Before he was Suffolk County Deputy Executive, before he served on the County Legislature, before he was Suffolk’s Commissioner of Economic Development or the Town of Brookhaven’s Economic Development Coordinator, before he became a revered board-of-directors mainstay or private-sector business consultant, Jim Morgo was a teacher.

Jim taught English at a Massachusetts prep school and a Long Island high school across parts of two decades. But the enticing lure of politics and government proved strong – young Jim’s experiences campaigning for John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy in his home state had instilled something in him, and it came out strong when he met New York State Assemblyman (and fellow teacher) Paul Harenberg.

The rest is Long Island sociopolitical history – well covered by today’s jam-packed episode of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” a masterclass in housing, energy, government relations and critical economic-development topics (with loads of A-list name-dropping, too).