In a monument to modesty, James often describes himself as a “jack of few trades, master of some.” The reality is that as General Partner, CFO, and COO, James has become the person you want in the room when complexity meets consequence. Known internally as “The Wolf” (or “Wolfman” for short) — a nod to the fixer from Pulp Fiction — James is a go-to advisor for navigating inflection points, building systems that scale, and making decisions with clarity and calm.

At Underscore, James spends most of his time working with portfolio companies, serving on boards, and collaborating closely with founders and operators through fundraising, scaling, exits, and the challenging, EQ-heavy moments in between. He’s a systems builder at heart, translating complexity into frameworks that make performance visible and strategy actionable. Whether it’s restructuring a strategy or helping portfolio companies see around corners, James brings loyalty, integrity, and precision to every conversation.

We’d expect nothing less, though, from someone who has worked since age 12 in roles even more diverse than those he holds here: paper boy, landscaper, pizza dough maker, library operator, perfume salesperson, courthouse sheriff, legal office admin assistant… the list literally goes on. The point is, from making (pizza) dough to raising over $2.5B in equity and debt transactions, from cutting lawns to assisting with the conversion of a $100B market cap into a REIT, James has proven time and again to be quite a bit more than a “master of some.” Which is why he’s heavily supported well over a dozen Underscore portfolio companies as a board Director or advisor.

Prior to Underscore, James served as CFO at Maxwell Health and Evariant, where he led multiple rounds of venture financing and built and scaled finance and operations teams, resulting in exits for both companies. Before that, he held finance and operating roles at American Tower, Kaz (now Helen of Troy), Decision Resources Group, Digitas, and State Street — giving him a rare perspective on how value is built across stages, cycles, and industries.

James received his Master of Science degree in Finance from Brandeis University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.