Jim McKinley is president and founder of McKinley Financial Services, Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. McKinley Financial Services has become one of the largest minority insurance agencies in the United States with over 50 agents and staff with regional offices located in Atlanta and Orlando.
McKinley’s ability and skill as a member of the Bronco football team were acknowledged with his 1992 induction into the WMU Athletic Hall of Fame and his selection in 2005 to the WMU All Century Football Team. Upon graduation from WMU, he transferred his skill and love for the football to the sideline and spent the next 22 years in the coaching ranks. As a coach on both the collegiate and professional level, he was a member of many championship teams . His coaching career took him to Eastern Michigan University, USFL’s Oklahoma Outlaws and the University of Missouri as well as to North Carolina A & T and Prairie View A & M universities, where he also served as athletic director. Having sold insurance on a part-time basis for many years, in 1987 McKinley relocated to Florida and founded his company. Ten years later, McKinley’s business acumen and success was recognized with his induction into the into the Nova Southeastern University Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2003 he was again recognized by the with his induction into the Broward/Palm Beach Junior Achievement of South Florida Business hall of Fame.
McKinley has remained active with his alma mater. He served on the WMU Alumni Association’s board of directors for six years, is an avid supporter of Bronco Athletics and has established permanent scholarships for the minority students in both the College of Education and the Haworth College of Business.