CV - James Hamilton

 

BridgeS E C role (j.hamilton@bridges-ec.com)

Executive Coach (in German and English) for strategic issues. The emphasis is first, on growth strategies and crisis management (new ventures, product introductions, value migration and market disruption) and second, on complex international negotiations. As the firm’s managing director (Vorstand)since 2009, I guide its practice development.

  

Experience

Management Positions

  • Member of the board (Aufsichtsrat), Sparkleview Ltd., Hong Kong, since ´05.
  • Director (Vorstand), Lauren Jane Associates, LLC, California, since ´98, representing the firm´s European interests.
  • Interim Managing Director (Vorstand) and court appointed conservator, Hampton Books (1995 -´97), South Carolina, U.S., a privately held holding concern spun off from the New York Merchandise Company, Inc. in 1946.
  • President (Geschäftsführer), BFS GmbH (1990 - ´94), Munich, Germany until sold to the conglomerate Krupp AG.    
  • Project manager in Silicon Valley in the 80s. Representative projects:

      - extensive work for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in San Francisco,         with loan review signatory authority to $500,000; also served as the district´s              Foreign Trade Officer for two years (´87-´88).

      - auditing project for the Industrial Indemnity Financial Corporation, a subsidiary                of Xerox Corp. in San Francisco on a $750 million portfolio of surety bonds and               limited partnerships as part of discontinuing the operation (´86). 

  • Area manager, Olin Corp., a Fortune 500 chemical multinational, East Alton, Illinois, developed an agency and distributor network in 26 countries in the Middle East and Africa (´79-82).
  • Manager, New York Merchandise Company, Inc., New York U.S.

      - Country Manager, Iran (´75-79), managed a professional staff of 30 in Teheran and         held P&L responsibility.

      - Business Analyst in Zurich, Switzerland, led a team of six Harvard MBAs (´74-75).

 

Academic Positions

  • Faculty leader, European University, Munich campus, 2004. Previously:

      - Adjunct faculty since the 90s, with an international emphasis in marketing,               corporate strategy and negotiation courses and seminars (the deal versus the                on-going business), cf. Negotiation Milestones.

  • Adjunct faculty, Midland Tech, South Carolina (´96-´97).
  • Adjunct faculty, Golden Gate University, Graduate School of Business, San Francisco (´88-´89).

 

 Education

  •  MBA (´74) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (M.I.T.´s Sloan School), Accelerated Graduate Program in cross-registration with Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Master’s thesis on Aspects of Foreign Direct Investment in U.S. Real Property, 226 p. (´74). 
  • B.A. (´70) University of Pennsylvania, majored in Economic History, (Honors Economics, Wharton).

 

Addendum

  • Notary Public (Notar), State of South Carolina, with a term from May 17th 2010 to May 17th 2020.1
  • Entrepreneurial Interests: winner, Munich Business Plan Competition, Stage 1, (2004); awarded two patents (German, 2000 & U.S. 1998); served on start-up advisory boards since the 90s and on the Steering Committee, Stanford New Enterprise Forum of Stanford Business School (´88-´89).
  • Continuing Education: University of South Carolina (´84-´85); Rheinische Friedreich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Germany (´72).
  • Languages & International Background: English (native speaker), German (Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom, GDS 2004; Toastmasters CTM, 2000) and some Spanish. Have lived in eight countries, including over a decade in Germany; done business in over thirty, cf. International Experience.
  • Personal: physical fitness enthusiast since serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Special Operations, 1st CAG, static & roving CAP (Honorable Discharge,´72); eclectic reader and sometime book collector.

   

1 The appointment to public notary in South Carolina does not require one to be an attorney, but rather to receive a political nomination, which is then approved by the governor. The deonitic requirements for the discharge of one´s duties are hence less strict than in the German case. However the notary´s powers do extend to that of marrying people.