James formed the Gresham Partners Group in 1985 and is Chairman of Gresham Partners Limited.

James holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New South Wales. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Senior Fellow of FINSIA, a Fellow (EngExec) of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of Australian Institute of Company Directors. James was previously Managing Director of Rothschild Australia Limited and a Director of Hill Samuel Australia Limited with experience in banking, corporate advice and funds management in Australia and the United Kingdom.

James is Chairman of Coles Group Limited and was a Director of Wesfarmers Limited from 1998 - 2018. In 2001, James was appointed non-executive Deputy Chairman and in 2002 Chairman of Rabobank Australia Limited, responsible for the Bank's operations in Australia and New Zealand. He retired from that position in March 2009. He was also Chairman of the Darling Harbour Authority between 1989 and 1995.

In 2008 James was made a member of the Order of Australia.

Charles is Managing Director of Gresham.  He is active across our advisory and investing businesses.

He has advised Gresham clients across a range of transactions including Woodside on its merger with BHP Petroleum, Newcrest Mining on its sale to Newmont Corporation, Platinum Equity on their acquisition of Jeld-Wen Australia, Commonwealth Bank on the sale of Equigroup, Bank of Queensland on the acquisition of Investec Bank Australia, Platinum Equity on their acquisition of a majority stake in Sensis from Telstra, Woodside on the partial unwind of the Shell shareholding, Resimac on the acquisition of RHG’s loan book, DUET on their internalisation of management from AMP and Macquarie and sale to CKI, KKR on the acquisition of Pepper Group, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on the asset swap of a stake in Sydney Airport for interests in Brussels and Copenhagen Airports and advising Telstra’s Board on negotiations with the Australian Government and NBN Co.

Prior to joining Gresham, Charles was a Managing Director with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. He had a significant role in transactions for clients including News Corporation, Time Warner, Nielsen, EMC Corporation, Intergraph, Philips, Dow Jones, and Warner Music.

Charles’ transaction experience spans across M&A and financings with a cumulative value of in excess of US$150 billion. Prior to Goldman, Sachs & Co., Charles worked for Rio Tinto at its aluminium operations, Comalco, in engineering and business development roles.

Charles holds Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Commerce from the University of Sydney where he was a Chancellor’s Scholar, a Masters degree in Information Technology from Deakin University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Charles is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Charles is a Chairman of Musica Viva Australia. He was previously Chapter Chair of YPO Sydney and President of the Harvard Club of Australia.