Jim Garbarini

Jim has been a part of the interactive entertainment industry since 1996 when he was hired as CFO of Virtual World Entertainment Group (VWEG) in Chicago. Like HPE, at VWEG, Jim was responsible for all aspects of finance, legal, risk management, human resources and information technology of this multi-company organization.

Jim was instrumental to the negotiation and consummation of the $30 million cash-for-stock sale of this entity in 1999, which included FASA Interactive. Simultaneously, Jim organized and led the buyout of the location-based entertainment subsidiary of VWEG, Virtual World Entertainment LLC (VWE). Jim was President of VWE from 1999 until its sale in 2005. While at VWE, Jim returned distributions to members of more than forty times their original investment through successful implementation of a harvesting strategy to maximize return from assets purchased.

Jim began his career in Chicago at Arthur Andersen LLP where he spent seven years and specialized in acquisition diligence for financial and strategic buyers in purchase transactions ranging from $5 to $500 million.