Jim Olson held various safety leadership roles, including vice president of safety at Republic Services for 24 years. He was responsible for developing a strong safety culture and overseeing safety program execution and performance in the field, ensuring safety remained a core value across the organization. Jim is currently president of JH Olson & Associates, where he provides advisory board services to several private companies and expert witness testimony in vehicle crash and employee injury cases.

He has more than 30 years of professional safety and environmental experience, including work in the solid waste, transportation and printing industries. His responsibilities have focused on field environmental, health and safety (EH&S) management, as well as EH&S program development and implementation at both small and large facilities. Jim brings broad organizational and industry safety knowledge and has led teams of headquarters employees, field safety managers and trainers.

In addition to his work at Republic Services, Jim serves as board chair for the American Red Cross Central and Northern Arizona Chapter and is active in the National Solid Waste Management Association, where he is chair emeritus of the Safety Committee. He also served on the governing board of Together for Safer Roads, a coalition of private companies working together to make the world’s roads safer for all people.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin–Stout and has completed numerous safety and environmental certification programs at Arizona State University.