Jim Forese
Mr. Forese is the Chief Operating Officer and an Operating Partner at Thayer | Hidden Creek, a position created in 2003 to add experienced operational input to the Firm and its portfolio companies. Mr. Forese serves on the Board of Directors of Mistras Group, Inc., Naumann/Hobbs Material Handling, Inc., Quadel Consulting Corporation, Roadrunner Transportation Systems, Inc., and Herndon Products, Inc., and as the Chairman of IESI-BFC Ltd. (formerly BFI Income Trust) and Suntron Corporation.
Mr. Forese brings to the position more than 40 years of experience within the technology industry. Most recently, Mr. Forese worked for IKON Office Solutions (formerly Alcoa Standard Corporation). He began at IKON as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in January of 1996. In January of 1997, he became Executive Vice President and President of International Operations. In July, 1998, he was appointed President and CEO, becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in May of 2000. He stepped down as President and CEO in August, 2002 and retired as Chairman in February, 2003.
Prior to joining IKON, Mr. Forese spent 36 years with IBM Corporation in numerous executive positions. He was a senior executive with IBM World Trade Europe/Middle East/Africa and IBM World Trade Americas, where he led the Latin American and Canadian operations. He also served as President of the Office Products Division.
In addition, Mr. Forese was Vice President of Finance and, in his last position at IBM, he served as Chairman of IBM Credit Corporation and was a member of IBM’s Worldwide Management Council.
He serves on the Board of Directors of Spherion, L. Knife & Son, Inc., and Stonebridge Bank. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of various IBM divisions, Lexmark International, NUI Corporation, Southeast Bank Corporation, Unisource Worldwide, Inc., IKON Office Solutions and American Management Systems.
Mr. Forese earned a BEE in Electrical Engineering from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
