President

Jeff A. Lawson, MAI, SRA, is President of J. Lawson & Associates, LLC, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm serving north metro Atlanta and northeast Georgia.

Following graduation, Mr. Lawson was employed as a staff appraiser with a local savings and loan from May 1983 to March 1990, completing primarily residential and vacant land appraisals. He attained the SRA designation in 1988. In March 1990, the savings and loan company arranged for Mr. Lawson to work a full-time internship with a commercial appraisal firm in Atlanta. Upon receiving the MAI designation in 1993, Mr. Lawson was hired as the Senior Review Appraiser for First National Bancorp, a $2.1 billion financial holding company with 18 banks in Georgia and 3 in Florida. First National Bancorp was acquired by Regions Financial Corporation in 1995, and Mr. Lawson was promoted to the Senior Review Appraiser positon with Regions. During his time in the banking industry, his responsibilities included policy formulation, assuring compliance with federal appraisal regulations, the formulation and implementation of appraisal review procedures, review of appraisals, assisting with the disposition of bank-owned (OREO) real estate, the evaluation of appraisal quality on due diligence exams, evaluation and/or performance of feasibility studies for prospective branch/bank locations, and managing/qualifying appraisers for approved appraiser list for each affiliate bank.

In July 2002, Mr. Lawson became Vice President of Carr, Lawson, Cantrell & Associates, Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm with offices in Atlanta and Gainesville. In September 2013, the company was dissolved and Mr. Lawson founded J. Lawson & Associates, LLC.

Mr. Lawson is a past president of the Atlanta Area Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, a nationally published coauthor of Mastering Real Estate Appraisal, and an active national faculty member of the Appraisal Institute having instructed various courses and seminars. In May 2013, Mr. Lawson was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to serve as one of the five members on the Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board (GREAB). Mr. Lawson was elected Co-Chair of the GREAB in 2015 and presently serves in this capacity. Mr. Lawson holds an active real estate sales license and has qualified numerous times as an expert witness in local, state and federal courts.

Vice President

James R. Sigsbee, is currently Vice President at J. Lawson & Associates, LLC. James held the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute from 2013 to 2020, is a Certified General Real Property Appraiser in Georgia, and a licensed Real Estate Salesperson in Georgia. James began his career as a trainee in 2004 and has worked in real estate exclusively since beginning in 2004. James is approved as a Level 3 Appraiser for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Prior to joining J. Lawson & Associates in 2015, James was the Vice President of Carr, Sigsbee and Associates, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. James has a wide variety of experience by property type as well as experience testifying in real estate cases. In addition, James owns and is the asset manager of a real estate investment portfolio. James graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a degree in Business Administration (Finance).