James Posey is a 25 year resident of Northeast Portland, a business owner, a longtime advocate for Black business development and former mayoral candidate.
He is the co-founder of the local chapter of NAMC-Oregon, National Association of Minority Contractors and Metropolitan Contractor Improvement Partnership (MCIP), past president of the Portland Coalition of Black Men and the organizer of the affiliated Oregon chapter of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of local chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), the Urban League of Portland, and the Portland Black Leadership Forum.
He currently owns Work Horse Construction which specializes in asphalt paving, dump trucking and site excavation. He is also owner of Eliot E-Mat Café which is a combination internet cafe, laundromat and deli. All his ventures reside in NE Portland and he has the distinct reputations of hiring primarily African American and other minorities as a way of strengthening the economic capacity of the black community. He holds a M.Ed degree from Wichita State University and is a retired Vietnam era U.S. Air Force veteran.
He often writes opinion pieces in the local press and is quoted in the Oregonian, Skanner News and Portland Observer for his views on minority contracting and other economic issues impacting the black community.