An alumnus of Duquesne University who possesses both an MBA and a bachelor's degree in accounting, Jim Gill joined the Allegheny County Department of Aviation in 1993. By 1997, he had been promoted to deputy executive director of finance and administration at the Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA), where he had a role in the creation of the organization. Among Jim Gill’s accomplishments at the Authority were reducing the cost per emplaned passenger by more than 12 percent and implementing the airport's first enterprise resource planning system.

From 2001 to 2007, Jim Gill served as deputy airport director of finance, business, and administration, as well as chief financial officer, at the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, where he enacted measures to make the airport one of the fastest-growing and lowest-cost in the US. In 2007, he returned to the ACAA as executive vice president and chief financial officer and served an additional nine years in varied executive roles there before being hired as the president and CEO of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority in Grand Rapids, MI, in 2017.

Currently, Mr. Gill advises airport administrators on economic development, business operations, and fiscal planning and management in his capacity as the director of the business and finance group at the global consulting firm LeighFisher. Supplementing these efforts, he holds membership with groups such as the International Aviation Club, The Wings Club, and the Great Lakes chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives.