James W. Keady (born October 4, 1971) is an American activist, educator, and politician. Early life and education Keady was born in Neptune Township, NJ and grew up in Belmar, NJ. He attended the Christian Brothers Academy all-boys college preparatory school in Middletown Township, NJ. He later went on to receive a Master's degree in Pastoral Theology at St. John's University. Activism Nike Sweatshops In 1998, Keady was conducting research about Nike's business practices at St. John's University, the school signed a $3.5 million deal with Nike, forcing all athletes and coaches to endorse Nike. Keady publicly refused to support Nike and was forced to resign his position as soccer coach. After resigning, Keady continued to research the conditions in Nike's Sweatshops. He traveled to Indonesia and for a month lived among the Nike factory workers, surviving on the $1.25 per day wage the workers earn. Keady's efforts were recognized on many media outlets, including CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, HBO Sports, ESPN, the ABC, the BBC, NPR, WBAI, as well as in the NY Times, Newsday, Sports Illustrated, the Daily News, Daily Kos and many other local radio programs and print outlets. He offers an educational workshops called "Beyond the Swoosh" where he shares his experiences living with Nike's factory workers and his decade long effort to end sweatshop abuses. After a decade of activism, Indonesian Nike supplier PT Nikomas Gemiland repaid 4437 production workers for 600,000 hours of forced unpaid labor. In September 2018, Nike and Keady were in the news again over a controversial ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick, famed football player and social justice protester. Keady was asked to voice his views regarding Nike's stance on social justice in the United States while the company has a history of social justice controversies globally. Hurricane Sandy In 2012, Keady volunteered to lead recovery efforts in his hometown of Belmar, NJ, after Hurricane Sandy. Two years later, Governor Chris Christie visited the town to publicize state recovery efforts. Keady interrupted the press conference to voice his complaints about the pace of recovery. Christie told him to “sit down and shut up.” The encounter gained national media attention. Keady appeared on several news networks explaining of the $1.1 billion in federal funding allocated to the program, state data showed roughly $530 million has been awarded and more than $222 million has been disbursed. After this experience, Mr. Keady