James
Shirey

Expertise

Strategy
Implementation
Transformation
Lean Strategies

James Shirey is a Senior Partner at Cicero® Group and leads Cicero’s strategy practice.  In this role, he drives company-wide strategy development and transformation engagements to create sustainable improvements in leading organizations.  He serves global Fortune 500 clients in Technology, Energy, Healthcare, Industrials, and Financial Services.  Recent client engagement examples include a “C-level” strategy assessment and implementation, conducting a national sales team re-organization for a Fortune 100 materials client, pre-merger due diligence in U.S., Europe, and China for a leading Healthcare technology company, and a national operational improvement program applying Lean techniques to a leading Energy company.

Prior to joining Cicero Group, James co-founded and served as CFO of a successful energy startup, Innovari, Inc.  His responsibilities included P&L performance responsibilities, finance and investor relations, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions. He also served as Director, Corporate Initiatives Group at General Electric Corporation’s global headquarters. Reporting directly to GE’s CIO and Global Quality leader, James worked across all major business units to improve performance and efficiency by using Lean strategies.  Specific operational improvement experience includes leading numerous initiatives within GE’s industrial businesses including Oil and Gas, Energy, and Transportation and in other businesses including Capital, Healthcare, Aviation and Security businesses across locations in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.  

James led numerous strategy and operations engagements for Fortune 100 companies as a Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey and Company. This included projects such as development of CEO strategies, organization restructuring and cost reduction initiatives, and identification and implementation of operational improvement programs across a portfolio of global clients.  These projects spanned across sectors including Chemicals, Airlines, Telecommunications, Oil and Gas, Energy, Financial Services and others.

James has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Utah.