James 'Jim' Haveman has been a board member of the Grand Rapids Public Museum since 2015 and is an avid collector of historical material. In early 2003 after being asked by the White House to be the senior advisor for health in Iraq, he traveled to Iraq as the Acting Minister of Health. For the next year, Haveman worked to rebuild the healthcare system for the entire country consisting of 240 hospitals, 1,200 clinics, and 100,000 employees. In May of 2004, it was turned over to the Iraqis. He later served on the Defense Business Board for the Department of Defense for 4-5 years.