James Rhee is a high school teacher and Harvard Law graduate who became a private equity investor and unexpected CEO. He bridges math with emotions by marrying capital with purpose. His transformational leadership has been recognized by the leading business and civic organizations. His national bestselling book, entitled red helicopter―a parable for our times: lead change with kindness (plus a little math), was published in April 2024 in partnership with Harper One, an imprint of HarperCollins that seeks multi-platform ideas that “transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions.” In its debut week, the book was the number one non-fiction book across all channels and media, per USA Today. He is working on related film, music, and television projects. His TED Talk and Dare to Lead interview with Brené Brown have captured the imagination of millions.

red helicopter, his media-education platform of the same name, is an operating system—a way—, that creates, measures, and amplifies a sustainable balance of life, money, and joy in the life of business and the business of life. Its systematic impact has been informed by, successfully applied to, and further refined by decades of investing, leading, and teaching at the highest levels in a myriad of environments. red helicopter’s methodologies are grounded in the realities of history and policy, as well as the truths of finance, behavioral psychology, and cognitive science. Above all, it gives us permission to be human.

By centering agency, red helicopter creates agility and change.

James’ leadership story grabbed global attention during his unlikely seven-year tenure as Chairman and first-time CEO at Ashley Stewart, a fashion retailer with deep historical roots in the Black American community. After the financial community turned its back on this twice-bankrupt company, James left the world of private equity and lead the creation of a reimagined ecosystem that blurred boundaries and centered “Kindness and Math,” a combination that fueled an unprecedented transformation and transcendent success story. Core to the reinvention was the deep friendship and shared values between the son of Korean immigrants and a predominantly Black female employee group, who placed their mutual trust in each other, learned from one another, and then proceeded to quietly shock the world. The implications of their collective success are only beginning to be understood by the world, especially against the backdrop of artificial intelligence and division.

Following the conclusion of his tenure with Ashley Stewart, Howard University invited James to serve as the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship, a Professor Entrepreneurship, and senior advisor to the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership. In addition to his unprecedented appointment at Howard, James also currently teaches the red helicopter operating system as a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School and MIT Sloan School of Management. James has been invited to teach in the classrooms of the world’s leading universities.

James continues to have an outsized impact in the private sector. His family-office investment platform, named FirePine Group, has stewarded the capital of some of the world’s most sophisticated investors and continues to provide capital, defined in its broadest sense, to entrepreneurs creating true systemic value. Prior to founding this platform, James helped manage billions of dollars of growth and distressed oriented private equity capital, with a focus on services and brands, at two leading Boston-based institutions. Presently, he serves as consigliere to some of the world’s leading executives and their organizations, and serves on the Board of Directors of Xponance, a $20+ billion asset management and investment firm focused on transforming access to alpha. He is a former honoree of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year program, as well as a former director of Conscious Capitalism and the National Retail Federation, which awarded him its Power Player Award, given to those CEOs most impacting the future of retail. He is a charter member of the Advisory Council of JP Morgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways.

Prominent civic and non-profit organizations have recognized the broader societal impact of James’ private sector endeavors. He is a Frederick Douglass honoree of the New York Urban League, the recipient of the Council of Korean Americans and the Korean American Story Trailblazer Awards, an honoree of Girls Write Now, and an honoree of One To World’s Fulbright Award. Ashoka, the pioneer in social entrepreneurship, elected him as a charter member of its Entrepreneur-to-Entrepreneur Network. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Coalition for Asian American Children and Families and is a former director of Harvard University’s American Repertory Theater.

James received his A.B. with honors from Harvard College and J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of Harvard Law Review. He lives outside Boston with his wife and three children. He is a frustrated musician.