Orion was founded by James W. Nixon in 2007. Jim began his career in real estate with Andersen Worldwide (Arthur Andersen) in 1981 when he joined the practice at the Chicago World Headquarters. He eventually assumed the position of Partner - Global Real Estate, serving the needs of both Arthur Andersen and Accenture prior to the split of the firms. He continued his career with Arthur Andersen until 2002 when the firm ceased operations.
During his 21 years at Andersen Jim was responsible for negotiating and the development of literally millions of square feet of office space worldwide. Some of the more noteworthy projects in which Andersen served as anchor tenant and played a key role in the development of the project include: One Detroit Center, Times Square Tower (New York), International Place (Boston), Library Tower (Los Angeles), Arundel Great Court (London), Holborn Place (London) and Bank of America Plaza (Dallas).
In 2002 Jim accepted the position of Director of Global Real Estate and Corporate Services for Hewitt Associates. Hewitt (now a part of Aon Corporation) was a global human resource consulting and outsourcing firm with operations in 34 countries and employing 26,000 people. He remained in this role until 2006.
During Jim's 4 year tenure with Hewitt he was responsible for the development of 500,000 square feet of office space in Gurgaon India.
Jim received a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Haworth College of Business where he graduated with honors.
Jim has presented numerous speeches throughout the world including the University of Oxford in England, and he is a noted expert in global corporate real estate, development, financing, and leasing.
Jim is a licensed Illinois Managing Broker.