William G. Rutland Jr., the founder of The Rutland Group, is an established and well-respected figure in governmental advocacy. He began his career as a staff member with the California Legislature, working in both the Senate and the Assembly where he served as a Consultant on several legislative committees, including, Finance and Banking, Criminal Justice, and Elections and Reapportionment. During his 20 years of public service he served as a staff member to eight different Assembly members and Senators including both Republicans and Democrats. His career with the California Legislature culminated in his service as the Chief Consultant to Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown, Jr., who later went on to become Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco.

After leaving the California Legislature, Mr. Rutland joined George R. Steffes, Inc., a multi-state governmental advocacy firm that represented clients in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. He spent a total of 6 years there working closely with George Steffes, the founder, who previously served as Director of Programs and Policy and Chief Legislative Advocate for then Governor Ronald Reagan. A partial list of clients included: American Express, the Association of International Auto Manufacturers, Inc., Bechtel Group, Inc., Exxon Corporation, Honeywell, Inc., Hughes Electronics, IBM Corporation, AIG, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, Pebble Beach Company, Raytheon Company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company, UNOCAL, Union Pacific Railroad and 3M.

Finally, in 1996, Mr. Rutland founded his own firm. As an advocate, Mr. Rutland has earned a reputation as a creative spokesman and problem solver for his clients. Under his able guidance, The Rutland Group continues to produce successful outcomes for its clients through astute negotiation and coalition building. The Rutland Group has successfully represented clients before Federal agencies, the California Legislature, state regulatory agencies and local government bodies throughout California, offering in all cases an unparalleled level of service and resourcefulness.

Rex Halverson specializes in State and Local Tax Advocacy and Consulting, regulatory and statutory amendments, and Enterprise Zone applications and credits but his expertise includes income tax, sales and use tax, property tax, payroll tax, fuel tax, and business license tax matters.

Prior to starting up his own firm in 2005 and teaming with The Rutland Group in 2010, Rex worked for KPMG (one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms) for 7½ years where he was a Director and Practice Leader for Controversy and Consulting – Western Region in the State and Local Tax Practice.

From 1995-1998, Rex served as Deputy State Controller, Taxation for Kathleen Connell, the former California State Controller. While serving as Deputy State Controller, Rex was responsible for representing the Controller on the Board of Equalization and Franchise Tax Board.

Rex began his State and Local Tax career in Bank of America’s General Counsel’s Department in their San Francisco headquarters. He worked there for a total of 16 years from 1978-1994 where he served as Sr. Tax Counsel. He was responsible for state and local tax planning and transactional advice to all levels of management of BankAmerica Corporation and its 500+ subsidiaries relating to acquisitions, mergers, worldwide unitary combination, divestments, relocations, sale and leasebacks of major buildings, leasing of equipment, new product sales, employee compensation and benefits. He also lobbied tax issues before the California legislature and managed two tax compliance groups: the Sales and Use Tax and Property Tax Compliance Group and the Expatriate Taxation Group, aka International Services Section (ISS). While at the Bank, he also taught the course “California Taxation” in the Graduate School of Taxation at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

He is the former Vice Chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Statewide Tax Committee and a member of the California State Bar, Tax Section.

He received his juris doctorate from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree
from the University of California at Davis.

Mas Velotta is the Business Development Manager at The Rutland Group. He is responsible for marketing, outreach, networking, affiliations and corporate business consulting.

Prior to joining us, he was the Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary for a major California commercial bank and a subsidiary of a multi-national Japanese financial institution. His responsibilities included: Shareholders & Board of Directors’ matters; Investor Relations; Legal, Public and Community Affairs; Chief Compliance Officer, Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Program.

He was also a member of the Bank’s Investment Banking and Corporate Finance Group that was responsible for Mergers & Acquisition, Credit Facilities/Syndications, and Debt & Equity Offerings.

Mr. Velotta received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Zoology from University of California, Davis and his Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law, San Diego. During his career as a banker, he was selected to participate in the Hitotsubashi University Senior Executive Program (HSEP) in Tokyo, Japan.