Jim Sowers, a FOCUS Senior Advisor located in Richmond, Virginia, has over 30 years of experience in investment banking and corporate finance. He specializes in the Food & Beverage and Consumer industries.

Prior to joining FOCUS, Jim was a managing director with Transact Capital Partners, a boutique M&A firm, where he successfully represented dozens of business owners selling their companies in a variety of industries, including government services, consumer products, business services, staffing, and industrial manufacturing. Before that he was a vice president at BB&T Capital Markets, where he worked on numerous IPOs, sell side transactions, fairness opinions, and capital raises, mainly for consumer products companies and restaurants.

Jim began his career as an engineer in the defense industry. After receiving his MBA, he worked in the treasury departments of IBM and PepsiCo on corporate acquisitions and debt financing. After moving to operating companies, he worked in both financial planning and analysis, corporate development, and as a regional CFO. Jim found his corporate development roles at PepsiCo particularly valuable, as each division had a strategic acquisition plan coupled with a disciplined valuation process. Jim also previously worked in corporate finance and corporate development at General Electric and LandAmerica.

Jim received a B.S. in systems engineering from the University of Virginia and his MBA from the Darden School of Business at UVA. He is a long-standing member of the Henrico County Grand Jury, treasurer of his church, a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, and the advisory council of Virginia State University’s Reginald F. Lewis College of Business.

Jim holds FINRA 7, 63 & 79 licenses.

Jim and his wife are empty nesters living in his native Virginia and spending their summers at the Jersey Shore in her native New Jersey. When he isn’t working, Jim enjoys golf, pickleball, and traveling out west to see the “kids.”