Jim Porter
Founding Investor
Jim is a seasoned executive with broad experience in consulting, defense, energy, banking and IT. He grew up on a farm in Texas, and after working alongside his dad during his childhood and adolescence, he decided that he was not cut-out for farming.
After earning his B.S. from Tarleton State University (branch of Texas A & M), he started his career as a Systems Engineer for Republic Bank (now Bank of America). From there, he went to work for EDS (Ross Perot’s company), and then onto management in Audit and IT for Atlantic Richfield Company.
In 1994, Jim and his wife, Jo Carol, PhD, foresaw a potential disaster in the data change issues related to the coming millennium: Y2K. Together they founded Harvard, Porter & Associates (HPA) and set about helping clients prepare and adjust for the future. In 1997, HPA came onto the “radar screen” of accounting/consulting giant Coopers & Lybrand (C&L), now PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Realizing that their clients needed to be prepared for Y2K, C&L acquired the Porters’ company.
As a PwC Partner, Jim led the firm’s national Y2K practice, serving over 200 clients, with revenues of $100 million. From there, Jim went on to develop PwC’s re-entry into the Federal Government practice, growing that business from $10 million to $100 million.
In 2008, Jim decided to retire to spend more time with his personal passions (in order of importance): his wife and partner of 35 years, Jo Carol; Baseball (specifically, now, the Washington Nationals), and American History especially George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
All was well until 2009 when, at the pinnacle of the U.S. financial meltdown, Jim ran into a young PwC colleague, Reginald Nosegbe. As Jim says, “What Reggie told me and showed me made me stop dead in my tracks.” As a result of that meeting, Jim has spent the past three years working on, and funding, WealthQube.
Jim is our voice of reason, our constant barometer, always pushing us to fulfill our mission.