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Saint Joseph
Hero Story
See Governors Service Award submission for more information
Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC was formed in 2004 after Jim Roberts left CB Richard Ellis as a Managing Director in the Corporate Services Division. At CBRE he had various responsibilities, including managing profit/loss centers of up $450 million/year. His staff included 3,000 direct and indirect employees in 52 countries.
The management consulting and investment advisory worlds have very few people of color working in them, and even fewer who are owners. This was especially true back in 2004 when Jim Roberts started his first company. Jim has had the tenacity to help break down barriers in these fields. As MBE’s create wealth, one would assume there would be minority financial adviser professionals who could help guide the investments of fellow community members. However, that is not the case. Surprisingly, only 8% of financial advisers in the United State are people of color (Paikert, C. (2014, August). The Industry Has a Race Problem. Financial Planning, 44(8), 43-49). In an industry that provides the expertise to guide wealth management across our country, 92% of the investment advisors are Caucasian. With the number of ethnic minority financial advisers being so low, it should be no surprise that ownership of a financial advisory company is rare. This issue was also addressed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (2014, November 20), in an article titled Foundations Struggle to Show Diversity in Hiring Money Managers, p B-11.
Most companies do not view intellectual property work as an area where they want to break the long-term paradigms established by the executives of their companies. For minority businesses to be successful and sustainable, we need to have minority business operating and supporting all aspects of the corporate world from providing commodities for high volume procurement spend to providing specialized intellectual services to the c-suite executives.
Jim has been able to prove the services he provides in the intellectual space provide a high level of value and his companies are in business for long term business relationships. He has helped many companies who are not his clients and he has not received any compensation for helping them. He believes his approach of helping other companies to raise their top line revenues has also helped people to understand they can trust him, not only to help them with the business their companies can do together, but also to help them advance their business interests in areas that he does not receive any compensation.
For over 20 years, Jim Roberts was the only certified minority owned financial advisory firm in the state of Michigan. Just in the past couple of years, a few other firms have become certified as a minority owned financial advisory firm.
One of Jim’s goals is to help build generational wealth in the minority community. His approach to running his business has helped him to create generation wealth for his family. Since starting his first business, the equity value has grown by 3,259%. This is an annualized growth rate of 181%.
However, Jim’s influence goes beyond his industry. He has been a champion of minority businesses and minority business leaders since his college days.
Jim has received recognition for his service by being recognized as a Luminary award winner for community impact by the ThinkAdvisors. He has also received the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2019 and 2023. He has been recognized by many community organizations, including being recognized as a Michigan State University Distinguished Executive MBA Alumnus Award.
Saint Joseph
Hero Story
See Governors Service Award submission for more information
Jim Roberts Enterprises LLC was formed in 2004 after Jim Roberts left CB Richard Ellis as a Managing Director in the Corporate Services Division. At CBRE he had various responsibilities, including managing profit/loss centers of up $450 million/year. His staff included 3,000 direct and indirect employees in 52 countries.
The management consulting and investment advisory worlds have very few people of color working in them, and even fewer who are owners. This was especially true back in 2004 when Jim Roberts started his first company. Jim has had the tenacity to help break down barriers in these fields. As MBE’s create wealth, one would assume there would be minority financial adviser professionals who could help guide the investments of fellow community members. However, that is not the case. Surprisingly, only 8% of financial advisers in the United State are people of color (Paikert, C. (2014, August). The Industry Has a Race Problem. Financial Planning, 44(8), 43-49). In an industry that provides the expertise to guide wealth management across our country, 92% of the investment advisors are Caucasian. With the number of ethnic minority financial advisers being so low, it should be no surprise that ownership of a financial advisory company is rare. This issue was also addressed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (2014, November 20), in an article titled Foundations Struggle to Show Diversity in Hiring Money Managers, p B-11.
Most companies do not view intellectual property work as an area where they want to break the long-term paradigms established by the executives of their companies. For minority businesses to be successful and sustainable, we need to have minority business operating and supporting all aspects of the corporate world from providing commodities for high volume procurement spend to providing specialized intellectual services to the c-suite executives.
Jim has been able to prove the services he provides in the intellectual space provide a high level of value and his companies are in business for long term business relationships. He has helped many companies who are not his clients and he has not received any compensation for helping them. He believes his approach of helping other companies to raise their top line revenues has also helped people to understand they can trust him, not only to help them with the business their companies can do together, but also to help them advance their business interests in areas that he does not receive any compensation.
For over 20 years, Jim Roberts was the only certified minority owned financial advisory firm in the state of Michigan. Just in the past couple of years, a few other firms have become certified as a minority owned financial advisory firm.
One of Jim’s goals is to help build generational wealth in the minority community. His approach to running his business has helped him to create generation wealth for his family. Since starting his first business, the equity value has grown by 3,259%. This is an annualized growth rate of 181%.
However, Jim’s influence goes beyond his industry. He has been a champion of minority businesses and minority business leaders since his college days.
Jim has received recognition for his service by being recognized as a Luminary award winner for community impact by the ThinkAdvisors. He has also received the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2019 and 2023. He has been recognized by many community organizations, including being recognized as a Michigan State University Distinguished Executive MBA Alumnus Award.