About Me

James Max (born 1970) is a qualified chartered surveyor with an extensive range of experience in property investment, investment banking and finance. He was a semi-finalist in the first series of the BBC's acclaimed series, The Apprentice.
 
Since taking part in the programme he has undertaken a wide range of TV, Radio, Podcasts and public speaking engagements.
James joined London's Biggest Conversation, LBC 97.3 in April 2006. He presents LBC's Saturday Breakfast (7 - 10am) and Sunday Afternoon Show (4 - 7pm) and often hosts other shows on the station. He regularly reviews the newspapers on Sky and often appears on GMTV as their property and finance expert.
From 2006 to 2008 James presented the Business Update on TalkSPORT and regularly covered shows, having presented his own weekly programme on Saturday nights from January to March 2007. He writes and presents two monthly podcasts for Property Week magazine and has written for The Sunday Times, The Times Online and The London Standard. He co-presented Property Pensions, Property Boot Camp and Profit from Property on Overseas Property TV. James was the "Business Expert" on Harvey Goldsmith's "The Encore", on E4 and fronted an episode of Dispatches for Channel 4 in August 2008 entitled "How The Banks Never Lose". He has spoken at corporate events, presented awards ceremonies and hosted training courses across the country.
 

Before The Apprentice

I joined DTZ, the property advisory company, in 1992. Most of my time at the firm was with the International Investment Team. We advised overseas purchasers on investment acquisitions and development fundings. Our team concluded some of the largest property investment and development transactions in the market at the time. In 1996 was made a Director of the company.
 
In 1998 I  joined Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division. I worked on some major transactions including the largest single real estate securitisation in Europe of the Broadgate office complex for The British Land Company plc - a debt package of £1.54 Billion.
I also worked on the defence (the first time around) for Marks and Spencer plc and the company's subsequent corporate restructuring. At Morgan Stanley I worked with some exceptionally talented, fun and inspiring people.
In 2001, I joined a private equity firm, which had one of the largest European real estate funds in Europe. I headed the fund's UK activities as well as being responsible for building the team, refocusing its activities and executing a number of exits from transactions, most notably two Italian developments undertaken by the fund.
 
I left in August 2004 to take part in BBC's The Apprentice