James Stewart

Fractional COO / General Management Advisor / Strategic Planning Expert / Author / Speaker

A general management executive with depth in global operations, multi-plant manufacturing, hi-tech product generation and volume scaling, Jim has over 30 years experience in leading businesses to meet growth and profit goals.  Strong in strategic planning, executing to strategy, change management and group decision making, Jim brings his leadership to bear in roles that have significant complexity and where strategic change is required.  Having shifted from corporate to advisory roles, Jim now applies his skills in helping other organizations identify and eradicate key barriers to success.  Jim is adding Peace Building to his repertoire through his work as a Rotarian, his Rotary Club Peace Chair role, recent appointment to the Rotarian Action Group for Peace Board of Directors, and he will soon become an Institute for Economics and Peace Ambassador.

Work Experience – reverse chronological order

  • Sharper Counsel LLC, President – three client examples:
    Youth Soccer à  “Strategic Planning That Works” strategic plan development and execution, large group meetings, complex decision making amidst politics and protectionism, BoD support.
    Music Equipment à Fractional CEO for a guitar amp company suffering from underfunding and unworkable burn rate eventually resulting in a successful asset sale and no legal hangovers.

Commercial Printing à “Right tracking” a client’s flagship product development stalled by vested interests and in-fighting; recommendations adopted leading to successful market introduction.

  • Loud Technologies Inc., COO/CIO
    Remedies for supply chain collapse and 40% reduction of SKU availability during the Great Recession; redevelopment of 135 high-tech products in parallel to recover lost market share; increased employee engagement in spite of re-orgs and lay-offs.
  • Hewlett-Packard Company, many roles culminating as Vice President of Specialty Printing
    P&L responsibility for a $400M business unit resulting in doubling revenue and quadrupling profit;
    team sizes of up to 2000 employees; multiple organization re-engineering activities; significant global responsibilities; teamwork successes cross-functionally, cross-business and cross-continent.
  • BSEE from Texas A&M University; some graduate work

Resume available upon request.

Contact Information:         [email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimstewartsandiego
+1-858-472-7880