Former Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller Executive , Bank of America | Independent Director Mr. James has more than 35 years of experience in senior financial management roles and has served in senior executive positions encompassing financial reporting, accounting, treasury, and regulatory responsibilities in a global banking organization, which allows him to provide a unique perspective on United Community s Board. Mr. James qualifies as an audit committee financial expert and serves as chair of the Audit Committee. Career Highlights Mr. James served as the Americas Legal Entity Controller for Bank of America from 2019 until his retirement in 2022. In that role, Mr. James was responsible for all of the legal entity controllership activities for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and other countries in South America. He also had responsibility for certain corporate and treasury accounting functions. Prior to his role as Americas Legal Entity Controller, Mr. James was the Corporate Controller for Bank of America for 14 years. In that role, he was responsible for certain corporate and treasury accounting functions, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) reporting, accounting policy, corporate analysis and reporting, and Enterprise Reg W governance. Mr. James joined Bank of America in 2005 as Corporate Controller. Before joining Bank of America, he completed a two-year professional accounting fellowship in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the SEC in Washington, D.C. Prior to his time at the SEC, he spent twelve years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ( PwC ), including four years in the Accounting Consulting Services group of the firm s Professional, Technical, Risk & Quality National Office as a financial instruments accounting consultant. During this time, he was also a member of the Financial Instruments Task Force of the Auditing Standards Board. Prior to PwC, he worked in the banking and insurance industries for seven years in a variety of senior financial management positions. During his career, Mr. James held both Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations. Education Mr. James earned a bachelor s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and a bachelor s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky.