Jim Pooser and his family moved to Oconee County in July 2005. Jim was reared on a small cotton farm in rural South Carolina. After graduating from Clemson University, served in the Armed Forces as an Army helicopter pilot for more than six years where he received numerous air medals, the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After his tour of duty, he returned to the agriculture industry as a field agronomist, and for the next twenty-five years, worked his way up to Regional Sales Manager and Director of Marketing for an international vegetable seed and production company located in Yuma, AZ, with responsibility for US, Canada, and Mexico. During this same period, he was also co-manager/owner of a South Carolina melon and vegetable farming operation. Missing the southern way of life, he and his family returned to South Carolina where he accepted the position of Executive Director of the Beef Board within the SC Department of Agriculture. He later became licensed as a real estate agent in South Carolina. When his wife, Benil, accepted an administrative position at the University of Georgia, the family decided to settle in Oconee County and call it home. Jim continued his real estate business as an independent agent and is currently affiliated with Keller Williams Realty of Greater Athens. Married for fourteen years, Jim and Benil have two sons, Matthew (10) and Benjamin (8), and are active members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Athens and the Filipino-American Association of Northeast Georgia.
Jim is now very active in the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce where he serves as an Associate Board member and second year chairman of the Agriculture Business Committee. In 2007, Jim was awarded Volunteer of the year for Oconee County by the Chamber of Commerce. He, also, is a member of the Oconee County Agriculture advisory committee for the Georgia Extension Service and on the Board of Directors for the Clarke/Oconee County Cattlemen’s Association.
