James Echols retired from the Kansas Department for Children and Families on June 30, 2017, after serving as Manager, Provider Services, Program Director, HOPE Mentoring, and Assistant Director, Faith- Based and Community Initiatives, respectively. On July 1, 2017, he became the Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Management and Training Solutions, LLP, a public relations firm specializing in business and human relations staff development, consulting and training, based in Kansas City, KS, with operations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska & Oklahoma.

Echols was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and completed high school in Spokane, Washington, before serving nearly twenty-five years with the U.S. Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve. He served in Vietnam as a teenager and was promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Bronze Star while there.

James Echols Offers Community Outreach Solutions in Kansas City, KS

Accomplishments

During his professional career, Echols has served as a soldier, aide to a former Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor and Governor, Oklahoma State Equal Opportunity Officer, Executive Director, Oklahoma Human Rights Commission and Administrator, Human Resource Development, Oklahoma City Public Schools. He is an Immediate-Past Chair, Kansas Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Past President, Economic Opportunity Foundation, Inc., Kansas City, KS, Volunteer Mentor, Mentoring 4 Success, Kansas Department of Corrections, Member, Kansas Sentencing Commission and Member, REACH Healthcare Community Advisory Committee. Echols currently serves as Chair, Wyandotte County Boys and Girls Club, First Vice-Chair, Wyandotte County Unified Government Advisory Commission on Human Relations and Disability Issues, Board Member, Groundwork NRG, Executive Director, Reaching Out From Within, Inc. (ROFW), Chair, Workforce Development Committee, Kansas City Kansas Community College Downtown Advisory Council, President, Future Leaders Outreach Network (FLON) and Member, Council of Advocates, Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta, GA. Member, Board of Directors, Business West, Kansas City, KS, Member, Board of Directors, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Chairman, Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, Chair, Government and Criminal Justice Domain, Unite KC.

Echols has a B.A. Degree in Public Service from the University of Central Oklahoma and pursued graduate studies in Human Relations/Organizational Development at the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife, Muriel, reside in Kansas City, Kansas, and have two adult children and two teenage granddaughters. He is the son and grandson of Baptist ministers.

Renaissance Solutions, LLP, seeks to contribute to inter-cultural, gender and racial improvement in human relationships through enhanced awareness in the economic, political and social spheres within American society.