Phil DaCosta, a veteran Atlanta executive, has joined Cook & James as Vice President of Business Development. Based in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Cook & James attorneys are pioneers of at-home closings and serve real estate closing needs in Georgia, New York, Connecticut and South Carolina.

DaCosta will be responsible for market expansion and will foster relationships to heighten the firm’s recognition among realtors, builders, developers as well as with executives in the financial sector. He has deep background in process improvement, customer service, supply chain innovation, marketing and call center logistics. Significant results for which he’s been responsible over his career include increasing the net worth of Cbeyond (where he was customer experience director) from $100 million to $700 million; streamlining a $24 million integration project for Home Depot (where he was senior manager of online operations) that helped the company move from $450 million to $3.5 billion in revenue; and saving $200 million for Bellsouth (where he was process improvement manager) prior to the AT&T merger.

“We are thrilled to welcome Phil and know his rich business experience will further position Cook & James for continued success,” said Heather James, co-founding partner at Cook & James. “With Phil’s strong team leadership and award-winning track record, we are confident we can penetrate new verticals, compounding our recently-reinvigorated business development initiatives.”

The team DaCosta led at Home Depot earned multiple awards including Best Use of Technology, awarded by Speech Technology Magazine; the Customer Excellence Award, recognition by NICE; and the Best Technology Implementation Award, given by ICMI, the International Customer Management Institute.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe to Portuguese parents, DaCosta traveled to Toronto, Canada at 15 then to New Jersey to complete high school. He attended University of Nevada on a boxing scholarship and traveled to Miami after graduation, planning to become a professional pugilist. DaCosta ultimately took a different career trajectory and did post graduate work at University of Miami before earning an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He says the best day of his life was when he became a U.S. citizen in 1998.

DaCosta currently lives north of Atlanta with his wife, Lori, a veterinarian, their three young children and their Portuguese Water Dog, Rizzo. He still maintains a strict exercise regime, running and lifting weights, and when he’s not playing with the kids or working out, he and his wife are involved in their church as well as in animal cruelty advocacy and legislation.