Mr. James Cole

James Cole, Jr. serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board for Cole, Alex & Miles, LLC.

He is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Jasco Group, LLC, a consulting firm and hedge fund based in New York City. The Jasco Group provides consulting services related to education policy, corporate transactions, and management; and invests in or manages stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, commodities, entertainment industry assets, real estate, and small businesses.

From January 2016 through January 2017, Mr. Cole was the US Delegated Deputy Secretary of Education and General Counsel. As Delegated Deputy Secretary, Mr. Cole served as the chief operating officer and chief legal officer at the Department of Education, and oversaw a broad range of operational, management, policy, legal and program functions. Cole also oversaw the Department's work on President Obama's My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, which sought to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color, and to ensure that all young people are able to reach their full potential.

The US Senate confirmed Mr. Cole as the Department of Education’s General Counsel in December 2014.

Prior to joining the US Department of Education, from 2011 until 2014, Mr. Cole served as the Deputy General Counsel at the US Department of Transportation. Mr. Cole advised the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and General Counsel on policy and program matters relating to the Department’s ten operating administrations, including the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Railroad Administration.

From 1996 to 2011, Mr. Cole worked at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City, where, in 2004, he became a partner in the corporate department. His practice focused primarily on mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance and legal compliance. He advised a broad range of public and private companies in a variety of industries in the United States and around the world.

Prior to joining Wachtell Lipton, Mr. Cole clerked for the Honorable Stephanie K. Seymour of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

From 2004 through 2011, Mr. Cole was a member of the Board of Directors of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. From 2005 through 2011 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep, the New York City-based youth leadership development program that identifies and prepares students of color for the rigors of independent day and boarding schools. From 2010 through 2013 he was a member of The University of Chicago Law School Visiting Committee.

Prior to his legal career, from 1990 through 1992, Mr. Cole was an analyst in the Financial Management Program at General Electric Capital Corporation.

Mr. Cole received his B.S. in Finance with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990. He received his J.D. from The University of Chicago in 1995, where he served as a comment editor of the University of Chicago Law School Roundtable.