James recently served as Chief of Operations and Innovations for JCF of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, which operates a community endowment with over $2.5 billion in assets.
Prior to JCF, James served as Senior Counsel for Yahoo Inc., having joined Yahoo in 1997 as one of its first corporate attorneys. He helped to design and implement Yahoo's legal systems, was responsible for the worldwide protection of its intellectual property, and managed the structuring and negotiation of numerous transactions with strategic partners. In addition, James spearheaded business development for Yahoo's original broadband programming initiative and was a founder and chairperson of the Yahoo Employee Foundation.
Prior to Yahoo, James served as Senior Counsel, Director of Acquisitions and Business Development, and Director of Human Resources at Supercuts, Inc. and practiced as Associate Attorney at O'Melveny & Myers.
James sits on the board of trustees of AJWS, a national organization devoted to grassroots sustainable global development. He sits on its executive committee, chairs its communications committee and has participated on its grant making, auditing and service committees.
James also serves as a business consultant to start-up ventures and is the investment portfolio manager for DubeyVentures. He participated in the founding of Sonicopia, Inc., a pioneer in online audio applications and the successful acquisition of Sonicopia by Pulse Entertainment, Inc. He also served on the board of advisors of Air Media Inc., a mobile application platform provider.
James holds a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley and a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, summa cum laude. He was an editor of Boalt Hall's Ecology Law Quarterly and Employment and Labor Law Journal (formerly Industrial Relations Law Journal).