Mr. James D. Decker

James D. Decker, CIRA is the founder of JDecker & Company, Inc. in Atlanta, which is focused on corporate governance, transactional advisory and litigation support. As an independent director, he serves on the boards of middle-market private companies typically undergoing transformational events. Mr. Decker?s board service has included the capacities of board chairman and chair of special committees and restructuring committees. He is qualified as an Audit Committee Financial Expert. In addition, he has also served as an arbitrator, testifying expert and liquidating trustee, and is well versed in the fiduciary obligations of directors. For the 30 years prior to founding JDecker & Company in 2019, Mr. Decker was an investment banker and advisor in the U.S. middle market, with a focus on advising clients in complex corporate finance transactions, mergers & acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings. He advised owners, boards, special committees, management teams and creditors across a wide range of industries and circumstances. In the course of his investment banking career, Mr. Decker originated and completed hundreds of transactions worth in excess of $30 billion. These included restructurings, exclusive sales, acquisitions, special-situation financings, leveraged buyouts, loan placements, recapitalizations and valuations. He also recruited, developed and managed large teams of professionals at a variety of prominent institutions, including Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Joseph, Alvarez & Marsal and Houlihan Lokey. Mr. Decker is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and has twice received Turnaround of the Year Awards from The M&A Advisor. He is also a past director of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA), a former co-chair of ABI?s Investment Banking Committee and a former director of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). Mr. Decker enjoys teaching and is a frequent speaker on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and financial restructuring. He maintains Series 7, 24 and 63 FINRA licenses. Mr. Decker received his B.A. in economics and geology from Vanderbilt University and his M.B.A. in business administration with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.