Jim has important experience in business sales, acquisitions and angel investment; and extensive practice in start-up, discount, ERISA, IRC 409a and ESOP valuation. For litigation, Jim's reports have supported mediations and civil lawsuits of partner disputes, employee separations and divorce. He is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and has presented at NACVA national conferences. Some of his technical solutions are published in the NACVA online library.
Jim began his career in his father's industrial distribution business in Cleveland, Ohio. After college he worked in aerospace manufacturing, having roles in production, product costing, materials management, marketing and product management at Eaton Corporation. In 1991 following the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was a U.S. delegate to companies in Russia, Latvia and Estonia sharing best business practices. He acquired a Santa Barbara business in 1997, expanded it into Ventura County, and closed it in great recession of 2009-2012. In the Non-Profit arena, he has served as board president, executive secretary, treasurer and interim Executive Director.
In advisor roles, Jim led his Eaton division's strategic planning from 1992-1995, and in 2001, he consulted to a private equity firm after they acquired a $50 million aerospace company in Camarillo, California. He joined American ValueMetrics in 2003 and became a partner in 2013. In 2017, he moved to The Mentor Group, a valuation and investment banking firm comprised exclusively of senior professionals, and in 2020 went independent as Santa Barbara Valuations.
As an appraiser, Mr. Lisi has valued over 350 business entities, intellectual properties and equipment projects. The companies range from start-ups to low middle-market companies, and ‘main street' business to manufacturing and SaaS companies.