James (Jim) Wright, MAI joined Newmark Valuation & Advisory in 2024 and currently serves as a Senior Vice President with the firm’s Data Center & Life Science team focusing on data centers. A 40-year corporate real estate veteran, Wright has substantial expertise in leased property valuations in the office, data center, retail, public infrastructure, studio/soundstage, and transportation sectors. He is also a respected advisor in providing valuation guidance regarding compliance issues for financial reporting at publicly traded companies, and, FIRREA/USPAP compliance for risk management at Federally regulated lending institutions.
Wright came to Newmark after serving as Vice President for six years at Deutsche Bank USA, where he delivered business risk management/mitigation for commercial real estate lending and securitization involving both domestic and offshore assets. During this time, he developed best practices for allocating going-concern values required by USPAP for real estate lending. Prior to his time at Deutsche Bank, Wright was a Director at Deloitte where he served for 12 years providing litigation and audit support in addition to developing the firm’s tax-advantaged-structured-lease-finance valuation program for domestic and cross-border real estate dominated assets. He also developed Deloitte’s methodology for allocating real estate and intangible value components of book value for financial reporting compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley mandates.
Wright has a long history of appraising data centers and control centers worldwide with each of the preceding employers dating back to 2000. This experience has included direct appraisal, appraisal review of numerous vendors’ work product, and advisory on best practice appraisal methodologies unique to data center assets.
Professional Achievements
- Led claimant’s valuation team for World Trade Center 9-11 insurance litigation
- Lender response leader for Federal Reserve Bank and European Central Bank Regulator audits as well as internal and external audits
-
Lecturer:
- Euro Money- European Cross Border Lease Seminars (London, Paris)
- Structured Finance Institute- US Structured Lease, Cross Border Leasing, and Lease Finance of Municipal Assets seminars (NYC)
- World Research Group- Financing of Credit Lease Forum (NYC)
-
Article:
- “What’s Next for Cross-Border Leasing?”, Tax Planning International-Finance 6/02
Professional Affiliations
- Appraisal Standards Council (IVS, RICS, AI appraisal standards alignment)
- Body of Knowledge Committee
- Ethics Committee Hearing Chair
- Ethics Grievance Committee Chair
- Regional Ethics and Counseling Panel
Licenses and Designations
- MAI designation, Appraisal Institute
- Certified General Appraiser for the state of Texas #TX 1322601-G
- Certified General Appraiser for the state of Florida # RZ4429
Education
Wright earned both his Master of Engineering in Civil Structural and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degrees from Texas A&M University.