Over his 20+ year career, Jim has counseled hundreds of public companies with high-stakes crises, contested annual elections, management turnover, and M&A, including: Cigna, Emerson Electric, Exact Sciences, Syneos Health, Red Hat and dozens of bank mergers.
Jim regularly advises companies on short attacks and shareholder activism threats; he spent two years defending the short attack against Herbalife. Jim, a former partner at Joele Frank and member of the firm since 2005, is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), and was named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 list in 2019.
Jim previously worked in Deutsche Bank’s Institutional Client Sales Group, and prior to that he was with Standish Mellon Asset Management of Boston on its fixed income trading desk. He received a B.S. in organizational communications, cum laude, from Northeastern University.
- Springworks in its $3.4B sale to Merck KGaA
- Chart Industries in its $13.6 billion acquisition by Baker Hughes
- MRC in its $1.5 billion all-stock acquisition by DNOW
- The Azek Co. in its $8.75 billion acquisition by James Hardie Industries
- Cross Country Healthcare in its $615 million acquisition by Aya Healthcare
- Hudson Valley Credit Union in its $28.6 million acquisition of Catskill Hudson Bank
- The Cigna Group in its $3.7 billion sale of its Medicare Advantage businesses to HCSC
- Masonite International in its $4 billion acquisition by Owens Corning
- Subway in its $9 billion sale to Roark
- HireRight Holdings in its $1.7 billion sale to General Atlantic and Stone Point Capital
- StarBulk Carriers in its $610 million acquisition of Eagle Bulk Shipping
- GRIID Infrastructure in its $155 million sale to CleanSpark
- Vanda Pharmaceuticals in its defense of unsolicited acquisition proposals
Collected Strategies only represents issuers and targets of activism, and Jim has defended companies against private approaches and public attacks from high profile activists, including: Starboard; Elliott; Carl Icahn; Third Point; Sachem Head; Engaged; Pershing Square; Jana; Engine; Corvex; Trian; Barington; Voce, and Blackwells, among others.
Financial InstitutionsWith a particular focus on the financial services sector, Jim has counseled banking institutions on a number of matters including M&A, reputation management, proxy solicitations, earnings issues, litigation and regulatory concerns. Clients have included: AEGON; Bancorp Rhode Island; Cantor Fitzgerald; Central Pacific Financial; Comerica; Citizens Republic Bancorp; Deutsche Bank; Doral Financial; Eastern Bank; ELGA Credit Union; Fifth Street; First Horizon; First Niagara; First Republic; Hudson Valley Credit Union; Independence Community Bank; LPL Financial; Merchants; Metro Bancorp; PacWest; PFF Bancorp; PNC; South Financial Group; Selective Insurance; Silicon Valley Bank; Sovereign/Santander; SunTrust; SWS Group; Synovus; TIAA-CREF; Wells Fargo; and Whitney Holding Corp, among others.