Jim Mathes is the Executive Director of the SMILES Mentoring program, which has one-to-one mentoring programs in public schools in New Bedford and Fall River.  Prior to working for SMILES, Mathes was the President of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce for twenty-two years.  It was during his tenure at the Chamber that he helped found SMILES as a primary effort to solve the longstanding problem of too many students dropping out of school in New Bedford and Fall River.

Mathes has held numerous volunteer posts with various charitable and non-profit organizations.  In 2004, he was selected by The Standard-Times as the SouthCoast Man of the Year.