Jim Childs

Jim Childs is an Atlanta-based investor, M&A banker, and serial entrepreneur. He began his career at Arthur Andersen in Atlanta and, in the mid-1990s, served as Vice President of Investment Banking at The Robinson-Humphrey Company, then a division of Salomon Smith Barney. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia — where he was a member of the 1987 NCAA championship men's tennis team — and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

As an operator, Childs co-founded and served as CEO of Impact Innovations, an IT services company that grew to roughly $100 million in revenue and more than 700 employees nationwide, raised over $30 million in capital, and was sold in 2004. He has described having "started and sold three businesses and advised hundreds more," and is also associated with founding The Intersect Group, an Atlanta staffing and consulting firm. He sits (or has sat) on the boards of the UGA Foundation, Marist School, and Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit School.

In 2009 Childs founded CHILDS Advisory Partners (the firm tied to the childsap.com domain), a middle-market M&A advisory firm specializing in Human Capital Management and tech-enabled services. The firm was named The M&A Advisor's 2016 "Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year," rebranded to Bowstring Advisors in 2018, and was acquired by Citizens Financial Group in March 2019. Childs stayed on as Co-Head/Head of M&A at Citizens, leading a practice of more than 70 M&A professionals, until 2022. Over his career he personally led 75+ transactions.

Since May 2022, Childs has been a Principal at Childs Capital Partners, where he focuses on private-equity and angel-style investing in growth businesses — putting capital and operating/M&A experience behind founders rather than advising on deals.

• Invests through Childs Capital Partners, focused on private equity / angel investing in growth businesses (a shift from advising to backing companies, beginning 2022).
• Deep sector affinity for Human Capital Management, staffing, IT and tech-enabled business services — the verticals where he both operated (Impact Innovations, The Intersect Group) and advised on 75+ M&A deals.
• Brings a banker-operator lens: having built, scaled, sold, and advised companies, he tends to value strong unit economics, a clear path to profitable growth, and a credible eventual exit/M&A story.
• Atlanta/Southeast roots and an extensive middle-market deal network make him a relationship-driven, hands-on backer rather than a passive check-writer.