Since its inception in 1972, Jim Pinto was President and CEO of Action Instruments based in San Diego, CA. USA. In March of '98, Action was acquired by Eurotherm (UK), which in turn was acquired by Invensys in June '98.
Jim retired from Action Instruments after Eurotherm was acquired by Invensys, and since then he has been an angel investor, speaker, writer, technology futurist, author (two popular books, published by ISA in 2003 and 2005) industry commentator and M&A consultant. His popular JimPinto.com eNews is widely read (direct circulation about 7,000, web-readership 2-3 times that number).
Jim Pinto is an Electronics Engineer by background. He was born in Bangalore, India, lived in England for about 8 years, where he founded KPE Controls. He moved to the U.S. in 1968 and worked for Burroughs Corporation, in Pasadena, California. He then moved to San Diego, where he founded Action in 1972.
Jim Pinto was named California Small Business Person of the Year for the State of California in 1980. Jim has been featured in many books and national journals : INC - A Call to Action - November '83; INDUSTRY WEEK - A Manager for All Seasons - June '92; ESQUIRE - Re-defining the Role of the Employee - May '83. He is featured prominently in Joel Kotkin's California Inc. and is mentioned in Naisbitt's Re-inventing the Corporation as a pioneer in participative management. In July '93, Action was named by INC magazine as one of the Employers of the Year - Workplaces Employees Love!.
Jim has traveled widely throughout the world, and has significant experience in the comparative study of American, European and Japanese Business cultures. He serves as an international consultant in strategic business planning, marketing, sales channel development, technology planning and acquisition strategy. He is a Member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Future Society.
Jim currently resides in San Diego, California. His interests include technology futures (he is a popular speaker on the subject); technology investments (Managing Partner at AngelMoney.com); writing (he writes for several webzines and journals and magazines); poetry (he has been called : "The poet laureate of the Instrumentation Industry" and his poetry has been published internationally); Music (piano, MIDI); Chess (not a master, but he likes it); the Internet (an avid web-surfer, and he does his own web-site).