He is the former president, chief operating officer, and executive vice chairman of Blackstone, a New York–based global asset management firm.
[5] In 1975, James joined investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) and became head of its global mergers and acquisitions group in 1982.
In 1995, James was appointed chairman of the firm's banking group, a position he held when DLJ was acquired in 2000 by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and was a member of its board of directors.
[6] In 2002, James joined Blackstone Inc, a global alternative asset managing firm, taking the post of president and COO.
[7] Blackstone and James's name arose in a 2007 corporate collusion case, along with fellow private equity giants Bain Capital and Carlyle Group.
[12] In December 2021, James announced his retirement from Blackstone Inc.[7] and opened a family company, Jefferson River Capital.
Critics pointed out his lack of experience with transportation issues, and charged that Blackstone had recently purchased half of fellow commissioner Scott Rechler’s New York real estate portfolio.
In 2020, as the museum struggled with a revenue loss of 150 million dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic, James was named co-chair of the board of trustees, sharing the leadership with attorney Candace Beinecke, beginning in January 2021.
[22] In addition to the Metropolitan Museum, he served on the boards of several cultural and environmental organizations, including the Second Stage Theatre, Trout Unlimited, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Montana Land Reliance.