Trained as an oboist at the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School, Jim Kendrick began his music publishing career in 1977 helping to establish European American Music Distributors Corp. before studying law at Rutgers Law School. Since his graduation with highest honors in 1983, he has specialized in intellectual property matters with a particular emphasis on the music and audio-visual industries. In addition to practicing law, Jim has also served as a senior publishing executive of several music publishing companies including Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Music Publishing Classical (Ricordi/Durand-Salabert-Eschig/Editio Musica Budapest), and Schott Music/European American Music.

Jim became a director of ASCAP in 2007 and was named Treasurer in 2008. He presently serves as the Publisher Vice Chair of the Board.

Jim is Executive Vice President and Secretary and a director of The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and The Amphion Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University. He also is a director of The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, The Charles Ives Society, The Secret Music Foundation and the Pacific Harmony Foundation. He also serves as counsel to the Music Publishers Association of the United States and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.