James Edmund Datri is co-founder of Miller/Datri Entertainment — created with his godson, cousin, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Colby Reed Miller. The next-generation studio, based in Los Angeles and New York, has 5 award-winning short films in its catalog, just completed its first full-length feature film, a horror/psychological thriller starring Lew Temple of The Walking Dead, with several more features in various stages of production and development, along with integrated branded content and digital distribution capabilities — a unique model Digital Trends credited with “rethink[ing] how advertising, film, social media, and branded content intersect”.

After serving nearly 10 years as President and CEO of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), Jim announced in May that he would be stepping down from that post this year. The AAF is the nation’s only advertising industry trade group that represents all facets of the industry — the country’s leading advertisers, advertising and talent agencies, and media and entertainment companies — all under one umbrella. Jim led the organization to record levels of revenue, growth, and expansion. The President’s Award he instituted at the Advertising Hall of Fame has been presented to luminaries including actors Robert De Niro and Michael J. Fox.

Jim has had a dynamic career spanning politics and law, as well as advertising & media.

He began his career in the political arena, and at a young age rose to become Executive Director of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his years in politics, Jim was named five times to Roll Call’s “Fabulous Fifty” list of the 50 most influential and powerful strategists on Capitol Hill.

Jim then had a successful career as an attorney, becoming a partner at two large international law firms: first at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, one of the most prominent entertainment law firms; then at McDermott Will & Emery, where his clients included Fortune 500 companies, spanning media, technology, and banking.

Jim sits on the board of directors of the Advertising Educational Foundation, and The Ad Council; the advisory board of the Annapolis Film Festival; the artistic advisory board of the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus; and formerly served on the board of The Washington Ballet, and as Vice Chair of the Harvard Law School Annual Fund.

A sailor, he is a member of the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, the Bellport Bay Yacht Club on Long Island, is a Life Member of the Great South Bay Yacht Racing Association, and is actively engaged with the Datri Family Sailing Grants program, which provides assistance to promising young sailors competing at the national and international levels.

Jim received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a University of California Regents Scholar, and gave the 50th Anniversary Commencement Address at his undergraduate college there; and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where in 2013 he was named a Traphagen Distinguished Alumni Speaker.