Jim Peters education includes an undergraduate degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration, and a Master’s degree in Education Counseling. Additional training at the International School of Mixology in New York, Rutgers School of Alcohol Studies, and Suicide Prevention Counseling. Prior to founding RHI, Peters had a career in hospitality, including managing a live music and DJ venue in New York, bartender, server and chef in New York and Washington, DC restaurants, and opening a restaurant in Pittsburgh. He also has experience as an alcoholism counselor and prevention educator and volunteers as a suicide hotline counselor.
Since founding RHI in 1983, Peters has overseen the organization’s development and served as an expert on various research projects, federal and state advisory panels, and as a keynote speaker at multiple conferences worldwide. His articles have appeared in various journals including Restaurant Business Magazine, Public Management by the International City County Management Association and Personnel Journal.
As a lead on most of RHI's 80+ city assessment projects, Peters has been in the forefront of monitoring trends in the hospitality industry, urban planning of nighttime social districts, and approaches to public safety and policing.
