shareholder of Madi and Dear Josie’s restaurants, an investor in the Unrivaled Women’s Professional Basketball League, a partner in Icon Racing (thoroughbred horse group), an immigration attorney volunteer, and the former Chair of the Citizens Review Board on Police Practices.
Raising a daughter and son are his most fulfilling life achievements, by far. And, his faith keeps him grounded and humble. He still swims, bikes, and runs, but is now much more likely to be the “slow guy” of the group…and that’s perfectly ok.