Jimmy is a former State Delegate in Maryland and now is the founder of the People's Lobbying Group, a pro-bono lobbying firm in Annapolis.
Jimmy recently retired from the Vice President for the
Communications Workers of America where he was the Assistant to the Vice
President. His territory covered Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania and Delaware. The CWA has
over 600,000 members in the telecommunications, airline, publishing
broadcasting, and manufacturing industries and in the public sector.
His job responsibilities included negotiating collective
bargaining contracts, defending workers in arbitration cases, lobbying for public polices to help working
people, and electing candidates who support working families. He has been a life long activist for
progressive causes and a union representative for over thirty-five years.
Jimmy grew up in New York City, raised his family in New
Jersey and currently is a resident of Mt. Rainier, Maryland where he was a City
Councilman for the 7 years before he was elected State Delegate. He previously had been a member of the Prince
George’s Cable Television Commission and of the Maryland State
Telecommunications Tax Commission.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Princeton
University and has a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Villanova
University and a Masters of Arts in Labor Relations from Rutgers
University.
Jimmy is married to the cellist Jodi Beder and has two children, Swami Adi Parashakiantanda who lives in California and Becky who is a Professor at Penn State University