James Blue, CEO of Figure Eight Federal

James Blue, a Potomac Officers Club member, is the CEO of Figure Eight Federal, a company that provides artificial intelligence solutions to clients in a variety of industries including defense.

Blue joined the company in June 2022 from Idemia, where he spent two years as a senior vice president and chief financial officer for North America. At Idemia, he was responsible for the financial leadership and direction of the company’s identity and security division across the U.S. and Canada.

The executive also managed all financial operations in North America and led a team of 80 financial professionals, according to his LinkedIn profile. His responsibilities included financial planning and analysis, corporate and project accounting, internal and external reporting, and project financial management.

Prior to joining Idemia, the executive served BAE Systems for over 10 years. The company hired him in April 2008 as vice president for the finance, intelligence and security sector. In the said role, he was in charge of overseeing all financial aspects of a $2.1 billion intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business unit.

After nearly seven years of holding the position, he was appointed vice president of the finance, platforms and services sector. Afterward, he took on the role of vice president for government compliance and business systems.

Blue holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.