Jim McGuigan was born on September 28, 1964 and is the oldest of six children. He was raised in a working class, Irish Catholic family on the south side of Milwaukee. 

He attended St. Josephat's grade school and graduated from Bay View High School in 1982. He later graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He worked his way through college at Time Insurance Company, saving as he could, and only taking as many credits as he could afford each semester. The day after McGuigan graduated from UWM, he accepted a full time job at Time Insurance as a Medical Claims Analyst. He was later promoted to a Technical Support Analyst, then a Programmer, a Computer Trainer, and finally a Senior PC Analyst.  

McGuigan was first elected to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors in March of 1996 and served until 2002. During that time, he served residents of the Northwest side of Milwaukee (Wisconsin) and all of the Village of Brown Deer.  He was the Chairman of the Judiciary, Safety, and General Services Committee and was credited with saving the Day Reporting Center.

McGuigan focused on searching for ways of making government more efficient such as the Noyes Park, public-private partnership which is keeping the golf course operational, while taking the tax burden off of the taxpayers. (Servite Park Preserve, Granville Park, and Kohl Park were also developed as public private partnerships.)

Among his accomplishments are working with a multi-national company to get them to clean up the contaminated Little Menomonee River, and negotiating with two private sector companies to donate the land to create both Melody View Preserve as well as Servite Park Preserve.  He established the Granville Dog Park by working with community leaders and lobbying political leaders for their support.  McGuigan led a community-based strategic planning effort which eventually led to a widely embraced plan for the development of Kohl Park into a mix of active and passive recreation while maintaining significant natural areas in this Northwest side park.

McGuigan's son Kennedy used to stop by the Courthouse with Dad on weekends.

McGuigan worked with the Milwaukee County Department on Aging to explore the feasibility of establishing a Brown Deer senior meal program.  Upon release of the Department's findings ( which showed a significant need for an elderly nutrition center in the community), McGuigan led a lobbying effort which resulted in a unanimous vote of support from members of the County Board.

The Brown Deer Senior meal program currently runs out of Algonquin elementary school in Brown Deer Wisconsin.

Jim McGuigan volunteers his time on the Brown Deer Planning Commission and the detention committee at The Benedict Center. He has served on the Gold Leaf Advisory committee for senior citizens.  He is a member of the Friends of WUWM (National Public Radio), Friends of the Milwaukee Public Museum, Friends of the Brown Deer Library, Brown Deer Historical Society, Milwaukee County Zoological Society,  Friends of National Public Radio,  Channel 10/36 Friends and a lifetime member of the UW-Milwaukee Alumni Association.  In his spare time he plays Irish hurling with the Milwaukee Hurling Club.

Jim is the owner of two small businesses.  In his spare time he writes a column for The Press, a news and arts monthly newspaper.

He is the proud husband of Colleen and father of Kennedy. The McGuigan family lives in Brown Deer.