Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States
James Gerber is a mission driven executive with C-Suite, financial regulatory, advisory and growth phase experience delivered across multiple industries and with international scope. He works at strategic and tactical levels – as a business partner for the CEO, the senior management team and the Board of Directors. He has raised over $350 million in new capital, completed 15 M&A transactions, delivered on fast and successful exit transactions and is a recognized thought leader in finance, insurance and cybersecurity. He has built and matured exceptional teams and brought innovation, integrity and energy to overcoming the largest enterprise challenges. James was most recently the CFO of SimSpace, a global cybersecurity provider of classified and unclassified training platforms for national cyber defenders and major global corporations seeking high levels of cyber readiness and protection, enabling teams and industries, and allowing them to evaluate and hone the combined application of their technologies, people and processes for cyber success. STRATEGIC CFO: ALL STAGES OF GROWTH | PUBLIC | PRIVATE | PRIVATE EQUITY • Experience leading the strategic planning process for six companies, covering the public and private sectors • Highly influential in strategic execution, including driving M&A activity • Executive and Audit Committees / Aerospace Engineer CAPITAL RAISES • Three successful private equity turns as CFO at Lakeland Holdings, LLC • Led Series A through C rounds at both IronNet and SimSpace, taking one public • Drove high valuations raising $146 million with less than 20% dilution ACCELERATES P&L: ALL STAGES OF GROWTH • Quadrupled earnings at Lakeland Holdings, and led global growth through an unprecedented 9 year period • Led 25% growth CAGR for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to over $50b in AUM • Doubled Trinity Industry revenues CYBERSECURITY • CFO for SimSpace, a global cybersecurity provider of classified and unclassified training platforms for national cyber defenders and major global corporations focusing on high levels of cyber readiness • CFO for IronNet Cybersecurity, negotiating the first threat sharing agreements in the electric utility industry • CISSP Cybersecurity accredited BOARD DIRECTOR • Active member NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) • Board experience with the Washington National Cathedral and Tudor Place Foundations, Princeton University, and the Center for Information Technology Policy • International Board experience • Available for select Board engagements
Vallaris Advisors brings key insights to corporate and institutional leaders, executive teams, insurers and Boards of Directors on leading edge issues in cybersecurity, retirement security and investment security. Its most recent focus areas have been in the implementation of the new Cyber Regulations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, development of new vertical space launch and scaling capabilities for the Virginia Spaceport and support for the growth and fund raising activities of specialists in the post-quantum encryption business.
Presage activates the contactless Human Sensing Layer in every digital experience with just ten lines of code. Lightweight and able to operate fully on the edge on any smartphone or with any commercial camera, and with high grade precision, the human sensing layer can bring life and new accessibility to every application -- and to many that are still just a twinkle in the eye of innovators everywhere. Jamie brings focus to the: - Design and activation of our growth phase and scaling programs. - Priorities for our ongoing R&D and ML development - Financing and management of our portfolio of products that are giving access to all these new capabilities to people around the world and to improve critical care for the people who care for them. - Completed pre-growth A-Round equity financing. Expanded the investor set. Realigned growth and monetization positions to deliver on regulated industry outcomes. Prepared the company for its pre-clinical trials B-Round raise. Recruited and trained my successor.
Led finance for this provider of high fidelity replicas of complex national security and corporate computing environments delivered by this category-defining company enable teams to quantify and hone their abilities to withstand severe cyber events. National cyber defenders prove they are ready for mission success, and Global 200 companies deliver on best practice governance, regulatory, ESG and insurance requirements. • Sustained 25% CAGRs in ARR and raised the first $70 million in outside capital for the Company. • Realigned subscription-based, SaaS offerings with the CRO and CTO, capitalizing on 95% gross retention rates, and increasing NRR above 105% and Gross Margins from 44% to 75%. • Expanded internationally and advanced national cyber workforce readiness (TS//SCI trust level) • Updated team and processes to meet DCAA, SEC and IPO standards and completed Big-4 audit.
Was with IronNet Cybersecurity in its early growth years growing at 40%+ annually, as it established itself as a leading edge provider of nation-state grade, integrated cyber security platforms and services with specialties in advanced behavioral threat detection, efficient hunt and rapid mitigation as well as leading edge, real-time capabilities in sector-wide collective defense.
WorldStrides is the segment-defining global leader in education services, serving nearly 400,000 students a year at all age levels and specialities from 6th grade to Executive MBAs. Through nine years as the CFO of this fast growing, private equity owned services company, global responsibilities included finance, tax and treasury functions, strategic planning, advocacy, intellectual property management, general counsel/compliance, M&A, information technology and security, business analytics and customer service call center operations. Accomplishments: • Quadrupled earnings yielding a six fold increase in value for private equity investors over nine years with the company -- growing it from two divisions domestically to six with global reach and completing two successful liquidity events; • Sustained double digit compound top line growth over the last five years; • Steered rebranding and communications, using newly crafted customer aspirational themes; • Developed sophisticated business analysis capability focused on optimizing sales and individual customer behaviors driving strong organic growth and well as improving operational efficiencies with savings of over $4m/year; • Established green field operations in China and completed the acquisition and integration of twelve domestic and international businesses, including in the UK, Australia, and Asia; • Directed intellectual property capture and successful legal defenses with a perfect win record; • Directed legal compliance the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and China; and • Coordinated strategic five year plans and rolling three year operational and financial forecasts for the company and for the Board as a key member of the executive team.