James Carroll Allen
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Jim is an experienced finance professional specializing in corporate finance, investment analysis, global markets, financial regulation, and written and oral communications. As a CFA charter holder, Jim has earned the respect of his colleagues for his technical understanding and adherence to that organization's ethical code to put the best interests of clients first. His approach to working with others assumes intelligence, candor, and goodwill.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Principal
Delahaye Advisers LLC
- Penned a white paper for CFA Societies of Texas, advocating for state-based securities regulation and describing the risks mitigated. Presented the paper's key messages to state legislative leaders.
- Served as a case researcher at Darden Business School, which included writing cases considering finance, ethics, regulation, management, and possible exit strategies.
- Aided preparation of offering prospectus for EU-based private fund offering.
- Provided pro-bono support to a small business owner in plans for a company sale.
- Served as an integral team member in 2000, conducting due diligence, providing market analysis of payments and securities settlement business for a global technology firm, and helping inform their near-term global strategy.
- Reviewed the pitch deck for a client of an affiliated firm, providing financial and communications recommendations for effectiveness.
- Researched industry structure in a report seeking increases in regulatory size definition for small firms manufacturing medical protective equipment to enable firms to improve their competitive position in obtaining federal contracts.
- Researched and drafted a case study reviewing the business model of a fintech firm.
- Analyzed public fintech firms for the client's competitive analysis.
Head, Capital Markets Policy—Americas
CFA Institute
- Developed and wrote technical analyses and responses to 200+ global, domestic regulatory proposals balancing investors, issuers, and intermediaries; directed advocacy positions to federal and state regulators, legislators, and CFA members.
- Managed a team of motivated and experienced cap-markets policy professionals; hired and trained new staff in three offices on two continents; helped direct and develop divisional and regional advocacy strategies.
- Collaborated with global/domestic investment professionals to develop global investment market regulatory policy positions; organized in-person volunteer meetings with regulatory and in-market speakers and meeting book creation.
- Testified to Congress on corporate governance; presented on automated-adviser regs to SEC forum; presented on Regulation Best Interest to SEC Investor Advisory Committee; testified on retirement investing rules to the Department of Labor.
- Published nine op-eds in national publications on financial market regulation and legislation; quoted regularly in national and industry publications on financial regulatory issues.
- Wrote and/or managed 21 thought-leadership reports on positions related to various topics relevant to members: corporate governance, equity and bond market structures; investment research access; fintech, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.
- Presented to Congressional offices on risks and operational advantages of fintech issues such as automated investment advisors, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and corporate reporting information data tagging.
- Prepared business plans and strategic objectives for 10+ years for global and regional advocacy teams; prepared - and regularly reviewed - annual budget in coordination with business plans and strategy for 10+ years for global and regional team.
- Researched IPO market after tech/telecom bubble, concluding that delisting was due to high multiples leading to sales/mergers with other public firms. Bankruptcy was the second biggest reason, with few opting to go private or selling to private equity.
CCS Advisory Board President
Charlottesville Catholic School
- Appointed Chair of CCS Advisory Board for the school year 2014 after one year onboard and five years as a member of the CCS Finance Committee, including as Finance Committee chair from 2012-2013.
- During FY14, the board considered, reviewed, and ultimately approved hiring a construction firm to build the school's new STEM wing, which opened in August 2016.
- Recommended to school administration that one-year terms were insufficient for board chairs to gain and benefit from institutional knowledge. The administration changed the chair terms beginning in FY15.
- Aided in preparation and provided approval for annual budget; performed a monthly analysis of actual performance against projections.
Editor
SNL Financial
- Reported, wrote, edited, and published content for "Specialty Lender," a monthly for executives, bankers, and investors. Covered business strategy, funding strategy, corporate governance, valuation multiples, trends in IPO, ABS, MBS, and M&A markets.
- Managed a cadre of freelance reporters to supplement editorial content.
- Oversaw staff preparing monthly newsletter focusing content on SBA-lending programs.
- Reported on dynamics of credit card, mortgage, commercial, and auto loan markets, including subprime consumer mortgages years before the global market meltdown. Also covered over-the-counter derivatives markets for investors'/firms' risk management.
- Interviewed scores of specialty finance CEOs, high-profile investment bankers, and institutional investors.
- Researched and created graphics for various articles in "Specialty Lender," using the charting and presentation capabilities within MS Excel. Organized photos for publication and provided final edits into publishing software before publication.
- Organized and launched two monthly newsletters, designing editorial strategy, working with data content team, design of newsletters, and developed operational calendar for publication.
- Analyzed competitive dynamics of lending markets, including analysis of firms' loan underwriting, financial reporting, securitization performance, corporate governance, and share-price performance.
- Reviewed and analyzed performance of initial public offerings for specialty lenders brought by different investment banks, providing investor-useful information about how each firm's deals performed in the public markets post IPO.
Vice President—Corporate Finance Investment Banking
First Southwest Company
- Provided M&A modeling and private company equity valuation for financial institutions, manufacturers, utilities, oil well servicers, and commercial real estate, using discounted cash flows, market valuation multiples, and capitalization rates.
- Conducted financial analysis and financial ratio analysis of corporate issuers benefiting from tax-exempt bond indentures supporting utilities, airport, and industrial development bond offerings.
- Completed due diligence reviews for the sales of public and private companies.
- Participated in team due diligence in support of fairness opinions for the merger of two large, publicly traded bank holding companies; the sale of a public media company; and the securitization of automobile-backed loans.
- Conducted financial modeling for revenue bond defeasance for a municipal client.
- Modeled bond structures to assist a corporate client in defending against a hostile takeover.
- Carried out research, valuation, and corporate finance activities dealt with small and public firms in the energy, utilities, commercial real estate, banking, airlines, flight simulation; performed valuations for lenders, IRS, ESOPs, minority-interest ownership, exit strategies.
Education
Master of Arts Degree in Journalism and Mass Communications
University of Wisconsin - Madison - Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Chartered Financial Analyst in Accounting, Investment Analyses, Portfolio Management, Economics
CFA Institute - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (BBA) in Finance
University of Texas at Austin - Austin, Texas, USA
Certifications
CFA Charter
CFA institute
Skills
Finance
Fixed Income Analysis, Equity Research Analysis, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Financial Regulations, Money Market, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Valuation, Asset Valuation, Funding Strategy, Asset-backed Securities (ABS), Consumer Lending, Financial Reporting, Remuneration, DCF Valuation, Valuation Modeling, Valuation Analysis, Liability Valuations, Valuation Multiples, Private Company Valuation, M&A Modeling, Financial Modeling, Deal Analysis, Private Equity Valuation, Equity Valuation, P&L Forecasting, Cash Flow Forecasting, Three-statement Modeling, Pro Forma Financial Statements, Revenue & Expense Projections, 409A Valuation, Forecasting, Due Diligence, M&A (Sell-side), Market Research, Minority Investments, Debt, Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), Equity Research, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Portfolio Analysis, Hedging, Regulation Crowdfunding, Corporate Finance, Fund Governance, Intangible Asset Valuation, M&A (Buy-side), Revenue Modeling, Investment Thesis, Fundraising, Accounting, Derivative Pricing, Private Equity, Tax-advantaged Bonding, Asset-based Lending, Home Lending, Blockchain, Interest Rate Swaps, Fixed-income Derivatives
Output Software
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Office 365, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Pages, Apple Numbers, Apple Keynote
Industry Expertise
Financial Markets, Real Estate, Financial Services, Capital Markets, Macroeconomics, Non-performing Loans (NPL), Insurance
Geographic Expertise
United States
Data & Analysis Software
QuickBooks Online
Other
Writing & Editing, Investments, Market Risk, Stock Market, Ethics, Securities Regulation, Risk Management, Regulatory Analysis, Corporate Governance, Financial Analysis, Mortgage-backed Securities, Technical Writing, Technical Research, SNL Financial, SEC Financial Reporting, Finance, Mortgages, SEC Disclosure, Market Structures, Equity Markets, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Investment Research, Fintech, Business Strategy, Liquidation Valuation, Financial Writer, Financial Ratios, Business Analysis, Boards, Board Work, Board of Directors, Business Modeling, Financial Forecasting, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Annual Budgets, Pro Forma Analysis, Case Studies, Business Cases, Modeling Cases, Due Diligence Consultant, Excel 365, Distressed Assets, Storytelling, Presentations, Financial Presentations, Executive Presentations, Journalism, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Market Sizing, Business Models, Strategic Planning, Ownership, Research Analysis, Exit Strategy, Reports, Investor Reporting, NASDAQ, Copywriting, Markets, Analysis, Research, Content Creation, Alternative Investments, Finance Blog, Content Writing, Microsoft Teams, PDF to PPT, Behavioral Economics, Communication, Communication Strategy, Investment Funds, Investment Banking, Regulatory Affairs, Professionalism, Merger Benefits, Subscriptions, Strategy, Initial Public Offerings, Fixed Income, Equity, Derivatives, US GAAP, Investor Relations, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Cryptocurrency, Project Management, Business Planning, Deal Structuring, Credit Default Swap (CDS), Board Presentations, Pitch Decks, Investment Cases, Business Development, Investment Presentations, Investment Policy Statements (IPS), Metals & Mining, Consulting, Presentation Design, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), Pitch Deck Consultant, New Business Development, Distressed/Special Situations, Structured Finance, Buy-side, FX, Microsoft 365, Zoom, Administration, Commodity Markets, Economics, Competitive Strategy, Hedge Funds, Reg A+ Public, Corporate Planning, Commercial Lending, SaaS, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Education, K-12 Education, Management Consultant on Demand, Swaps, Futures, Futures & Options, National Futures Association (NFA), ISDA
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