To the people who know him well, Jim Holmes is not just the newest mayor of Waco, or even an investment banker.
Holmes is a world-traveled adventurer who has been to Antarctica, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and jet-skied down the entirety of the Mississippi River. He is also the former front man of a blues rock band and a historian of the genre with a collection of some 40 guitars, and the proud owner of a DeLorean sports car that he likes to bring out for public appearances.
As Holmes will put it, he had to embark on these adventures after seeing nothing but “corn and football” growing up in Nebraska. Holmes is the sixth of eight children. He has four older sisters, an older brother, a younger sister and a younger brother. They all grew up on a farm just outside Chester, Nebraska, a tiny town of about 150 on the Nebraska-Kansas state line.
“We were constantly either harvesting or planting or irrigating up there in Nebraska,” Holmes said. “So we all had a job. We knew what to do from a young age, and I liked the synchronization and the teamwork that was involved in that. That was always a lot of fun.”
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Holmes said teamwork is something he has always valued. In high school, he was a letterman in basketball, football and track all four years, though he claims this isn’t that impressive. He said since his high school was so small, everyone who played sports was a four-year letterman.
“I’m a big believer in team sports,” Holmes said. “Both of my sons are and were heavily involved in playing baseball, basketball, football. I just think there are so many values to learn from being on a team.”
In the sixth grade, Holmes began working for his neighbor driving a tractor, a job he kept all the way through high school. Saving up his wages all those years allowed him enough money to attend Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Holmes said Omaha was his first taste of the big city, and he first felt “smothered” by the size of the city, which had a population of around 350,000 at the time.
At Creighton, Holmes played rugby and was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of a blues rock band called Bent Axe. After graduating with a finance degree, he came to Waco by way of attending Baylor Law School, a decision he said he made because his family moved their farm to the Mart area.
That was in 1980. Nearly 45 years later, Holmes hasn’t looked back on Waco. After two years in law school, Holmes decided it wasn’t the path he wanted and left school to work for Scott Felton, the now McLennan County judge, at MBank Waco. The move launched his career as an investment banker at several firms in Waco, a career path that also resulted in meeting his wife, Cindy.
In 1991, Holmes would play a role in the founding of FirstCity Financial Corp. investment platform and served as the company’s chief operating officer. Eventually, FirstCity became a publicly traded investment firm with offices all over the world, but always remained headquartered in Waco. Holmes said despite his love for travel, Waco’s small-town feel made it an appealing home for both himself and his business.
“Waco was a growing city, where it’s still kind of a small town,” Holmes said. “It has good values, it’s a good place to raise a family, good place to send a kid to school. You can still get involved in the community in a lot of different nonprofit ways. Good faith community, church, school. So there was a lot to like, especially when you were working in New York or working in Paris. Nice places to visit, tough places to raise a family.”
Not to mention, FirstCity led him to meet his wife, who was already involved in the firm. Cindy, who is now a fourth grade teacher at Bishop Louis Reicher Catholic School, is originally from Missouri, and the couple have one son together: Kennedy, a seventh grader at Reicher. Holmes also has a son from a previous marriage, Spencer, and a stepson, Todd.
Thirst for adventure
Holmes got into the adventurous spirit from visiting Colorado in the summers and climbing fourteeners — a colloquial term for mountains with a peak elevation of at least 14,000 feet above sea level. Holmes said he and his oldest son began climbing mountains when Spencer was 13 years old, eventually climbing 20 of them in a period of about six or seven years.
With his son by his side, Holmes would eventually begin travelling the world to visit both the Wonders of the Ancient World and the Wonders of the Modern World. Later, he would embark on more daring adventures. So far, he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, ridden jet skis down the Mississippi River from Minnesota to New Orleans, visited Antarctica and wing-walked on a biplane in Seattle.
All these escapades are memorialized in various places in his home, along with his collection of nearly 40 guitars and displays on the history of blues music in Texas. While he did not have to travel quite as far for this one, Holmes completed a Brazos Valley blues pilgrimage of sorts several years ago, when he traveled to the birthplace of several Texas blues legends, and he remains both an avid fan and historian of the blues genre.
Holmes first joined the Waco City Council as the District 5 representative in 2016, filling a vacancy left on the council when Kyle Deaver became mayor. When he won the appointment, Holmes had little prior public service experience, though he said he always wanted to end up involved in it. Prior to his selection, Holmes and his wife had spent time involved in local nonprofits, but once FirstCity was sold in 2013, he found he had more free time than he could use and needed something to keep him busy.
Plus, he wanted to invest in Waco. At FirstCity, Holmes said it was usually difficult for the firm to invest in companies in Waco, but he wanted to play a role in revitalizing the downtown district.
“We invested in a lot of different places in the world, and some of us wanted to invest in Waco,” Holmes said. “We could never get anything going. I wanted to get on council to do everything I could to try to get the Riverfront, to try to bring new businesses in here to wake up and do whatever the city government could do to make that happen. I wanted to help with that.”
Deaver, the former mayor, said it was Holmes’ business expertise that really stood out to the council when they decided to pick him back in 2016.
“Several of us knew Jim and thought he was a very thoughtful guy,” Deaver said. “He studies things pretty deeply and always has good questions. He often asked questions that other people might not have thought about, and I think many times helped us find better solutions than we wrote down without him.”
Downtown focus
Holmes’ business expertise seems to have benefited Waco well. During his time on council, Waco has seen a revitalization of sorts in both the downtown and Riverfront areas, just as he wished. The downtown district in particular has become nearly unrecognizable, with dozens of new shops and businesses springing up along Austin and Franklin avenues.
Former Mayor Dillon Meek was one of six former mayors, along with Deaver, who supported Holmes in his bid for mayor. On May 4, Holmes was able to comfortably cruise to a 70% majority victory and was seen at many polling places in his DeLorean.
Meek said with Holmes becoming mayor and having such a role in the revitalization of Waco, the leadership of the council will continue with an air of stability. Meek said Holmes, who he called “the most interesting man in the world” because of his adventures, has a big heart for Waco and will steer the city in the right direction.
“Jim is incredibly smart,” Meek said. “But more importantly, Jim has got a really big heart for this town. And I think that he is going to do an excellent job in applying his skills, that include his background in real estate, finance. But more importantly, Jim is a natural leader who’s going to be a servant leader. He’s going to really work collaboratively and be strategic.”
Each of Holmes’ colleagues on the council spoke highly of him before he was sworn in as mayor, highlighting his work revitalizing downtown Waco, improving public safety and being involved in local neighborhood associations, with Council Member Andrea Barefield calling him a “financial surgeon” who has helped steer the council in its economic decisions.
“What I love about Jim the most is he is probably one of the most fun loving, analytical humans I’ve ever known in my life,” Barefield said. “He’s going to demand his Gantt chart and climb a mountain, probably all in the same week.”
During his campaign, Holmes banked on his promises to continue the work the council has done in recent years. Having been in Waco for almost 45 years, he has seen many of the city’s lows and many highs, and hopes to keep the momentum going as mayor.
Although, he does have a backup plan.
“If something gets screwed up in Waco in the next two years, I can always get into my DeLorean and go back in time to straighten it out,” Holmes said.