James Shepard

James Shepard is a co-founder and former Managing Partner of GenNx360 Capital Partners, one of the largest Black-owned private equity firms in the U.S. He built the firm in 2006 alongside fellow General Electric alumni Arthur H. Harper and Lloyd G. Trotter, together with investment banker Ronald Blaylock. The founding grew out of informal "planning and reality sessions" that began around a 2004 gathering, where the group weighed the sacrifices required to launch an institutional PE firm. Shepard held the Managing Partner title from the firm's founding in 2006 through 2022.

Before GenNx360, Shepard spent a 27-year career at General Electric, most recently serving as President and CEO of GE Infrastructure Sensing, a global business of roughly 3,200 employees. This deep operating background in industrial businesses directly shaped GenNx360's investment identity: acquiring and operating middle-market industrial and B2B services companies rather than doing purely financial deals.

Shepard earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1978 (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and a graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981. He is recognized among Princeton's ECE alumni.

Since 2019, Shepard has served as Chairman of the Board of Arduro Sustainable Rubber, a chemical-recycling company that recovers high-quality carbon black, rubber, and silica from end-of-life tires and industrial rubber waste. He has also been associated with Spectral Platforms Inc., reflecting a personal shift toward sustainability and deep-tech ventures beyond the core PE fund.

• Control buyouts of "boring but essential" industrial businesses: GenNx360 targets B2B industrial and business-services operating companies with proven, sustainable business models — not startups or seed-stage bets.
• Middle-market size band: Companies with approximately $75M–$500M in revenue.
• Operational value creation: The firm's thesis leans on GE-honed operating discipline (Six Sigma–style rigor, lean operations, professional management) to grow acquired companies rather than relying on financial engineering.
• Sector breadth within industrials: Machinery and components, logistics/supply chain, environmental services, food & agriculture, infrastructure equipment, specialty chemicals, packaging, and aerospace & defense.
• Scale: GenNx360 raised its debut fund in 2006 (~$600M), later raised Fund II, and today manages roughly $2.2B in AUM.