Ernest M. James, PE is the founding Principal of James Controls, LLC and has a 30 year career of providing professional process control solutions to the industrial market. Mr. James was formerly the CEO and co-founder of Sharp Design, Inc., a 100 person engineering and design firm that he sold to Jacobs Engineering in 2001. Mr. James is also the co-founder of Sharp Technical Services, Inc., a 450 person technical staff augmentation company that was sold in 2002. Both of these former companies were recognized for several years on the Philly 100 Fastest Growing Company list. Following a non-compete phase, Mr. James is back to servicing the refinery, power, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries with a dedicated focus on the instrumentation and process control discipline.

Mr. James started his career in 1972 as an Instrumentation Engineer for the former Catalytic, Inc., now part of the Washington Group. From 1976 thru 1985 he was an Account Executive for Foxboro and Fisher, and was actively involved in the implementation and startup of instrumentation, control valves, and Distributed Control Systems. Mr. James holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Notre Dame and is the former President and current Board Member of the South Jersey Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society (ISA). He is a registered Professional Engineer in three states and is recognized by ISA as a Certified Automation Professional (CAP).