Jim Cech is a lifelong resident of Oak Creek who worked as a broadcaster for several Milwaukee and Chicago radio stations during the 1990s. He has been employed at the headquarters of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance since 2004 and holds degrees in communications and secondary education from UW Milwaukee. After narrowly losing a bid to become the city’s seventh mayor, Jim became active in the Historical Society and began serving on the Traffic and Safety Committee. He is married to Amy and they have twin daughters, Cassy and Tia. His previously published books are Oak Creek: Fifty Years of Progress in 2005 and Backstage Pass in 2009.