James B. Edwards
Chief Executive Officer
As the CEO of EMA (www.ema.us) and its affiliated companies, James “Jamey” Edwards has led the Group’s transformation into the leading provider of emergency management and episodic care services in Southern California. He believes that by focusing on the “health” of the Group’s practice it allows the providers to focus on the health of their patients.
Prior to joining EMA, he was a member of the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers. Based in New York, he consummated transactions totaling more than $5 billion for leading companies including dj Orthopedics, InterActive Corp, Greenfield Online, Premier Retail Networks, Six Flags, Viasystems, YouBet.com, Sirius Satellite Radio and Google. Mr. Edwards has executed initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, restructurings and debt financings, as well as defense and M&A assignments for a broad range of Internet / New Media and Healthcare clients. While at Lehman, he served as captain of the Cornell Recruiting Team and on the firm’s Global Advisory Council.
Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Edwards served as a Fund Manager for BR Venture Fund (www.brventurefund.com), the seed stage venture capital fund for Cornell University. Before BR Venture Fund, Mr. Edwards was the Director of Business Development for VirtualTourist.com (www.virtualtourist.com), an award winning online travel community solution provider and leader in collaborative social networking and user generated content. Prior to VirtualTourist, Mr. Edwards was an Associate with Caltius Mezzanine Partners, a $200 million mezzanine investment fund, where he evaluated potential investment opportunities, and an Analyst with U.S. Bancorp Libra, a boutique investment bank focused on the middle market.
Mr. Edwards has been a speaker for the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds and has led Investment Banking Workshops at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
He is a co-chair of the board for the Johnson School Club of Southern California and a member of the board for the Cornell Club of Los Angeles.
Mr. Edwards graduated a Tradition Fellow from Cornell University in 1996 and received his MBA from Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2003. He has also recently completed the Design Thinking Bootcamp at Stanford University’s d.school.
Mr. Edwards is a member of the Board for Booshaka (www.booshaka.com), Hilltop Slate, Direct2Pro, Noll Surfboards (www.nollsurfboards.com) and the Language Access Network. Mr. Edwards is a member of the Santa Monica Bay Chapter of YPO and sits on the board of the American Red Cross of Santa Monica. Mr. Edwards recently joined StartEngine (www.startengine.com) as a Mentor to startup companies in the LA Area and is a Principal with Avanti Hospitals, LLC (www.avantihospitals.com).