James Warren descended from six generations of Williamson Countians. Less than 25 years ago, five of those generations regularly had Sunday lunch together. He was born at the Williamson County Hospital and reared in Franklin. His parents were Tom and June Warren. He has one sister, Carol, who lives in Lieper's fork. She and her husband, Dale, are both musicians and also run a blackberry farm where people pick their own. He has one older brother, Phillip, who lives in Lebanon with his wife Diana. James describes his brother as a "real estate guy and part time politician."

James's father, Tom, who passed away a few years ago, was a career teacher and musician. He managed Joint University Libraries at Vanderbilt-Peabody. He was also the curator of the Country Music Hall of Fame for several years, and taught music at Jacksonville State in Alabama for a several years prior to that. He then "retired" to be the librarian at BGA, while James was a student there. He stayed at BGA for over 20 years. He was the choir director for several years at the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin when it was still at 5th and Main.

His mother, June, was the organist at First Presbyterian and has taught piano for many years. She still is teaching piano today, and still lives in Franklin where she is active in many community groups such as Allied Arts and Meals on Wheels. She is a Deacon at Historic Presbyterian Church in Franklin. She lives next door to James's grandmother who will be 100 years old this year and is still in good health and mind.

James himself graduated from high school at BGA. He then went over to MTSU and eventually obtained a degree in Business Administration. While at MTSU he met the former Ellen Roberts of Nashville, who was the sweetheart of his fraternity. They were married and now have two daughters, Betsy and Katie. Betsy graduated from BGA and will graduate from Auburn University this August. Katy graduated from BGA and Auburn three years ago and now lives in Nashville and works in the music industry.

Currently James is the President of Ellsworth Systems, a nationwide seller and service organization for money processing equipment. Their customers include banks, retail organizations and many other types of business. He says his company does business with the "largest retailer in the country", which has awarded Ellsworth Systems their "service organization of the year" award in two of the last five years. Information about Ellsworth Systems is available on their website at www.ellsworthsystems.com. The home offices for the company are located on Mallory Station Road right across the street from the fire station. When asked about hobbies and personal interests James replies that "hobbies and personal interests go by the wayside when you become President of a National Corporation." Although he likes to play a little golf, his main pastime is remodeling the house which he and his wife have built on Trace End just off Sneed Road in Williamson County.

James used to travel all the time, covering the entire Eastern part of the United States for a company he previously worked for. He and a friend decided to buy into Ellsworth Systems so that he would not travel quite so much. Ironically enough, now travel takes him to Germany several times a year and to other far reaches like Sweden and China. Since he wasn't traveling all the time, he decided that he wanted to reconnect with the community. James was a class mate of Gary Osburn in high school and the two were fraternity brothers in College. Gary recommended the Lions Club as the place to reconnect. James has served as membership chairman but is not in town enough now to hold other offices. Because of his professional commitments James only makes about one meeting out of four at Lions.

What James likes best about Lions is that the club members are truly dedicated to service. It is not a sales organization where people are trying to network to get ahead. James is also a board member at Graceworks and a member of Community Advisory and Education Committees there. He operated the Graceworks booth during Franklin on the Fourth. He and his wife are active members of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection on Sneed Road.

James says that he loves this community. He wants to do whatever he can do "to make this town a better place to live."

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