James B. Rutter

Mr. Rutter is a Managing Director with KBRO’s West Coast Investment Banking group in downtown San Francisco where he focuses on private placements, buy- and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, “take privates”, and initial and secondary public offerings for technology-related companies.
Before joining Kaufman Bros., Mr. Rutter served as Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Square 1 Bank, a de novo commercial bank formed in 2005 to serve venture capital-backed emerging growth technology companies.
Prior to Square 1, he worked in venture capital and fund-of-funds investment management serving as President of Comerica Ventures and Comerica Capital Advisors and as President of Imperial Ventures and Imperial Creditcorp.
Mr. Rutter also co-founded and served as Senior Vice President of the Special Markets Group/Emerging Growth Division at Imperial Bank in Silicon Valley, a venture-banking practice providing secured credit facilities, bridge loans, and acquisition financing to venture capital-backed technology companies.
Mr. Rutter was also active in financing technology startups while working as an Assistant Vice President in the Technology Group at Silicon Valley Bank.
Mr. Rutter received his A.B.
in International Relations from Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA and an M.S.F.S.
in Foreign Service (International Trade & Finance) from the Edmund A.
Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.