Jim Whittle

Jim is head of the firm’s Tokyo office and Consumer Markets and Enterprises practice. He is also a member of the Healthcare & Life Sciences and Marketing Officers practices. He focuses on the consumer products, retail, healthcare, and technology sectors. He specializes in marketing, sales, research and development, finance, operations, and general management in the C-suite.

He brings an extensive career in senior leadership positions at global Fortune 500 and start-up companies such as JDSU Flex Products, NanoInk, Meji Seika, United Biscuits, Keebler, Pfizer, GSK, and Power Kiosk. With these companies, Jim worked in general management, business development, sales and marketing, and brand management roles. He also spent five years in executive search at Russell Reynolds Associates and AT Kearney in their respective Tokyo and Chicago offices. Jim’s executive search clients included global Fortune 500 consumer and healthcare product companies in Japan and the U.S., as well as Japanese consumer and healthcare companies in the U.S. Jim has lived and worked in Japan for eight years, is fluent in Japanese, and offers Japanese clients a unique prospective for assessing U.S. talent that will fit into a Japanese company culture. He worked for a Japanese chocolate and biscuit brand company, Meiji Seika, in Japan as general manager, managing a 100 percent Japanese staff. He also has search experience with European and Chinese clients. He has successfully completed CEO, COO, and president, as well as functional vice president and director searches. His clients include Fortune 500 global conglomerates, as well as mid-size and smaller start-up companies. Most recently, Jim had been a small business consultant, serving as managing director for The Business Resource, where he helped entrepreneurs launch their businesses.

Jim earned his MBA in marketing and finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his BS in international business and marketing from Brigham Young University. He is a competitive cyclist and serves on several non-profit boards. Jim is also a mentor at Chicago Innovation Mentors (CIM). He is a board member at the Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago, the Japan Chamber of Commerce, and the Japan American Society. Jim has two sons and lives with his wife in Tokyo, Japan.