In this capacity, he was involved in real estate investment and advisory transactions totaling billions of dollars. Prior to joining Salomon Brothers, Jim was a principal at Eastdil Realty, Inc., and prior to Eastdil, was a Certified Public Accountant at Coopers & Lybrand.

Jim graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and from The Anderson School of Management at UCLA with a Masters degree in Business Administration. Jim also graduated from Hastings College of Law with a Juris Doctor degree.