Jim Ross is an executive with more than four decades of business experience who joined and has led the Sharpe team for more than a decade. His business leadership includes experience with an international public accounting firm, CFO of a publicly traded health related entity and president of a large financial institution. Jim served on the Memphis Symphony board and as chairman of the board for Memphis Junior Achievement and as a member of the Junior Achievement Regional and National Boards. Jim is a licensed CPA and CGMA and holds an MBA degree from the Vanderbilt Owen School of Business. He specialized in assisting with donor data updates including identifying deceased donors.

Barlow has more than three decades of experience in charitable gift planning and serves as general counsel for Sharpe Group. Before joining Sharpe, he was director of development at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he was responsible for current, deferred and capital giving for the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and allied health. He also has served as director of planned giving for the University of Memphis. He coordinated resource development projects with the Crippled Children’s Hospital Foundation and the University of Tennessee Bowld Hospital.

Barlow is a member of the American and Tennessee Bar Associations and has authored articles on planned giving for Planned Giving Today, Trusts & Estates Magazine, The Journal of Gift Planning and Fundraising Management, and his commentaries have been featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The NonProfit Times. Barlow has been a frequent speaker for numerous local and national fundraising groups for more than 30 years, including the AHP Madison Institute, National Planned Giving Institutes, Association of Fundraising Professionals, CGP, ACGA, NCDC, AHA and others. He is a graduate of Tulane University and the University of Memphis School of Law.