Jim’s focus is on making
the CEO’s job easier. He solidified his belief in the power of strategic
planning while working in the world of Venture Capital as a Managing
Member of a DC area early-stage tech fund. His frequent strategic
planning facilitation with the executive teams of the fund's 14
portfolio companies highlighted the profound impact of having the entire
team on the same page with a shared sense of where they were, wanted to
be in the future, and the action they had to take to get there. Having
worked with Myrna Associates on individual projects over the years, it
was a natural transition to join their elite team of facilitators.
He has played a broad
range of key roles in multiple business sectors: leading US salesforce
of a European Telecomm leader, facilitating a Health Care software
company’s negotiation and acquisition of a portion of a rival firm’s
product line, thus re-framing their relationship from adversarial into
cooperative, developing and executing win-back campaigns. In the Federal
arena, Jim facilitated Martin-Marietta Data Systems transition from
declining Timesharing business into a booming Systems Integration
practice. He then facilitated several US software vendors in
establishing a Washington DC presence and win record-breaking government
contracts by teaming them up with 8(a) firms. He created and managed the
early sales organization of Blackboard Inc., propelling the company from
a tiny startup to one of 2004’s most successful tech IPO’s. Then as
Executive VP of WiSE Technologies, he facilitated the transformation of
a minority-owned startup into the operator of the largest number of
Airport Wi-Fi hotspots in the country and a sought-after acquisition
candidate by teaming them up with leading global partners like HMS Host
Marriott and the Trump Resorts organization.
International Experience
Jim grew up in Embassies around the world.
(His father was a much admired Ambassador.) Capitalizing on the
opportunities that upbringing provided, he became fluent in four
languages, gained a multi-cultural flexibility, and imbibed hours of
candid dinner table conversations between the world's top
government officials. Their unvarnished insights of how the world
really works served him well as International Sales Manager for STSC,
where he met John Myrna, and then as co-founder of USA Direct
Software, an international software sales consulting firm. He
accumulated an enviable track record by creating highly successful sales
and distribution networks in over twenty countries.
