Chief Executive Officer and Principal Consultant
ELM LLC & Graves Law Offices, PC.
Peoria, IL
309-673-7648
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Lee is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the ELM Companies and Principal of Graves Law Offices, PC. Lee’s legal and environmental practice involves strategic counseling in the areas of Environmental Liability Management (ELM), Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), ecological risk assessment, and environmental due diligence. Mr. Graves has worked directly on many well-known sites and projects including the Milltown Dam Superfund site litigation, Milltown, Montana; Commencement Bay Superfund Site, Tacoma, Washington; Waste Management, Inc. landfill-NRDA claim in Indiana; Blackbird Mine NRDA, UNOCAL diluent release in California; ARCO pipeline oil spill in Indiana; and Colonial Pipeline San Jacinto River-NRDA. Lee has resolved numerous environmental liabilities by strategically applying restoration-based solutions.

Prior to entering the consulting field, he served for three years as Senior Attorney in the General Counsel’s office of NOAA. Lee served as NOAA’s lead attorney on the largest natural resource damage assessment litigation in the country, U.S. v. Montrose, et. al.. The Montrose case dealt with remediation and natural resource liabilities with PCB’s and DDT being the contaminates of concern. Lee’s early professional career was in investment banking where he analyzed investment opportunities which included land and corporate acquisition and divestiture while working for Michael K. Deaver in Washington, DC. Lee represented such clients as Mitsubishi, China Trust Bank and other foreign interests.

Lee is a graduate of Creighton University, with a Juris Doctor (JD) and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in Finance

Lee is a proud supporter of the Boys and Girls Club, St. Jude, Ducks Unlimited, Easter Seals and Jeffery Pride Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research.

Chief Executive Officer
ELM Locating
Peoria, IL
309-673-7648
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Jim has been the CEO of ELM Locating & Utility Services since July of 2003 when ELM acquired One Call Locators, Ltd. from Northwestern Energy.

Jim has extensive management experience with over 15 years in executive level management ranging from a 900 person environmental consulting firm to a deregulated retail and wholesale energy company that was a subsidiary of CILCORP. Jim has held previous positions through his career as Director of Human Resources, Vice President of Human Resources, and President Environmental Staffing Solutions, Inc.

Jim holds an AA in Business Administration and a BA in Business Management from the University of Illinois.

Jim is a strong supporter of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  Having served on the St. Jude Board, Jim and the ELM companies have contributed to and supported St. Jude for several years.  Jim participates in the St. Jude Motorcycle Ride from Peoria to Memphis every fall to raise money for St. Jude.  The Bourazak family support goes back to Jim's Grandfather who gave Danny Thomas $5,000 in 1951 when the hospital was only an idea Danny Thomas had.  The original donor plaque from Jim’s Grandfathers contribution is still displayed in the hospital in Memphis on the wall of original donors.

President
ELM Energy
Peoria, IL
309-673-7648
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Mr. Richmond’s professional experience includes many different areas in the technical and technology industries. James was the President of eServ, a Perot Systems Company, from December, 1999 until November, 2008 and still serves as an industry consultant and strategic adviser to Perot Systems.  Prior to Perot, he formed eServ LLC, grew it to the largest North American Product Development Company and was instrumental in developing several fortune 500 customers.  He held position of Director of Sales and Marketing for CBT Companies, Inc. of Illinois, growing and diversifying the business to a large industry player in the Engineering space.  His diligent pursuit of new opportunities led eServ, a Perot Systems Company, to become a Product Development Company to many Fortune 1000 companies and to expand globally.

James has been on the forefront of developing the outsourced engineering industry for fifteen years.  eServ was awarded the Global Number One ranking by the Black Book of Outsourcing in Engineering Support Services and Mechanical Engineering for 2006, 2007, and 2008.  Companies have consistently turned to his expertise to help develop their outsourcing strategy.  He has spent significant time with industry analysts learning and defining the Product Development industry now known as Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO).

He has been involved in Pro/User, Deere Achieving Excellence, and Junior Achievement. James' management experience spans many diverse areas.  James has strong technical capabilities as well as a focused sales mentality. At eServ, James’ strong management skills were best shown by the strength of his relationships with eServ’s customers and employees.  James currently serves on the following boards; Peoria Next, Methodist Medical Center, CEO Roundtable, and the Bradley Council.  He has also co-taught classes at Bradley in Entrepreneurial Economics.