James Edmund Datri
James Edmund Datri joined the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) as its new President & CEO on January 1, 2025, with a track record of transformational leadership across industries and arenas.
Immediately prior to joining AESC, Jim served as CEO of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), coming on board after the organization had experienced years of declining numbers. He successfully led the turnaround of ASMP by expanding the organization’s footprint to include new media digital content creators & international members; launching the ASMP Academy Powered by Sony; creating ASMP's first corporate membership program; building a series of partnerships, including with TIME on a new global photo competition; and developing an entirely modernized member value proposition for visual content creators of all stripes. The result: Revenue increased by 45%, and membership grew from just under 3,750 to nearly 7,000 in 70 countries. The ASMP Board named Jim CEO Emeritus for his successful turnaround of the organization.
Prior to that, Jim served for a decade as president & CEO of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), where he led the expansion of its membership and reach into entertainment, media, tech, and major brands. In the process, he grew the stature and quintupled the revenue of the organization’s tentpole Advertising Hall of Fame event; rebranded and tripled the revenue of the American Advertising Awards; expanded the AAF’s footprint to international thought leadership and networking events like CES, SXSW, and the Cannes International Festival of Creativity; and created a President’s medal given in NYC whose recipients included Robert De Niro and Michael J. Fox. Jim was named President Emeritus by the AAF Board for his transformational leadership there.
He previously served as executive director of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he developed the first online “Town Hall” meetings for Members of Congress in the Caucus’ history, and was named five times to Roll Call's "Fabulous Fifty" list of the 50 most influential strategists on Capitol Hill for his innovative work there.
Jim is a co-founder of a successful film and video production company in Los Angeles and New York City; and was a partner at two large law firms, one AmLaw 200, one Global 50. He has served on the board of directors of the Ad Council and The Washington Ballet, and served as vice chair of the Harvard Law School Annual Fund, as well as on the advisory boards of the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus and the Annapolis Film Festival, among many others. He is a life-long sailor, actively involved in the sailing communities on both U.S. coasts.
Jim received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a University of California Regents Scholar, and earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
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