James W. Harris is the president and founder of Seneca Financial Group Inc. Prior to establishing Seneca in 1993, he was a managing director at Lehman Brothers and head of the Financial Restructuring Group. During Mr. Harris’ ten years with Lehman, he worked closely with clients to raise capital through public and private offerings, advised on M&A engagements, and was actively involved in the firm’s financial restructuring assignments. Before joining Lehman in 1982, Mr. Harris spent ten years working for Citibank N.A.’s Institutional Recovery Group as a senior loan officer. Over the course of his career, Mr. Harris has been involved in major restructuring transactions such as Columbia Gas Transmission, Dome Petroleum, Deseret Generation and Transmission, Tucson Electric, Long Island Lighting Company, Federated Department Stores, Allied Department Stores, Texaco, and Sharon Steel. Mr. Harris has also participated in several international assignments in Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. Mr. Harris currently serves on the Board of Directors of El Paso Electric Company and is a member of its Executive Committee. He was appointed chairman of the Corporate Governance and Nominating committee in 2003. Mr. Harris joined the Board of Peregrine Systems Inc. in 2003 and served as a member of the audit committee until the sale of the company to Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Harris was an adjunct professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Business teaching a course in business turnarounds. He currently is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina teaching a course titled “Managing Business Turnarounds.” Mr. Harris received a M.B.A. from the Harvard University School of Business and a B.A. from Vanderbilt University