Bio

Jim Grien, Vice Chairman and Co-Head of TM Capital LLC, joined the firm in 2001 and, since 2008, has served as the firm’s President and CEO. In addition to overseeing TM Capital’s management and strategic direction, Jim leads many of the firm’s most noteworthy relationships and transactions. Over the last decade, Jim has personally led teams at TM Capital that have completed over 50 engagements, including complex merger transactions, multifaceted financings and high-level Board advisory engagements. Previously, Jim was Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for Prudential Securities Investment Banking. Jim joined Prudential Securities in 1989 and subsequently led the firm’s Southeastern Regional and Consumer Industries Investment Banking Groups before assuming overall responsibility for the firm’s Corporate Finance Group. During his tenure at Prudential Securities, Jim was responsible for a diverse group of middle market consumer and industrial client relationships and completed transactions valued at over $15 billion. Prior to joining Prudential Securities, Jim was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Group of Thomson McKinnon Securities Inc. Jim is a 1980 Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. For over two decades, Jim has served as a Trustee of The Marcus Foundation, which is funded and chaired by Home Depot Co-Founder, Bernard Marcus, to pursue the Marcus family’s philanthropic mission. Jim serves on the Board of Directors of Micromeritics (controlled by SFW Capital), one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of particle measurement instruments; Engelman Baking Company (controlled by Shoreline Capital), one of the leading institutional baked goods brands in the Southeast; Keystone Screw, a growing domestic manufacturer of specialty fasteners; and EarliTec Diagnostics, Inc., formed by Emory University, the Marcus Autism Center, CHOA and the Marcus Foundation to commercialize a groundbreaking diagnostic tool for early detection and monitoring of ASD. Jim also serves on the Board of Councilors of The Carter Center, founded by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in partnership with Emory University, with a core mission to safeguard human rights and alleviate human suffering globally. Jim is a Director, Audit Chair and Treasurer of The Georgia Aquarium, the world’s most spectacular aquatic attraction, a co-founder and current Advisory Board Member of Hands On Atlanta, and a past President of The Temple. Jim’s wife, the former Lauren Gold, is a non-practicing attorney and peripatetic civic volunteer who has had a transformational influence on numerous organizations in Atlanta. Lauren and Jim have five adult children (including two sons-in-law) and three grandchildren. In addition to his passion for his family and TM Capital, Jim is a lifelong golfer capable of occasional good play, an obsessed (and generally suffering) fan of local Atlanta professional and college sports, as well as an avid reader and traveler.