James has over 30 years of director-level experience in financial services, interim management and professional services.  He brings real insight into the high growth and investment sectors combined with intimate knowledge of working with the professional services community.

He started his career as an international reinsurance broker with Sedgwick.  Following this, he joined Hill Samuel Banking Group where he worked in a variety of positions and ultimately was responsible for the intermediated distribution of international services in the UK, Ireland and the Middle East.  

Joining Zurich Insurance he set up a fund management platform and European sales and marketing hub in Luxembourg.  James went on to lead the establishment of a pioneering corporate incubator to develop and secure investment into new products and markets with responsibility for projects in the UK, Scandinavia, Europe, India, the Middle East and the Far East.  Latterly, at Aviva, he spearheaded the development of a startup Dublin product administration centre; building distribution in the UK, Italy and Spain.

Outside the corporate world, James has worked with a number of high growth boutique financial services startups and been the owner of his own consulting and interim management business.  Clients have been drawn from the charities, data services, financial services and professional adviser sectors in the UK and internationally.

Having worked with professional advisers as clients and providers of services, it became clear to him that the world of the professional advice needed to be shaken.  With this ambition, he developed “ScaleUp Focus” to support the founders of companies who are on a growth and investment journey.