Mayor Jim Lawrence retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1993. He was a Command Pilot with over 6,500 flying hours and served as a pilot in every U.S. conflict from Vietnam to Gulf War I.

Jim and his wife, Alice Fennell-Lawrence, also a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, settled in Florida in March of 1993 and have been residents of Indian Shores since July, 1993. He has one adult son, Scott, who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Jennifer and beautiful daughter Cassidy Jade, born on April 28, 2009. Mayor Lawrence’s best friend is Molly, his pet Schnauzer.

He has served on the Indian Shores Town Council since March of 1998, chairing the Public Services Committee for two years and chairing the Planning, Zoning and Building Committee for five years. Jim was Vice Mayor for five of his eight years as a Town Councilor. He also served three years on the Board of Directors of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, the last two as Treasurer and Vice Chairman and represented Indian Shores on the North Beaches YMCA Board of Directors from its inception in 2003 until its dissolution in 2007. From 2005-2007 he was the Chairman of the NBYMCA Advisory Board.

Jim assumed the position of Mayor in March, 2006 after running unopposed for that position and was re-elected without opposition in 2009. He has served as the President of the Barrier Islands Governmental Council from March 2008 to the present.