Celebrating his 41st year as chief executive officer, Lawler has led Youth Villages to positively impact children’s lives across the country through direct services, partnerships and initiatives built around the core beliefs that every child deserves a loving, supportive family and each child has the potential to become a successful adult.

Jimmy has four decades of experience in venture capital, private equity and alternative investment management. He has served as a director, board observer, consultant and/or investor in start-up and later stage businesses across multiple sectors including: specialty retail, medical devices, finance, real estate, insurance and information technology. Jimmy is a co-founder and president of River Street Management (2009-present), an advisory and management services partnership. He is a co-founder and managing director of The ESO Fund (2012-present).

A native of Mississippi, Fred received his bachelor of science degree in computer engineering from Jackson State University in 2014. He was a software engineer for American Airlines and JP Morgan Chase before joining Verizon Wireless as a senior iOS engineer and transitioning to run his own companies in 2020. His clients include the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Mississippi Valley State University and MTrade.