Jim Parker lives in Victoria, BC with his partner, physician Heather Cairns and dog Judd. He is originally from Ontario, where he earned a degree in psychology and physical education from Brock University. After owning a fitness and wellness business, he escaped to the world of academia, earning a masters in exercise physiology from Michigan State University. Still lost on the academic trail, he attempted a PhD in the same subject area at the University of Victoria, but quickly discovered that both the university and the topic where not for him. He hopes someday to finish that unfinished business by attempting a doctorate in leadership studies at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC.
A former physical education teacher at a prep school, Jim has been a serving officer in the Canadian Naval Reserve for twenty five years. His careers have been many and varied and his life generally a happy one. He is published as a columnist, feature writer and academic, with his most recent works published in the Diplomat and International Canada. He and his ‘family’ – well, he and Heather at at least – enjoy several sports, reading, wine and world travel.
He spent 2008 serving in the Sudan as a United Nations military observer. This experience and the dichotomy of the poorest nation on earth being populated by a people with the biggest smiles on earth, affected him deeply. He sincerely hopes that his various writing projects will in some way help these wonderful people. Jim recently returned from a deployment in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of the Canadian contingent’s ‘Operation Safari’, where they worked with the Afghan army and national police force, training them in operations. It was for him, a life altering experience.
Jim is currently working on a book about his travels and experiences in the Sudan and Afghanistan and the lessons he has learned on the way.