A member of the firm since 2005, Jim provides communications counsel for clients across a wide spectrum of industries, with a particular focus on the financial services sector along with defense against shareholder activism and short attacks.  His areas of expertise include:

Financial Services

He has counseled financial and banking institutions on a number of matters including M&A, reputation management, proxy solicitations, earnings issues and regulatory concerns.  Clients have included AEGON; Bancorp Rhode Island; Cantor Fitzgerald; Central Pacific Financial; Comerica; Citizens Republic Bancorp; Deutsche Bank; Doral Financial; Fifth Street; First Horizon; First Niagara; Independence Community Bank; LPL Financial; Merchants; Metro Bancorp; PFF Bancorp; PNC; South Financial Group; Selective Insurance; Sovereign/Santander; SunTrust; SWS Group; Synovus; TIAA-CREF; Wells Fargo; and Whitney Holding Corp, among others.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Notable assignments include Red Hat’s combination with IBM; Waste Management’s acquisition of Advanced Disposal; Exact Science’s acquisition of Genomic Health; Avon Product’s acquisition by Natura&Co; Eagle Materials’ business separation; CommScope’s acquisition of Arris; Honeywell’s spin-off of its Home and Transportation Businesses; A. Schulman’s sale to LyondellBasell; SUPERVALU’s acquisition by UNFI; Dynegy in its merger with Vistra; CenturyLink’s merger with Level 3; Sanofi’s proposal to acquire Medivation; InterOil’s acquisition by ExxonMobil; Valspar’s acquisition by Sherwin-Williams; Airgas’ acquisition by Air Liquide; Yum! Brands’ separation of its Yum! China business; First Niagara’s Acquisition by KeyCorp; W.R. Grace’s spin-off of its construction products business; Rayonier's separation of its performance fibers business; Clearwire’s acquisition by Sprint; Citizen Republic’s acquisition by FirstMerit; Ralcorp’s defense against ConAgra’s unsolicited acquisition proposal; Airgas’ defense against Air Products’ unsolicited acquisition proposal; NRG Energy’s defense against Exelon’s unsolicited acquisition proposal; and PNC’s acquisition of National City.

Shareholder Activism

He regularly consults companies on managing public or private advancements from shareholders.  Recent assignments against notable activists, including defending short sale campaigns, include:

• Against Pershing Square: Herbalife, Alexander & Baldwin
• Against Engaged Capital: Rent-A-Center, Hain Celestial , Outerwall, Benchmark Electronics, TriMas, Jamba Juice, AeroVironment, Volcano
• Against Starboard: Newell, Aaron’s
• Against Icahn: Newell
• Against Third Point: Honeywell
• Against Jana: Team Health
• Against Elliott: Pernod Ricard
• Against Corvex: CenturyLink, Yum!
• Against Marcato: Rent-A-Center, Alexander & Baldwin
• Against Voce: Natus, Air Methods
• Against Trian: State Street
• Against FrontFour: Ferro
• Against Barington: Avon

As well as aggressions or campaigns from: Atlantic, Basswood, Blackwells, Blue Harbour, Cruiser, Engine, H Partners, Hudson Executive, Ides, Kerrisdale, Kingdon, Lone Star Value, PL Capital, Sachem Head, Sandell, Sarissa, Scopia, Snow Park, ValueAct, Velan, Vintage Capital, and Quinpario, among others.

Restructuring & Bankruptcy

He has advised numerous companies in connection with both Court-supervised and out-of-Court restructurings, as well as bidders in the acquisition of distressed assets under Section 363.  Assignments include USEC (now Centrus); Savient Pharmaceuticals; Barneys New York; Dynegy; MGM MIRAGE; Chemtura; Pierre Foods; Mervyns; Greatwide Logistics; The Mills; and Krispy Kreme Doughnut.

Investor & Public Relations

He works with companies to develop and/or enhance their communications programs: coordinating between the company, the financial community and key stakeholders to help support and achieve objectives.  Current clients include State Street, Illumina, Avon, Arrow Electronics, Macy’s, Flowers Foods, Syneos, Teradata, Selective Insurance, as well as a number of financial and banking institutions.

In 2019, Jim was named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 list. 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.